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.
In this episode, William is joined by two long-time organizers to take on this analysis and critique. Jasson Perez is program lead at Just Impact Advisors and Vera Parra is a community organizer with Cosecha Movement. As they explore the strengths and weaknesses of the current state of organizational structure in activist movements, they’ll bring in critique from the 2023 book Occupation: Organizer – A Critical History of Community Organizing in America by Clément Petitjean