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Zohran Mamdani seals remarkable victory – but real challenges await
Zohran Mamdani, the newly elected mayor of New York City, is notable in many ways. He will become the city’s youngest mayor since 1892, its first Muslim mayor and its first mayor born in Africa.
He entered the race last year with next to no name recognition, little money and no institutional party support.
That alone makes his victory over former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Silwa remarkable.
But more than that, he represents the kind of politician that many in the Democratic Party’s left have been seeking for years.
He is young and charismatic, with his generation’s natural comfort with social media.
His ethnicity reflects the diversity of the party’s base. He hasn’t shied away from a political fight and has proudly espoused left-wing causes – such as free childcare, expanded public transportation and government intervention in free market systems.
Mamdani has also shown a laser-like ability to focus on the kind of core economic issues that have been a priority for working-class voters who have drifted from the Democratic Party recently, but he hasn’t disavowed the left’s cultural principles.
But critics have warned that such a candidate is unelectable in broad swathes of America – and Republicans have gleefully held the self-avowed democratic socialist up as the far-left face of the Democratic Party. Still, on Tuesday night in New York City, he was a winner.
By running against and defeating Cuomo, a former New York governor who is himself the son of a governor, he has vanquished the entrenched Democratic establishment viewed by many on the left as woefully out of touch with their party and their nation.
Because of this, Mamdani’s campaign for mayor has generated voluminous media attention, perhaps more than a municipal election, even one for America’s largest city, deserves.
It also means that, as mayor, his successes – and failures – will be closely scrutinised.
Twelve years ago, Democrat Bill de Blasio won his race for mayor on a platform of addressing New York City’s economic and social inequalities. Like Mamdani, Americans on the left had high hopes that his administration would provide a national example of effective liberal governance.
De Blasio, however, departed office eight years later widely unpopular and with a mixed record of achievements as he struggled with the limits of his mayoral power to implement new policies.
Mamdani will have to grapple with those same limits – and those same expectations.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a fellow Democrat, has already said she opposed raising the kind of taxes necessary to fund Mamdami’s ambitious agenda.
And even with sufficient funding, Mamdani would not be able to implement programmes unilaterally.
He campaigned as a sharp critic of the corporate and business elite that call New York City their home, and have made Manhattan the financial capital of the world. To effectively govern, he will probably have to make some form of peace with those interests, however – a process he has already begun in recent weeks.
He has also condemned Israel’s conduct during the Gaza war and pledged to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a war criminal if he sets foot in New York City, a promise that could be tested at some point during his term.
All those are problems for a later date, however. For now, Mamdani will need to set about the task of defining himself on the public stage – before his opponents do.
While his campaign has generated national attention, he is still a blank slate for much of America.
A recent CBS poll indicated that 46% of the American public were following the New York mayoral election “not closely at all”. That provides both an opportunity and a challenge for Mamdani and the American left.
Conservatives from President Donald Trump down will be trying to paint the newly elected mayor as a socialist menace, whose policies and priorities will bring ruin to America’s largest city and present a danger if embraced by the nation as a whole.
They will amplify every stumble and highlight every negative economic indicator or crime statistic.
[BBC]
A former United Nations special rapporteur who investigated Israeli abuses against Palestinians says he was interrogated by Canadian authorities on “national security” grounds as he travelled to Canada this week to attend a Gaza-related event.
Richard Falk, an international law expert from the United States, told Al Jazeera that he was questioned at Toronto Pearson international airport on Thursday alongside his wife, fellow legal scholar Hilal Elver.
“A security person came and said, ‘We’ve detained you both because we’re concerned that you pose a national security threat to Canada,’” Falk, 95, said on Saturday in an interview from Ottawa, the Canadian capital. “It was my first experience of this sort – ever – in my life.”
Falk and Elver – both US citizens – were travelling to Ottawa to take part in the Palestine Tribunal on Canadian Responsibility when they were held for questioning.
The tribunal brought together international human rights and legal experts on Friday and Saturday to examine the Canadian government’s role in Israel’s two-year bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which a UN inquiry and numerous rights groups have described as a genocide.
Falk said he and his wife were held for questioning for more than four hours and asked about their work on Israel and Gaza, and on issues of genocide in general. “[There was] nothing particularly aggressive about his questioning,” he said. “It felt sort of random and disorganised.”
But Falk said he believes the interrogation is part of a global push to “punish those who endeavour to tell the truth about what is happening” in the world, including in Gaza.
[Aljazeera]
Pakistan have won the toss and elected to field first. The game is played on the same wicket the first ODI was played on, with a high-scoring affair expected.
With the series already wrapped up, the home side have rung the changes in Rawalpindi, with four men who played the second game sitting out. Haseebullah Khan makes his ODI debut at the top as Saim Ayub sits out, while Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah and Abrar Ahmed all drop to the bench. Faheem Ashraf, Muhammad Wasim and Faisal Akram all come in as well.
Sri Lanka, too, have made four changes, with captain Charith Asalanka sitting out because of illness. Middle-order batter Pravan Ratnayake, fast bowler Eshan Malinga and spinner Jeffrey Vandersay play their first games this series.
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Haseebullah Khan (wk), Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Agha, Hussain Talat, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Shaheen Afridi (capt), Haris Rauf, Faisal Akram
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis (wk, capt), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Pavan Rathnayake, Janith Liyanage, Kamindu Mendis, Maheesh Theekshana, Pramod Madushan, Eshan Malinga, Jeffrey Vandersay
[Cricinfo]
Latest News
Bavuma, Harmer and Jansen script sensational South Africa win at treacherous Eden Gardens
South Africa started the day staring at defeat, only 63 ahead with three wickets in hand, but registered a stunning win, their first in India in 15 years and the second-smallest successful defence in Asia. The whooping and cheering among the South Africa players echoed amid a shocked Sunday crowd at Eden Gardens as the visitors bowled India out for 93 in the absence of their injured captain Shubman Gill.
Temba Bavuma was ever present, scoring the only half-century of the match and taking South Africa to a formidable lead of 123 on a pitch with extravagant sideways movement and variance in bounce. He was helped a little by some ordinary spin bowling on the third morning, but he had earned the errors after defending resolutely on the second evening.
The target of 124 was always going to be tricky with Simon Harmer outbowling India’s spinners in the country where he had a forgettable tour in 2015-16. The uneven bounce made Marco Jansen a handful, causing the double jeopardy you need to defend small totals.
Brief scores:
South Africa 159 in 55 overs (Aiden Markram 31; Jasprit Bumrah 5-27, Mohammed Siraj 2-47, Kuldeep Yadav 2-36) and 153 in 54 overs (Temba Bavuma 55*, Corbin Bosch 25; Ravindra Jadeja 4-50, Mohammed Siraj 2-2, Kuldeep Yadav 2-30) beat India 189 in 62.2 overs (KL Rahul 39: Marco Jansen 3-35, Simon Harmer 4-30) and 93 in 35 overs (Washington Sundar 31, Axar Patel 26; Simon Harmer 4-21, Marco Jansen 2-15, Keshav Maharaj 2-37) by 30 runs
[Cricinfo]
Search continues for Royal Navy crew member missing off Donegal coast
Former UN rapporteur who investigated Israeli abuses interrogated in Canada
Pakistan opt to field in 3rd ODI, Asalanka out with illness
Bavuma, Harmer and Jansen script sensational South Africa win at treacherous Eden Gardens
Colombia’s Petro inks $4.3bn deal for 17 fighter jets amid regional tension
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