cover of the zine titled Because We Need Each Other with pencil drawing of hands holding a sun

Check out our Zine!

What began as a gathering has led to a series of articles on the subject of cancel culture (see below), and now we want to share our first zine with you!

The Zine, co-authored by Celia Kutz, Erika Sasson, Kazu Haga and Shilpa Jain and illustrated by Kylie Tseng is filled with perspectives, frameworks and resources to build a culture of belonging.

Download the PDF of the Zine

Conversations on Cancel Culture

We hope to invite more people into conversations about how we work through tension and conflict in our movements, and to offer viable pathways for recognition, prevention, intervention, and healing. Given the profound political moment we are in—with the unraveling of many democratic rights and freedoms—it feels more important than ever to strengthen the ways in which we come together on the left. Our capacity to mobilize is strengthened by our ability to work through disagreement and come back from conflict. This series is our humble attempt in this direction.

In this series of articles, co-published by Convergence Magazine and The Forge Organizing, we are exploring the phenomenon known as “cancel culture.”

Artwork by Kimmie Dearest

An abstract collage with a blue background and cutouts of grey eyes and hands making signs, a pink cat, blue flowers, a grey hourglass, and yellow electricity signs.

Part I: Origin Story

In 2023, we hosted “Because We Need Each Other,” a gathering of 25 movement leaders from across the US and Canada came together to grapple with the impacts of a punitive pattern in social change/movement left spaces. Read about what we explored, how we engaged together, and what we took home.

Read Origin Story
An abstract collage with a pink background and grey, pink, yellow, and blue cutouts of a crying eye, fish, lighthouse, hands holding a camera, and a hand holding a laptop with 86 taped to the string.

Part II: Understanding Cancel Culture

How we have seen cancel culture emerge in our movements: the core elements, broad strokes, and nuances.

Read Understanding Cancel Culture
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Part III: Early Warning Signs

For those who are struggling (or beginning to struggle) with cancel culture and are wondering how to identify it.

Read Early Warning Signs
An abstract collage with pink and purple backgrounds and an orange hand holding an ice cream cone, an orange dog and a cup with a cat in it, a pink wrench with a neon sign that says Repair and pink hands holding a purple heart.

Part IV: Interventions & Healing

We widen the field of interventions and healing.

Read Interventions & Healing

Part V: Learning from COINTELPRO’s Survivors: Accountability and Repair

Lessons from Watani Stiner, a Black revolutionary elder who survived decades of incarceration and exile as a result of the government’s illegal covert program COINTELPRO.

Read Learning from COINTELPRO's Survivors

Podcasts & Other Resources

Block & Build Podcast - Moving Past “Cancel Culture”
May 5, 2026

Check out our episode on the Block & Build Podcast, hosted by Cayden Mak from Convergence Magazine.

Listen here or on your favorite podcast app, or watch the video of our discussion.

Resources on Cancel Culture

Check out this curated list of resources on this topic, including books, articles, podcasts, tools and more.

Read Resources on Cancel Culture