Will Mamdani manage to liberate New York from brutal neoliberalism?

globinfo freexchange 

 

Fifty years ago, New York City was on the verge of collapse. The politicians who run the city had borrowed more and more money from the banks to pay for its growing services and welfare. But in the early 70s, the middle classes fled from the city and the taxes they paid disappeared with them. So, the banks lent the city even more. But then, they began to worry about the size of the growing debt and whether the city would ever be able to pay it back. And then, one day in 1975, the banks just stopped.

 

The city held its regular meeting to issue bonds in return for the loans, overseen by the city's financial controller. The banks were supposed to turn up at 11 a.m., but it soon became clear that none of them were going to appear. The meeting was rescheduled for 2 p.m. and the banks promised they would turn up.

What happened that day in New York, marked a radical shift in power. The banks insisted that in order to protect their loans, they should be allowed to take control of the city. The city appealed to the President, but he refused to help, so a new committee was set up to manage the city's finances. Out of nine members, eight of them were bankers.  

It was the start of an extraordinary experiment where the financial institutions took power away from the politicians and started to run society themselves. The city had no other option. The bankers enforced what was called "austerity" on the city, insisting that thousands of teachers, policemen and firemen were sacked.

This could be considered the first financial coup inside US soil by the power centers who started to promote a new (then) doctrine, called neoliberalism.

 

Half century later, neoliberalism offered nothing but suffer and destruction to the US working class and the working classes around the globe, as it managed to dominate and spread like a disease beyond the Western societies.

But the new generations, who actually born and raised inside this fraudulent ideology, are sick and tired from its false promises, who never materialize in real life. The winner of New York mayoral race, Zohran Mamdani, belongs to these generations. 

 

Mamdani actually promised to destroy the neoliberal project and start a reverse course for the city towards the welfare state and Socialism. And that's the main reason for which the established political duopoly is fighting so fiercely against him.  

New Yorkers start to realize that they need a real change. And after Mamdani's victory, the war from the establishment will become wilder. Yet, with the support of New York citizens, Mamdani could make the city a blueprint for the beginning of the destruction of neoliberalism across the US. Let's hope that he receives the appropriate support from the Left wing of the Democratic party which, unfortunately, has disappointed young, progressive voters so far.