”Give him a follow, he’s going to go far.”

  • PKMKII [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    67·
    5 months ago

    Four years ago, you say?

    Okay it wasn’t his campaign, he and I were both working on a campaign for someone else. Still, absolutely bizarre feeling that I’ve sat and had a real, normal human conversation with the guy who’s likely to be the next mayor of NYC.

      • CoolerOpposide [she/her]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
        50·
        5 months ago

        He’s hiding them. His mayoral campaign specifically was not possible without real materialist analysis. We are living in an affordability crisis. You win by offering actual improving material conditions to the working class. We had a long chat about this

        • spectre [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
          40·
          5 months ago

          The takeaway for American Hexbear might be that in order to do something meaningful you might need to get on stage and firmly declare that “I am your DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST candidate for [x]” like Zohran did. It’s the proper materialist analystis (“socialism with burger characteristics” lol)

          It’s cracking me up to think about our users trying to do it but kinda throwing up in their mouths a little when they say the line. Or doing :lenin-shining: on the debate stage, and holding a “UNLIMITED GENOCIDE ON THE FIRST WORLD” deep in their chest while some ghoul is yapping at them. The tells would be so obvious to us watching haha, luckily it seems like Zohran is a true professional about it and maybe not as online-poisoned?

          • MizuTama [he/him, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
            2·
            5 months ago

            Bro I’ve already seen at least one comment somewhere hear calling us Dengist revisionists, if SWBC becomes a thing the infighting online will be hilarious

                • spectre [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
                  3·
                  5 months ago

                  Haha ok that’s what I thought

                  And honestly Zohran is just about exactly what I expect socialism to look like in the imperial core at its best. The true revolution will happen in the periphery (eyes on West Africa at the moment), but if westerners can do a genuine Democratic Socialism, they can assist comrades at the periphery by directing resources inward instead of toward the military and such, and even where unsuccessful at that, they create internal strife which also inhibits the empire’s ability to operate in opposition to the more substantial revolutions.

                  The US will probably be the last place to actually get Workers’ control over the means of production, dragged to heel by the rest of the world who moved on a decade or two before.

                  Hope I’m wrong though! Looking forward to the struggle sessions as Zohran does stuff and other US cities oust their democratic establishment!

  • UmbraVivi [he/him, she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    45·
    5 months ago

    I’ve been punched in the face by reality so many times recently that my take on Zohran becoming mayor of NYC is still “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Capital is not gonna give up without a fight and they’ve been fighting extremely dirty. Remember when Melenchon’s left coalition won an election in France like 2 years ago and the centrists just said “No”?

    That being said, even if they somehow ratfuck him and he doesn’t become mayor, just winning this election is itself monumental and a huge achievement. It’s undeniable proof that people want these kinds of politicians and that money isn’t enough to win a campaign. Definitely something to be proud of.

    • sewer_rat_420 [he/him, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
      12·
      5 months ago

      All the money and the most vile racist smears couldn’t come close to stopping him.

      I know its just one election (and I ain’t a demsoc) but I hope I’ll be forgiven if my revolutionary optimism is at a high.

    • CoolerOpposide [she/her]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      36·
      5 months ago

      AOC as a mayor would have a far different set of powers and goals, and would be leagues better than what we’ve had in decades. Hard to compare the position she is in to that of mayor, and I think the majority of us here would like her a lot more if she had been a mayor this whole time.

      That being said, Zohran will be a better mayor than she could be imo

      • CthulhusIntern [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        16·
        5 months ago

        And as the head of the executive branch in New York, Mamdani has more power in the municipal government than AOC in the federal government. Even if her head was once in the right place, she was doomed to get drowned out by the bloodthirsty establishment Dems. Mamdani has more ability to implement what he wants.

        • PorkrollPosadist [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
          5·
          5 months ago

          Nominally, he would be in charge of the NYPD, a paramilitary force with 40,000 armed goons. Obviously those goons are overwhelmingly fascists, and the institution as a whole cannot be reformed, but imagine simply not deploying the fucking riot squads and horse pigs the moment anti-genocide protesters pitch a tent on a college campus.

    • CoolerOpposide [she/her]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      10·
      5 months ago

      That’s called growth, comrade.

      I’ll still shill for AOC on occasion. She has a purpose in our movement whether we like it all of the time or not

    • CoolerOpposide [she/her]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      3·
      5 months ago

      The answer to your question, which I’ll get more into when I do a retrospective, is knowing we had NYC DSA in our proximity and would have enthusiastic people ready to do a lot of legwork for the campaign. It was a huge part of the calculus.

      As for making them red volunteers, I bet quite a few would