In 2011 the Occupy movement kicked off a new generation of left-wing protest in the US. In 2016, Bernie Sanders’ campaign harnessed the energy of the insurgent movements, and directed it to the political arena. Since then, a broad current of the US Left has been practicing the “inside/outside” strategy—building powerful organizations and protest movements outside the halls of power, while also electing champions to work the inside game. 

This episode features a panel on the inside/outside strategy hosted by Momentum and moderated by Hegemonicon host William Lawrence. The panel asks: What have we learned about bridging the outside and the inside? How close are we to our goal of actual governing power? How important is it to deliver material wins to communities through political action while building "political instruments"?

The four panelists each have built a somewhat different political instrument for their own contexts: Lizzy Oh of NYC-DSA; Kamau Chege of Washington Community Alliance; Asha Ransby-Sporn, Chicago organizer; and Evan Weber of Sunrise Movement and Our Hawai’i. The panel was recorded live on Nov. 30, 2023.

Additional links:

Independent Political Organizations: A Strategy in the Making

Momentum Movements and State Power by Evan Weber