It was a chilly day in Minneapolis in 2013 when Yotam Marom was first told he was “invisible.” He was told this by a team member and close colleague, while working with a tenant organizing group which had emerged from the recent Occupy Movement. His role that week was to facilitate and train leaders in the organization. While Yotam was doing his job well enough – participating and planning activities – they felt he was holding back, shying away from the bold opinions and critical feedback he was known for…and the rest of the team knew it.
Shying from wielding leadership or challenging power, Yotam writes in his book, is a common dynamic across Left movements. He argues it’s a major roadblock to meaningful progress. In For Louder Days: Reaching Beyond a Politics of Powerlessness, he argues that countless social movements, from antiwar movements to student causes, shrink their potential or even fail by remaining too insular or refusing to take audacious action outwards to reckon with the responsibility of wielding real power. And that argument is based on his decades of involvement in developing organizations and leaders across the social movement Left.
In this episode we are joined by author Yotam Marom to discuss the book. At the core of For Louder Days is an argument about what Yotam calls “the politics of powerlessness.” The book is a call to action for movement organizers, but also as a personal memoir, reflecting on decades of activism and movement work.
Catch Yotam live on tour for the book!
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Episode Guests
Yotam Marom has been in movements since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. He has played leadership roles at Occupy Wall Street and other movements before and after, and co-founded IfNotNow and the Wildfire Project. Yotam has trained and facilitated many of the leading social justice organizations of these times, from Sunrise and the Dream Defenders to Uncommitted and Hands Off NYC, and more. He lives in Brooklyn. For Louder Days: Reaching Beyond a Politics of Powerlessness (aff) is his first book.