FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The rise of Zohran Mamdani from a little-known member of the New York state assembly to the leading candidate in the New York mayoral election has sparked a new sense of optimism among left-wing politicians in Europe ahead of their local elections next year.
Party strategists from across Europe are making the journey across the Atlantic to learn about rising from anonymity.
They want to see if Mamdani's grassroots campaign, which has focused largely on affordability issues, will work in their cities and regions as well as it worked for him in the New York Democratic primary and potentially in Tuesday's general election.
Manon Aubry, the French co-chair of the left group in the European Parliament, which brings together the Socialist Democrats of Europe, left-wing populists and some communist lawmakers, traveled to New York last week where she participated alongside Mamdani's campaign activists in the final phase of the campaign.
Aubry and her party, France Unbowed, see Mamdani as an example of how to bring about "radical change" as they aim to make waves in municipal elections that will be held across France in 2026.
Germany's anti-capitalist Left party sent four officials to the Big Apple to meet with officials, including Mamdan's campaign strategist, Morris Katz. Party co-chair Ines Schwerdtner and Maximilian Schirmer, co-chair of the Left's Berlin branch, also paid a visit.
Liza Pflaum, parliamentary office manager for the Left's other co-chair, Jan van Aken, said she believed her party had exceeded expectations in Germany's federal elections in February by using the same playbook as Mamdani: focusing on cost-of-living issues, luring small donors and investing heavily in door-to-door volunteer operations.
Pflaum expects the Left to use Mamdani's current campaign as a model for her party's approach to Berlin's state legislative elections next September.
Asked about the impact on other progressives abroad, Mamdani said Sunday that the focus is local for him, for now.
"You know there's that 'New Yorker' cover where the world ends in New Jersey? That's what I'm trying to think about these next few days," he said.
French and British politicians say they are particularly impressed by the way Mamdani's team has employed a media strategy that capitalizes on their candidate's charisma, particularly the use of short clips on social media to reinforce the message of affordability while making him seem relatable.
“Mamdan’s victory in the Democratic primary is already a major political event, both because of what he ran on and how he ran it: His communication strategy, his use of social media. There are many things that we found inspiring,” said Danièle Obono, a France Unyielding lawmaker who will host a party to watch the election results live along with other party leaders on Tuesday.
Mothin Ali, deputy leader of the UK Greens, said British politicians tend to make “boring and simple” videos and that the left needed to perfect delivering voiceovers in a “sharp” way like Mamdani.
Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who now leads the new Your Party, said on X Sunday that he had called about Mamdani.
Mamdani's likely triumph over the experienced but scandal-ridden Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent after being defeated by Mamdani in the Democratic primary, is also the latest example of more moderate parties being sidelined by more radical forces on both sides of the political spectrum.
France Unbending has established itself as a dominant force on the left in the decade since former Socialist President François Hollande ended a single term in office in disappointment. But while France Unbending leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has had strong results in presidential races, the party has struggled to take control of local administrations and prove it can govern on a radical platform — a gap it hopes to close in next year’s municipal elections.
The Greens' candidate for mayor of Paris, David Belliard, said Mamdani's success in appealing to voters concerned about the cost of living, an issue that worries Parisians as well as New Yorkers, had confirmed his suspicion that his party needed to run a more progressive campaign, after spending more than two decades as a junior coalition partner with center-left mayors in the French capital who have done more to make the city greener than cheaper.
"We've spent a lot of time fighting against the end of the world, but maybe not enough time helping people make it to the end of the month," Belliard said. / Adapted from Politico/
Lini një Përgjigje