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Cayden Mak

Cayden Mak

Publisher, Host of Block & Build 13 articles and 101 podcasts

Cayden Mak is the publisher at Convergence Magazine and the host of Block & Build: Roadmaps for the Left.

Prior to Convergence, Cayden spent nearly a decade in various roles at 18 Million Rising, including five years as Executive Director and two as Chief Technology Officer, developing the organization inside and out into the digital-first anchor of national progressive Asian American organizing. His other movement work has included organizing for community-designed affordable housing with the Save E. 12th Coalition, co-founding Youngist, a youth media collective, organizing graduate research assistants for a labor union, and helping coordinate tracks and network gatherings at the Allied Media Conference. He serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Kairos Fellowship.

Contributions from Cayden Mak

Fighting AI Hype, w/ Emily M. Bender & Alex Hanna

Hosted by
This week on the show, hosts of the podcast "Mystery A.I. Hype Theater 3000," Emily M. Bender (Professor of Linguistics at Washington University) and Alex Hanna (Director of Research of the Distributed AI Research Institute), join Cayden to help make sense of the inescapable hype of all things “Artificial Intelligence”. What’s being over-sold? What are the actual threats? And what exactly are we talking about when we say A.I.? Hype or not, the advancement of technology in the workplace has strong implications for workers which some unions and communities are already organizing to protect themselves against.

Labor Militancy and Beyond, w/ Bob Master

Hosted by
On the show this week, 45-year labor movement veteran Bob Master joins us to discuss the intersections of the ongoing protests for ceasefire in Gaza and a politicized labor movement. He and Cayden will take a deeper dive into his new piece, Militancy–and Beyond, co-published by Convergence and Jacobin. In the full article, Bob lays out the need for political strategy and education in the labor movement so it can build working-class governing  power from the recent wave of militant strikes.

Protecting Reproductive Rights, w/ Jennifer Knox

Hosted by
This week on the show we have a feature from Co-Executive Director of the Highlander Research and Education Center, Ash-Lee Henderson on the threat of another MAGA administration to the burgeoning labor movement. Also, Arizona is the latest state to lean into a total abortion ban in this post Dobbs world. What does that mean for us as organizers and voters?

Building a United Front, w/ Loan Tran (Rising Majority)

Hosted by
Welcome to "Block and Build," a new weekly editorial podcast from Convergence Magazine. Each week, Convergence publisher Cayden Mak will take listeners on an exploration of what’s happening in politics and what we can do about it – not simply as individuals acting alone, but as people coming together into a larger movement. The show examines a political strategy termed “Block & Build” as a point of view that impacts the way we approach both politics and everyday life.In this first episode, Cayden talks with Rising Majority National Director Loan Tran.
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Welcome to Block & Build – A Weekly Roadmap for the Left

Hosted by
Every week, "Block and Build" takes on the current balance of political forces in the United States from a movement perspective. Host Cayden Mak, publisher of Convergence Magazine, guides listeners in an exploration of what’s happening in politics and what we can do about it – not simply as individuals acting alone, but as people coming together into a larger movement. The show examines the political strategy we call “Block and Build” as a point of view that impacts the way we approach both politics and everyday life.