Hegemonicon - An Investigation Into the Workings of Power Convergence Magazine

This episode wraps up the current season of Hegemonicon with one more look at "What We're Building." William sits down with Milena Velis and Jayanni Webster, who were both deeply engaged with LeftRoots, an organization that operated for about 10 years before intentionally sunsetting at the end of 2023.



LeftRoots's major mission was training and preparing people to become cadre. The organization's sunset has now made way for one, maybe two, successor organizations that intend to be disciplined networks of cadre moving a coherent strategy from various corners of the US institutional landscape.



Terms like "cadre" might be initially confusing to some listeners. This episode explains how LeftRoots understood the nature and importance of cadre, and what it did in its 10 years of work. Milena Velis is the former cadre training director of LeftRoots, and a communicator and media maker from Philadelphia. Jayanni Webster is a labor and community organizer from Memphis, Tennessee, and is now a founding member of North Star, one of the cadre organizations growing out of the LeftRoots process. Milena is a member of the Convergence Editorial Board, and Jayanni worked on the weekly live show Frontline Dispatches that was produced under our previous name, Organizing Upgrade.



Please be sure to subscribe to Hegemonicon wherever you listen to podcasts so you'll be alerted when new episodes publish this spring.



You can support this show and others like it by becoming a Patreon member at patreon.com/convergencemag.

In this latest episode looking at "What We're Building," Hegemonicon host William Lawrence talks with Maurice Mitchell, National Director of the Working Families Party (WFP). The WFP aims to become the leading political home for US progressives. It has built a reputation for staking out strategic electoral engagements on a state-by-state basis that have yielded some major victories in the political arena.



In this conversation, William and Maurice move between big-picture strategies and the nuts and bolts of WFP's operation. They discuss the party's hybrid governance model, its process for making election endorsements, and the infrastructure it has developed to navigate disagreements within its ranks.



Moving outward, the two talk about how to navigate relationships among growing left organizations such as WFP and the Democratic Socialists of America (featured on the show's previous episode)—and they tackle the strategy needed to block the Right in the electoral arena while building stronger coalitions with progressive leadership that can anchor future work.



Support this show and others like it by becoming a Patreon member at Patreon.com/convergencemag

This episode continues the podcast's exploration of what we are building on today's Left by taking a look at the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).



Most of our audience is likely to be familiar with DSA, at least by name. It's an organization that has moved from one intra-organizational controversy to the next, with the dramas often playing out in the algorithm-driven public square of Twitter (now also known as x.com). Most recently it was targeted for the stance some members took on Gaza in the early days after October 7.



However, while it's easy to focus on the internal churn, DSA is one of the most robust membership organizations on the US Left. It has thousands of smart and capable people actively invested in its success who fight tooth-and-nail over the direction of DSA. That is why there’s drama. Unlike a lot of staff-led movement NGOs, DSA has a governance structure that channels internal political struggle and makes it constructive for the organization as a whole. That’s why DSA has survived the challenging period of 2020-2023 — Bernie’s defeat, the pandemic, a new terrain under Biden and ensuing re-evaluation on the Left — with only a 20-30% membership melt, much lower than that of many progressive movement groups that peaked in the Trump era.



Hegemonicon host William Lawrence credits this resilience for his recent increased involvement as a rank-and-file member of Greater Lansing DSA. Last August he attended the DSA Convention as an alternate delegate from the chapter. Joining him this episode to discuss the process, struggles, and potential of DSA in this moment and beyond are National Political Committee Co-Chairs Ashik Siddique and Megan Romer.



Support this show and others like it by becoming a Patreon member: Patreon.com/convergencemag

There’s a long-running dialogue on the Left, which has resurfaced in a big way since the pandemic, about what direct service work has to do with building political power. Some people argue that it’s just putting a band-aid on a gaping wound. We shouldn’t be doing harm reduction: we should be seeking to stop the harm in the first place, through structural change. But others argue that direct service can be the best way of engaging people. Poor people are on the streets; they’re hungry; they’re struggling; they need help now. And so, perhaps, for those of us interested in building political power among the dispossessed, mutual aid is exactly what we need, in order to meet folks where they’re at, and then march together towards justice.



In this episode, William is joined by two purveyors of mutual aid he is very familiar with, as they work in his hometown of Lansing, Michigan. Jerry Norris is the founder of the Fledge, a truly special and one-of-a-kind community center. Julia Miller is the driving force behind Punks With Lunch, an organization providing food, personal care, warm clothes, and harm reduction resources for people struggling with homelessness and addiction, which operates out of the Fledge.



Their conversation explores the political question around direct mutual aid as a focus, as well as how to center community needs and voices in these efforts and how the guests manage their own emotional needs while engaging in their work.



Support this show and others like it by subscribing at patreon.com/convergencemag

President Joe Biden, the man entrusted with our defense against Trump's MAGA fascism, is now enabling a genocide in Gaza. The situation looks bad from almost any angle. What does this mean for US progressives who prefer Biden to Trump on domestic policy, but find Biden’s current foreign policy unconscionable? Should we shut up about Palestine to shore up Biden’s popularity? Unacceptable. Is there a Democratic primary challenger who can overcome Biden? Way too late, apparently. So what is to be done? 



In this episode William talks with Waleed Shahid, a progressive Democratic strategist and former national spokesperson for Justice Democrats. They discuss the recent "Vote Ceasefire" campaign in New Hampshire, an upcoming "Vote Uncommitted" campaign in Michigan, and ask if there are any other strategies available to stop a genocide, while giving ourselves the best chance to defeat Trump in November.



Reach out with your thoughts and comments on this episode: lawrence.will@gmail.com



Support this show and others like it by becoming a Patreon member at patreon.com/convergencemag.

The US Left is having an “internationalist moment” stemming from horror at the ongoing Israeli bombardment and ethnic cleansing in Gaza. While it’s encouraging to see Americans showing solidarity with people beyond our own borders, it doesn’t change the fact that bombs continue to fall on Gaza while the Biden administration continues to fund and arm Israel's genocide in the Gaza Strip. However, solidarity and ideological shift should not overshadow the reality of leftists’ utter inability to restrain US militarism or its clients.



In this episode, host William Lawrence delves into the history, meaning, and importance of internationalism on the US Left. He is joined by David Adler, General Coordinator of the Progressive International, and Jorge Rocha, Co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America International Committee.



Together they explore the landscape of US foreign policy, the influence of both military and economic policies, and their impact globally. Placing a spotlight on Latin American politics, they highlight left political parties in this region and what the US Left can learn from their experiences.



Support this show and others like by becoming a subscriber at patreon.com/convergencemag.