What more could one add to that speech?
Well, that maybe when the current entrenched systems of governance and national polity haven’t delivered or worked for the interests of the majority of people, not just in New York city but across the world, then more of us should in fact champion different systems; systems that promise more and better for the majority, rather than entrenching a greater proportion of the national pie only for the already powerful and wealthy minorities.
A bit of a History: Where was the problem in New York?
New York City, the supposed land of opportunity, has been buckling under a perfect storm of crises. Sky-high rents devouring paycheques, a housing shortage that’s left thousands homeless amid billionaire playgrounds, and a cost-of-living squeeze that’s priced out the working class. Add to that surging crime fears, antisemitism spikes, and the stench of corruption from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration – bribery probes, dodgy donations, the lot. Incumbents fiddled the city’s collective pie while the city burned for the vulnerable.
Enter Zohran Mamdani. This 34-year-old firebrand tapped into the rage with unapologetic progressive pledges: a 2% tax on millionaires to fund free buses and childcare. Rent freezes on rent stabilised units, and a massive public housing push. He crushed Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary – an upset that stunned the establishment – and romped to victory on 4 November with 50.4% of the vote, the highest turnout in decades. Young voters (78% backed him), immigrants, and low-income families saw in him a fighter who gets it: no more handouts to the elite, instead a fairer system for all. In a Trump-shadowed America, Mamdani’s win screamed for change.
But who is Zohran Mandani?
Born in Kampala, Uganda, in 1991 to an academic father Mahmood Mamdani and filmmaker mother Mira Nair, Zohran landed in New York at seven, soaking up the city’s grit from Morningside Heights. A Bronx Science grad and Bowdoin Africana studies whizz, he ditched privilege for the frontlines: counselling foreclosed immigrant families in Queens, and even moonlighting as rapper Young Cardamom, spitting bars on identity and injustice.
Politics called in 2017 via the Democratic Socialists of America. He unseated a five-term Assembly incumbent in 2020 for Queens’ 36th district, advocating for rent reform and utility public ownership. Re-elected twice unopposed, he’s pushed fare-free pilots, taxi debt relief hunger strikes, and bills for green schools and sanctuary protections. A Shia Muslim multilingual dynamo – fluent in Hindi, Luganda and Arabic – he’s the DSA’s rising star. The Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders endorsed his mayoral candidacy, and now he’s New York’s youngest mayor since 1892, and the first Muslim, first South Asian and first African-born to be Mayor of New York.
A Breath of Fresh Air
So, considering all this, Mamdani’s victory as the new Mayor of New York will be an inspiration to all those people across the world who believe in egalitarianism and the power of the many. It will be an inspiration for all those who want politics to work for ordinary people, not just billionaires and the rich. This is one embodiment of the opposite of the Building Malawi podcast episode I recorded here months ago titled ‘The Rich in Power: A Reflection on Wealth, Corruption, and the Erosion of Accountability‘. Mamdani represents the opposite of that sorry state of affairs.
We welcome Mamdani’s victory. The world, not just New York, needs it.
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