Zohran Mamdani's Historic Victory: A beacon of hope for all
EDITOR'S NOTE
Zohran Mamdani's election as New York mayor caps an extraordinary rise for the leftist lawmaker who emerged from relative obscurity to lead a supercharged campaign for the US megacity's top job. It's also a beacon of hope for all.
Image: ANGELA WEISS / AFP
When I found myself stuck for a couple of days in New York City due to a 20-year-record snow storm that froze airports and major highways, I didn’t mind very much. I was happy to spend more time in that great and amazing metropolis. The trouble was the fast-dwindling dollars in my ultra-thin wallet.
That great megacity that never sleeps is a wonderful place, but one that’s not so affordable to many of its eight million or so residents. But it’s still an amazing city – as amazing as the young man its citizens have voted to become its new mayor, Zohran Kwame Mamdani.
The Ugandan-born 34-year-old surprised many when he began his amazing mayorship race early this year, confounding analysts, naysayers and established politicians. He still surprised many who just didn’t expect an “upstart” socialist and pro-Palestinian – or a “little communist” and “Jew hater”, as US President Donald Trump described him – to win such a vitally important race.
His campaign was amazingly simple, focusing on the working-class citizens of that great metropolis who are always battling to survive and pay their bills. His message was unifying, even when he had to tackle hot potato issues like Palestine.
Mamdani’s victory is not just for the New Yorkers who united in their diversity behind him; it’s a good sign of the changing times in that great democracy currently suffocating under Trump’s seemingly endless scorched earth campaign. A sweet victory in a vitally important battle. A glimmer of light against Trump’s darkness, not just for members of vulnerable groups such as foreigners but for all Americans, and all peace- and progress-loving people of the world.
It was nice to see “one of our own” rising to such splendid heights. Yes, indeed, we have a right to claim him. He was born on this continent and was initially raised in Cape Town.
Back in 1996 when I visited the Big Apple the mayor was Rudy “America’s Mayor” Giuliani who played a major leadership role during one of the city’s darkest moments following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In Mamdani the US may have found another America’s Mayor. And South Africa and other nations of the world can start dreaming of a new, more stable and peaceful post-Trump era.