When New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani announced his run for mayor of New York City, few in Canada were likely paying attention. But in the wake of Mamdani’s inspiring win, the Canadian chattering class, from the pundits to political candidates across the political spectrum, have decided that Canada needs a “Mamdani moment.”
Every pundit, Twitter user, and left-wing politician in the country seemed to have a take on how the Canadian left could take advantage of Mamdani’s win. If the Left played its cards right, they argued — if it embraced videos of candidates walking and talking in urban settings, copied his ground game, adopted bold ideas, or, most simplistically, called itself democratic socialist — then maybe, just maybe, Canada could have its own “Mamdani moment.”
Comparison is natural, and failing to learn from Mamdani and the New York City left would be a mistake. But so far, the lessons drawn appear to stop at digital tools and communications strategies featuring stylized text and quick-cut videos of candidates speaking directly to the camera as they stroll through their communities.
It doesn’t work like that.
Canadian socialists can and should study Mamdani’s victory. But not as a template to be copied wholesale. It’s time to start searching for our “moment” at home. That means building a genuinely homegrown, authentic left-wing ecosystem in Canada and fighting for a truly local vision of Canadian socialist politics — a lesson that applies just as much to socialists elsewhere, even if the Left in some of those countries, now also looking to the “Mamdani moment,” is not as sclerotic as in Canada.
Antonio Gramsci describes a war of position as a long-term effort to create counterhegemonic culture, organic intellectuals, and class consciousness. In many ways, Mamdani’s victory in New York City represents a win in precisely this kind of war of position, one that the Left and New York City Democratic Socialists of…
Auteur: James Adair
