A highlight of the 2017 Organizing 2.0 Conference was the exchange between Judith LeBlanc and L.A. Kauffman. on the development of organizing over the years, the role of women and challenges today.

LeBlanc is the Director of the Native Organizers Alliance, and Kauffman wrote the new book Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism. Both were leaders of United for Peace and Justice, the main coalition against the U.S. war in Iraq in the 2000s. The discussion was moderated by Charles Lenchner of Organizing 2.0 and The People for Bernie Sanders.