Politics' winning formula is an unapologetic progressive agenda

Mail & Guardian

a day ago

(Graphic: John McCann/M&G)
I have not been able to watch a single match of the football Club World Cup. I have glanced a bit at some games or caught up with the scores on social media.
It is not just the crass commercialism of the enterprise. While the world cup has been taking place in the United States, the self-styled 'home of the brave and land of the free', the US's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has been staking out parking lots at malls and court houses and rounding up anyone who they think looks like an immigrant.
There are reports of citizens, or those who have applied and are waiting for asylum, being arrested. Students who have participated in the Gaza anti-genocide protests have been labelled as terrorists and a danger to the US government. In this time, the US government agreed with the Israeli government's unprovoked bombing of Iran and called it self-defence. The US government itself conducted a midnight bombing of Iranian nuclear energy sites, claiming that they were weapon sites.
And what has now become normal is Israel, with the approval of the US, continuing to kill and shoot at Palestinians in Gaza who are scrounging for food and water. The world does not bat an eye when it is reported that a 100 people have been killed in Gaza in a day.
Yet there has not been a single protest or even a measly statement by Fifa officials, club owners or football players against the US government's destructive actions. Players have been known to take off their shirts, revealing happy birthday messages to loved ones or their religious commitment, but not one of them have had the courage to exclaim support for the people who are the racist targets of ICE or the people of Palestine. I wonder if the Club World Cup will have a 1936 Berlin Olympics Jesse Owens moment? Owens' success in the sprints and long jump disciplines famously trashed Hitler's racist Nazi philosophy.
But people are notoriously, deliciously dialectical and contradictory. If the football pitch, albeit overwhelmingly composed of people from working class backgrounds and so-called people of colour, cannot provide the inspiration to dare dream of an equal and better world, free from racism, poverty and inequality, then it will burst out elsewhere.
In New York City, in the Democrat Party primary for mayoral candidates, the world was reminded that it is not a crime or naïve to believe in a better world. Zohran Mamdani defeated Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York. Cuomo and his family are regarded as Democrat royalty, and usually that would be enough to ensure he secured the nomination of the party. Cuomo was backed by Democrat aficionados like Bill Clinton, the mainstream media, as well as the billionaires in New York.
New York billionaires, such as Bill Ackman and former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, together with other billionaires who had supported America's right-wing president, Donald Trump, pumped about $25 million into Cuomo's campaign to fight Mamdani. This is the largest Super PAC (Political Action Committee) in New York City mayoral campaign history.
The election for the mayoral position is scheduled to take place in November this year. Cuomo is ambivalent about whether he will run as an independent. Eric Adams, the incumbent mayor, who famously jumped from being Democrat leaning to Trump as stories emerged of his alleged corruption, is expected to be Mamdani's main rival — although there are whispers of Ackman running, as opposed to supporting another candidate.
Mamdani is only 33 years old, and has been serving as a member of the New York state assembly since 2020. Previously he was a university student. His only work experience besides being a politician, has been a housing counsellor and an attempt to be a hip-hop rapper.
But Mamdani also represents being a global citizen, with cultural influences from all over the world. Zohran, like his father, Ugandan-American academic Mahmoud Mamdani, author of Good Muslim, Bad Muslim, was born in Uganda. He lived there until he was seven years old, when they relocated to New York. He also stayed with his father in Cape Town in the late 1990s. His father had a famous fight with the University of Cape Town when he pushed for a radical change in curriculum to one that is decolonised and African-centred.
Zohran Mamdani is an immigrant. Besides his cultural roots in East and Southern Africa, his mother is Mira Nair, the Indian-American filmmaker. Her body of work includes Mississippi Masala starring Denzel Washington and the critically acclaimed Salaam Bombay. He is linked to the urbane inner city culture of Uganda and the US, with his hip-hop rap career. His mother's roots are in South India, and therefore her cultural religious background is Hindu, whereas his father is of Islamic origin. He is African, Asian, American and, with the British colonialism of both Uganda and South Africa, we could even say he is also European.
Mamdani's central message to New Yorkers was that it was his stated objective to make New York affordable for all New Yorkers, especially the working and middle classes. New York is the most expensive city to live in the US. He describes himself as a democratic socialist, exclaiming that he is inspired by the words of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, who said: 'Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country'. He also quotes King saying: 'What good is having the right to sit at a lunch counter, if you can't afford to buy a hamburger?'
Mamdani promised that, if elected, he would freeze rents for at least two million tenants, and would make certain bus routes have faster buses that are also free. He would provide universal day care for all New Yorkers. And he would pilot at least one government-owned grocery store in each of the five New York boroughs. He promised as well to employ social workers and counsellors to assist New Yorkers with mental health issues. Currently, the police are expected to help New Yorkers who mentally break down.
In the past Mamdani has publicly supported the Palestinian struggle, and he maintained that message throughout the campaign. He has called the 7 October attack by Hamas a war crime because it targeted civilians.
His campaign was not based on expensive television and radio commercials. Rather, he met everyone, personally walking the entire length of the city. Besides getting donations from the average New Yorker, his campaign also attracted 47 000 volunteers, who knocked on nearly every New Yorker's door.
After his stunning victory over Cuomo, countless mainstream and social media commentators started to speculate whether his campaign will have a direct effect on how the Democrat Party positions itself. Much has been made of his age and that young people, especially those who did not vote before, supported Mamdani. We can expect that the media and consultant talking heads will make it seem that it's his age, embracing of social media as the reason for his success, and harping on about his cultural identity — first Muslim, first South Asian and so forth.
This is a deflection. It is a continuation of the dumbing down of political activism. It seeks to make politics and who we support as theatre and entertainment, with savvy marketing gimmicks. Please do not fall for it.
The reason for Mamdani's appeal, even for Jewish people who knew of his support for the Palestinian struggle, is because of its authenticity; a genuine commitment to stand up to and deal with the daily struggles of the people. It is unafraid to be progressive and seeks no approval from the elite.
I hope the elite in South African politics are taking note. It is not about filling stadiums or glossy election manifestos. Or the numbers of views on TikTok and YouTube, but a believable commitment to a progressive agenda. Mirror Zohran Mamdani. Create a practical programme based on making life more affordable for the majority of South Africans. Let these programmes be your centre, not an opportunistic economic transformation programme that mainly revolves around lining your pocket and those of your friends.
In the South, many of us are playing political football in parliament and government, whereas outside of the political industry, people are being killed and maimed, and are starving and traumatised, just hoping that someone of note will join them in the struggle for a better South, better Africa and better world.
Donovan E Williams is a social commentator. @TheSherpaZA on X.