Movement Catalyst

Movement Catalyst

Movement Catalyst is an astro-turf far left organizing group that charges to use their organizing skills to build the "necessary spark" pushing forward leftist movements in order to "build at a revolutionary scale". Movement Catalyst also conducts "research". They describe themselves as "a social movement support hub".

Some of their listed priorities are "COVID-19 relief, union organizing rights, defunding the police, end fossil fuel production, a green new deal, student debt relief, healthcare for all [Government-run healthcare]..."

Movement Catalyst is closely connected to Shut Down DC.

Description

Movement Catalyst describes itself as "a social movement support hub based in Washington, D.C. working nationally and locally." Movement Catalyst offers "an experienced and interdisciplinary team of strategists, organizers, campaigners, and researchers, who will launch strategic projects to meet the moment, partner with organizations looking to expand their ability to have an impact, and anchor movement infrastructure."

Verbatim:

We’re grounded in social movements.

Our team has worked for NGOs or labor unions but we come out of, and are accountable to, grassroots social movement spaces. We effectively move between those worlds to bring the organic energy and creativity of grassroots social movement spaces together with the sophistication of large organizations.

We’re interdisciplinary.

We deploy actions, build networks, facilitate strategy development, and conduct research. Our team has decades of experience running strategic campaigns challenging corporate and state power at the local, national and international levels. This breadth of experience gives us a uniquely holistic perspective on the work that we do.

We work across organizations, issue areas and movement spaces.

We have backgrounds in a wide range of different social movements, issue areas, campaigning, and organizing traditions. That allows us to build deep connections across movement spaces and facilitate generative and authentic collaborations.

Team

As of June 16, 2022, the following individuals are listed on the Movement Catalyst website:

• Liz Butler
• Abby Henderson
• Beth Yirga
• Bill Ragen
• Patrick Young

Laura Beth Pelner previously worked at Movement Catalyst.

Medium Article

A post at Medium dated January 25, 2021 titled "Building the Movement Infrastructure We Need in This Moment," states in part:

"If we are collectively going to face down these challenges and take advantage of these opportunities we need to move swiftly, think boldly, and build at a revolutionary scale."

[...]

This isn’t the time to demobilize and compromise, this is the time to fight for serious progress on the programs that matter to our communities — , COVID-19 relief, union organizing rights, defunding the police, end fossil fuel production, a green new deal, student debt relief, healthcare for all, and infinite other priorities. If our movements don’t make real progress on these priorities right now, we will have missed an important and fleeting opportunity to make lasting change.

Many on the institutional left are enjoying their newfound access to the Biden administration. And a Federal Government that is open to implementing programs that improve peoples' lives is certainly a welcome development. But we must be careful to avoid confusing access with influence. We haven’t been organizing and mobilizing just to get a seat at the table — we’re fighting to build a new and different table that works for all of us and puts people over corporate profit.

To be certain, there is an important role for organizations that want to play the inside game and coordinate policy responses with the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress. But in moments like this, the grassroots is where the real transformative action happens.