In a situation where America is becoming like a dictatorship; the president has taken over virtually all the power, the masked security forces arrest people without any legal reason, and imprison immigrants, people of colour and Muslims - sometimes sending them to prison camps in El Salvador - the election of a Muslim man of colour who condemns the Israeli genocide and speaks of democracy and improving the conditions of the poor seems like an important step forward.
This is a sign of imposing a retreat on the ruling fascist power that has with all its might attacked all manifestations of democracy and civil rights. The right-wing media calls Mamdani a socialist. Taking into account that the mainstream media brings the name of socialism into the mainstream to spread fear-mongering propaganda, is nevertheless a sign of defeat. The left movement is excited, and it is celebrating the victory of socialism.
Mamdani has nothing to do with socialism. Whatever the Right and Left agenda or illusions are, Mamdani is from the left of the Democratic Party. However, shouts of socialism, especially in the media prove that socialism is not dead as the capitalist ruling class has been claiming. Socialism, hope and aspiration for a socialist society is alive and kicking. This message must be taken seriously.
Elections in countries under democracy, especially in the United States, depend on various factors, most importantly money and connections with "the powerful."
Mamdani has the support of two billionaires, and Alex Soros also donates money to organisations related to Mamdani. Mamdani has the support of Obama, Bernie Sanders, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the Democratic Party. These facts are enough to put to rest any hope or “fear” of Mamdani's socialism.
If Mamdani is young and not well-known, we know Obama and Bernie Sanders well. The role of both is clear to us. We also know AOC. Obama needs no explanation. We all remember the vibe Obama’s campaign created. It was at the time of Wall St. occupation, a radical populist movement against poverty, inequality and injustice. Obama used this vibe to send hopeful messages to the poor and the deprived. “Yes, we can!” was his slogan. He won the election among the public euphoria. What happened? He threw the dollars at Wall Street; instead of alleviating poverty and inequality he raised the bonuses to the bosses and the CEOs. He also threw the bombs over the Middle East; leading to ruining Libya and Syria and killing and displacing millions of people. One must say: Yes, they can!
The role of Bernie Sanders, AOC, and the like is to pull the left of society behind the Democratic Party. We have seen their instrumental role in the past two elections. Mamdani is a left-liberal.
One reason for his victory, is people’s extreme anger with Trump and his government culminating in protests all over the US. The society has become extremely radical. It is said that the majority of young people in America are against Israel. This is a trend that has occurred over the past two years. New York has the largest Jewish population. A significant part of New York Jews are against Israel and have organised large demonstrations in the past two years condemning Israel and defending Palestine. These are among the factors that facilitated Mamdani's election.
It is clear that electing a left-liberal who has announced that he will implement some reforms (of course, there are no guarantees of this) is better than electing a fascist. But the important point is not to let illusion replace hope. We fight for reforms, but we do not replace reforms with revolution. What Mamdani represents has nothing to do with socialism. In the context of the widespread aggression of the world bourgeoisie, the rise of fascism, poverty, war and genocide, every retreat from this force of repression is a step forward. The lesson we must learn from this event is to rely on our organised power of struggle and to strive to push back the ruling power as much as possible.
⏩Asar Majedi is a Member of Hekmatist Party leadership & Chairperson of Organisation for Women’s Liberation.
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