Mayor Mamdani: South Africa is the model for New York

It was a performance worthy of an Oscar or maybe a Tony. Mayor   Zohran Mamdani’ s address at his swearing in ceremony on New Year’s Day electrified the freezing crowd every bit as much as it shocked the Democratic establishment, and perhaps even the 50 percent of New Yorkers who didn’t vote for him.

The newly-minted Mayor had the stage, but graciously acknowledged that the real star was socialism. “I was elected as a Democratic Socialist and I will govern as a Democratic Socialist.” He hailed an “era of big government,” vowed to govern “expansively and audaciously” and said he would “set an example for the world.”

The grimace-cum-smile on Chuck Schumer’s face – sitting hostage-like behind the mayor, who he has yet to endorse or even say if he voted for – told its own story about exactly how thrilled the mainstream Democratic party is to go into the midterms later this year, and more importantly the 2028 presidential campaign, with Mayor Mamdani as the party’s principal standard bearer. At some point grinning and bearing it won’t be an option, the radical Mamdani platform will have to be embraced or disavowed. It won’t be pretty.

So what can New Yorkers look forward to under their energetic and muscular new form of socialism? Mayor Mamdani gave them clues, advising them to “look to Madiba and the South African Freedom Charter.” The charter that Madiba – Nelson Mandela – helped forge with the ANC was the blueprint for post-apartheid South Africa. It opens with the words “our people have been robbed of their birthright to land, liberty and peace by a form of government founded on injustice and inequality.” Suggesting that apartheid is alive and well in New York will have brought another big gulp from Schumer and the Democratic establishment. The Democrat Socialists of America have so far failed to persuade the country that apartheid exists in Israel, so it’s ambitious to think they can make the case for its existence in New York. This is testing the very limits of grievance politics. And the current almost failed state that is South Africa, with white farmers fleeing to America as refugees, bodes particularly ill as a template for New York.

As in South Africa, the enemy in Mamdani’s New York is often white people. He has already vowed to target “whiter neighborhoods” for higher taxes. In his inaugural speech he zoned in on another set of unprosecuted criminals: billionaires. They think they “can buy our democracy” and for too long New York has belonged to “the wealthy and well-connected.” Billionaires seemingly the scourge of the city and also neatly the solution to its problems – just increase their taxes.

However, the Robin Hood mask slipped when Mamdani spoke about plans to fix the “long-broken property tax system,” which will not see billionaires and oligarchs pay more, but middle-class property owners. According to a report from the liberal think tank the Fiscal Policy Institute, even more tax rises will have to be imposed to fund his universal childcare program – tax hikes on corporations and millionaires alone won’t cover the bill for the program. Governor Kathy Hochul, another hostage on the stage behind Mamdani, will have to sign-off on his tax plans and has, so far at least, signaled reluctance to.

It’s no coincidence that signs for “No-Flo” – New York’s hottest new neighborhood – are cropping up across the city’s underground system. It is, of course, an upscale housing development in North Florida. But the well timed, eye-catching signs and lure of low taxes and sun will turn the heads of ordinary New Yorkers. It’s not just the mobile top one percent of New York taxpayers, those who pay about 40 percent of the city’s personal income tax revenue, who might pack up and leave the city.

Mamdani promised at the start of his speech that he had grand ambitions for New York and perhaps nowhere was that clearer than when he claimed that under his leadership society in the city would be remade to ”replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.” His campaign demonstrated to him that “the people of New York yearn for solidarity.” For most observers, the key take-away from his win was that he had accurately put his finger on the cost of living crisis. New Yorkers might be surprised to learn that they, in fact, voted to be less entrepreneurial, resourceful and self-starting.

The new mayor tailored much of his speech towards New York’s now sizable Muslim population by taking his oath of office on a Koran, speaking in Urdu, saying he stood alongside “halal cart vendors whose knees ache from working all day” and referencing “Palestinian New Yorkers in Bay Ridge.” Muslims are now a major voting block that his campaign courted and who repaid him with votes. The number of Muslims in New York has risen to nearly one million, representing nine percent of the population. They cannot be ignored.

That the new mayor has box office star power is beyond doubt. Thousands lined up, at least seven blocks deep, in frigid weather, moving at a snail’s pace, just to gain entry to the post-inauguration block party along Broadway. Mamdani held them in the palm of his hand: they laughed at his jokes, booed Eric Adams – who incredibly appeared to be having the best time of all on the dais – and “chanted tax the rich.”

With a perfectly straight face Mamdani told the crowd, “love will be our guide as we pursue our agenda.” And “we will return the vast resources of this city to the workers who call it home.” They loved it, tears were shed.

Mayor Mamdani is, if nothing else, the leading man in New York’s latest chapter. An arts student, who has graduated from bit parts in his director mother’s films and from a rap career as Young Cardamom. Starring on Broadway, albeit the street rather than a stage in the theatre district, was perhaps the culmination of a life’s dream. Especially with supporting performances from established stars AOC and Bernie Sanders. New Yorkers like the rest of America are now desperate to find out how this show ends.