As Hegemonicon continues its exploration of what the Left is building, this conversation analyzes the model for political and community organizing that has persisted since Saul Alinsky hit the field in the mid-20th century—professionalized, nonprofit-managed, and non-ideological. The anti-ideological component of this type of organizing has been the subject of ongoing critique. But other aspects, especially the "professionalization" of organizing, also bear scrutiny, given the dramatic changes in the world over the past decades.

Our next several episodes will explore what the Left is building to fight back against the white supremacist, authoritarian Right. But first, this episode offers a moment to pause and sit with the uncertainty that many people may be feeling. With his guest Katey Lauer, of West Virginia Can't Wait and many other organizing movements, William discusses how we can use such space to explore new ways of envisioning, defining, and working toward our goals—dreams as big as a mass leftist movement organization or as small as a community co-operative space. They also explore the importance of holding up comrades who may find themselves in their own personal valleys of uncertainty at any given time.

Kaniela Ing, national director for the Green New Deal Network and former Hawaii state legislator, talks with "Hegemonicon" host William Lawrence about lessons he learned as a left-progressive on the national stage who was also trying to serve his local constituents.

Host William Lawrence introduces himself with his story of working to build a youth-led climate movement as co-founder of the Sunrise Movement and the Green New Deal it brought to the political forefront.