I agree that we need structural change in this country and Mamdani is not a candidate of radical change but we should give him credit for standing up fpr Gaza. That takes courage. I think you are less than generous in this commentary, David.
I know many good people in DSA, but at the end of the day it's joined at the hip to the Democratic Party. There are things Mamdani cannot say because of this connection to the Democratic Party, others he cannot say in a strongly Jewish city, on network TV, and others he cannot say because he'd frighten bankers and business people.
Republicans are already calling him a terrorist and one moron Congressman has asked the State Department to de-naturalize Mamdani. New York City capitalists are unhappy at the prospect of a socialist mayor and some of them are idly threatening to pull their businesses from the city.
There is also a great chance that the Democratic Party, aided by three Cuomo billionaires, AIPAC, and a backbench of sneaky old centrist machine Democrats like Bill Clinton and Jim Clyburn, will try to torpedo Mamdani's campaign or, even if he wins, subvert his mayoralty. Already Cuomo has refused to take his name off the next round of ranked-choice ballots.
You are right that I was less than generous to Mamdani. He is a decent guy who, in spite of airbrushing his politics for an electoral campaign and treading lightly, knowing he could suffer the same fate as Cori Bush or Jamaal Bowman for criticizing Israel, has indeed consistently and courageously stood up for Gaza. I think that, especially after AIPAC made such a public example of these two Congresspeople, Mamdani's courage is even more exemplary. So you are right about my lack of generosity. Mr. Mamdani, if you are reading everything written about you, my sincere apology.
But the main point I was trying to make was -- just as he has been undermined as an assemblyman by Democrats in Albany -- Mamdani is not likely to be able to deliver on his campaign promises because of the party he and DSA are in bed with. And you know who will punish him most severely for this -- centrist Democrats who will say "told you so" and insist that the true direction of the party should be an inch behind the rear cheeks of the Republicans, in whichever direction they are traveling.
If we can believe all the bubbly, optimistic articles written in the wake of the election, Mamdani's victory was "seismic" or an "earthquake." If I am not also gushing about this election it's because I am cynical, pessimistic, cautious, even suspicious, about what it REALLY means. Just as Occupy Wall Street, the Women's March, and the George Floyd protests resulted in momentary thrill but very little change, what is being hyped as a "Left Turn" in the Democratic Party is very local at best and will similarly sputter. I also believe that only a party with firm positions can stop the never-ending Democratic sell-outs. Either DSA needs to make a clear break with the Democrats or a new workers party must come into existence to enable a REAL Left Turn.
Instead, what I see happening now is that there has been a sea change in how people are less willing to tolerate Israel's criminality. After Gaza and Iran, in which Israel made no bones about trying to suck the US into war, there's a lot of anger at the Zionist nation. Trump's Christian nationalism is taking the gloves and the disguises off, and people see that it all too clearly rhymes with Zionism. Voter anger augmented with increasing clarity has manifested itself in charges of genocide at the ICC, an Irish boycott, a shipping company refusing to handle Israeli goods from the West Bank, resolutions from a churches, Papal denunciations of the genocide. And Mamdani's victory.
All this lends credence to Omar El Akkad's book title, "One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This." People are jumping on the anti-genocide train despite all the firings, prosecutions, deportations, and police beatings. The polls are quite clear. And I do think that the ugly experience of officially aiding and abetting Zionism combined with Zionist-imposed McCarthyite purges will eventually force American foreign policy to change. Eventually, though, not this year or next.
Peter Beinart has some characteristically thoughtful observations (and predictions) about this very topic:
So thanks, Mohammad, for giving me the chance to frame my views a bit clearer and to be a bit more generous to an exceptional and decent man for whom I wish only success.
I agree that we need structural change in this country and Mamdani is not a candidate of radical change but we should give him credit for standing up fpr Gaza. That takes courage. I think you are less than generous in this commentary, David.
Mohammad,
I know many good people in DSA, but at the end of the day it's joined at the hip to the Democratic Party. There are things Mamdani cannot say because of this connection to the Democratic Party, others he cannot say in a strongly Jewish city, on network TV, and others he cannot say because he'd frighten bankers and business people.
Republicans are already calling him a terrorist and one moron Congressman has asked the State Department to de-naturalize Mamdani. New York City capitalists are unhappy at the prospect of a socialist mayor and some of them are idly threatening to pull their businesses from the city.
There is also a great chance that the Democratic Party, aided by three Cuomo billionaires, AIPAC, and a backbench of sneaky old centrist machine Democrats like Bill Clinton and Jim Clyburn, will try to torpedo Mamdani's campaign or, even if he wins, subvert his mayoralty. Already Cuomo has refused to take his name off the next round of ranked-choice ballots.
You are right that I was less than generous to Mamdani. He is a decent guy who, in spite of airbrushing his politics for an electoral campaign and treading lightly, knowing he could suffer the same fate as Cori Bush or Jamaal Bowman for criticizing Israel, has indeed consistently and courageously stood up for Gaza. I think that, especially after AIPAC made such a public example of these two Congresspeople, Mamdani's courage is even more exemplary. So you are right about my lack of generosity. Mr. Mamdani, if you are reading everything written about you, my sincere apology.
But the main point I was trying to make was -- just as he has been undermined as an assemblyman by Democrats in Albany -- Mamdani is not likely to be able to deliver on his campaign promises because of the party he and DSA are in bed with. And you know who will punish him most severely for this -- centrist Democrats who will say "told you so" and insist that the true direction of the party should be an inch behind the rear cheeks of the Republicans, in whichever direction they are traveling.
If we can believe all the bubbly, optimistic articles written in the wake of the election, Mamdani's victory was "seismic" or an "earthquake." If I am not also gushing about this election it's because I am cynical, pessimistic, cautious, even suspicious, about what it REALLY means. Just as Occupy Wall Street, the Women's March, and the George Floyd protests resulted in momentary thrill but very little change, what is being hyped as a "Left Turn" in the Democratic Party is very local at best and will similarly sputter. I also believe that only a party with firm positions can stop the never-ending Democratic sell-outs. Either DSA needs to make a clear break with the Democrats or a new workers party must come into existence to enable a REAL Left Turn.
Instead, what I see happening now is that there has been a sea change in how people are less willing to tolerate Israel's criminality. After Gaza and Iran, in which Israel made no bones about trying to suck the US into war, there's a lot of anger at the Zionist nation. Trump's Christian nationalism is taking the gloves and the disguises off, and people see that it all too clearly rhymes with Zionism. Voter anger augmented with increasing clarity has manifested itself in charges of genocide at the ICC, an Irish boycott, a shipping company refusing to handle Israeli goods from the West Bank, resolutions from a churches, Papal denunciations of the genocide. And Mamdani's victory.
All this lends credence to Omar El Akkad's book title, "One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This." People are jumping on the anti-genocide train despite all the firings, prosecutions, deportations, and police beatings. The polls are quite clear. And I do think that the ugly experience of officially aiding and abetting Zionism combined with Zionist-imposed McCarthyite purges will eventually force American foreign policy to change. Eventually, though, not this year or next.
Peter Beinart has some characteristically thoughtful observations (and predictions) about this very topic:
https://peterbeinart.substack.com/p/what-zohrans-victory-means
So thanks, Mohammad, for giving me the chance to frame my views a bit clearer and to be a bit more generous to an exceptional and decent man for whom I wish only success.