"As he was sworn in outside city hall in front of a crowd of a few thousand of us, a nearby street in Manhattan was closed to traffic so that tens of thousands more could gather to watch the historic moment live on enormous screens. The weather a cloudless blue sky and arctic winds felt somehow fitting: a licence to dream and a warning against complacency."
"Throughout his mayoral campaign, Mamdani found novel ways to include people in his movement. It began in November 2024 with a viral video taking to the streets to interview people in parts of Queens and the Bronx that had swung heavily to Donald Trump in the election. As his popularity grew, he inspired an army of volunteers for canvassing and door-knocking whom he eulogised in his speeches."
"After his victory in November, he immediately opened a jobs portal where people could submit their CV and area of interest, prompting 74,000 applications. In mid-December, he invited New Yorkers to speak with him about their problems and concerns in 15-minute slots, across 12 hours. No longer is politics something that is done to us, he declared in his victory speech. Now, it is something that we do."
Zohran Mamdani inaugurated as New York mayor with a public block party and large crowds, signaling an emphasis on mass participation. His campaign used viral street interviews in Queens and the Bronx, volunteer canvassing, a city-wide scavenger hunt, and a football tournament to engage residents. After winning, he opened a jobs portal that received 74,000 applications and held twelve-hour sessions of 15-minute meetings for New Yorkers to raise concerns. He framed politics as collective action, saying it is something people do. These participatory tactics align with his rejection of neoliberal consensus and support for universalist welfare policies.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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