The US, taking over from the UK and leading the food sector, made liberalism attractive through fast food, mass production, technological revolution, the film industry, education, automobile production, and the arms industry, thus transforming the world into a unipolar state.
The collapse of the Soviet Union, unable to resist liberal appeal, brought China’s controlled state capitalism to reality, effectively transforming the global worldview. Currently, in a world dominated by technology, production and governance are almost entirely dominated by liberal rules.
The allure of consumerism, social media, and the antisocial nature of the market mechanism have unfortunately made the rich much richer and the poor much poorer. A fair market economy for the rich and a beautiful world for the rich have emerged.
A Beautiful And Fair World For The Rich
According to OXFAM reports, the wealth of the richest 1 percent share world’s capital equally 50% for the 1 percent and 50% for the rest 99 percent of the population.
According to the same NGO’s report, 2,769 of the world’s richest people will have increased their wealth from $13 trillion to $15 trillion in 2024. What have you left behind, rich people? While millions of people live on less than $1… Let’s continue with OXFAM… According to the report, 44 percent of the world’s population lives on less than $6.85 a day. The wealth of the 80 richest is greater than the wealth of 4 billion people on Earth. We haven’t even mentioned the starving children and the people of Gaza… The market value of oligarch Elon Musk’s companies has surpassed $1 trillion…
A just world for the rich, the poor people of the rich world, the poor people of the rich USA…”We must rise up and organize, we stand against governments that serve oligarchs, no to authoritarianism…” These words are now being recited in New York.
Democratic socialist and Muslim Zohran Mamdani, who won the mayoral race in New York, was chanting these slogans himself, his team, the pioneering and leading phenomenon socialist Senator Bernie Sanders, 90,000 volunteers, and the public. New York is the largest state in the USA… This is significant. In his campaign, the democratic socialist President said public transportation would be free, childcare would be opened, rents would be frozen, and there would be no discrimination against immigrants. He also stated that he would finance this by taxing the rich. In New York, the symbolic city of capitalism, a socialist candidate won the election with these rhetoric, a first in every respect.
Mamdani, who won the election with 50.6 percent, not only mobilized Generations Y and Z, but also all immigrants, people of different ethnicities, and baby boomers. Ninety thousand volunteers worked. Mamdani’s artist mother, professor father, and artist wife, who preferred to stay in the background, displayed a noble family stance. Bernie Sanders, a Baby Boomer, likely spearheaded the campaign. “If we are the richest country in history, why don’t we give free health insurance to all Americans as a human right—not a privilege? Why are 15 million working-age Americans excluded from the healthcare system with Trump’s so-called big bill? Why are premium payments for 20 million average Americans doubling? Why, according to Harvard research, 50,000 Americans will die every year from lack of treatment? Why are 800,000 Americans living abroad? Why are rents so high?” Senator Sanders, who said, “Let’s stand up and not allow authoritarianism and a government that serves the oligarchs,” was also using the exciting lines of socialism by saying, “Let’s create a government of the people, for the people and by the people.”
The traditional rhetoric and rhetoric of socialism held true, and socialism came to life in the New World. The Mamdani-Sanders coalition—of course, its elements even more so—was successful. The people came to power in New York, minorities came to power, immigrants, the poor, the unemployed, and those living on the streets came to power. In the richest country in the world, there should be no poor, no unemployed, no untreated, childcare centers, public transportation should be free for the public, and rents should not exceed 10 percent of income… The unethical question of the capitalists: “But how will you finance this?” The answer is easy: With additional taxes on the rich… Trump canceled billions of dollars in taxes and tax debts of the rich, and sent weapons purchased from tax revenues to Netanyahu… Is that even possible? You won’t be able to do it, because now there’s Uncle Bernie Sanders and democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani… Trump, who is trying to send immigrants away, forgets and fails to see: Immigrants are in agriculture, tourism, domestic service, the pandemic, nursing, elder care, and child care. Hey Trump, those who think they’re “All American” don’t do these jobs. Where are you sending immigrants?
Look, immigrant Zohran Mamdani became mayor, the poor came to power, and they’ll get a share of the wealth. In his victory speech, Mamdani challenged Trump, saying, “I have a few words for you,” and he put it beautifully: “New York is a city of immigrants, it will remain a city of immigrants, it was founded by immigrants, and from this day forward, it will be governed by an immigrant…” By combining intellectual discourse with lyrical rhetoric, he roused his supporters to the heights of enthusiasm. He also got increasingly excited by saying, “I am a Muslim, an immigrant, a democratic socialist, and I am for the working population, and I refuse to apologize for any of these.”
Time For Socialism? Or A Return To Public Government?
Let’s return to our topic… What do you think? With a successful campaign, can the Zohran Mamdani-Bernie Sanders coalition, with the Y, Z, and Alpha generations have on their side, first spread democratic socialism in the US and then, just like liberalism, spread it around the world? I don’t think it’s a premature question. But I must remind you of this. Let’s block this conviction for the opposition: Will the socialist movement be successful in organizing against the government, dynasty, despotism, and authoritarianism, in action, in implementation, in problem solving, and in all-out development? Now is the time to prove it. It’s the bitter contradiction of left-wing politics. Coming to power and then quickly leaving it… Let Zohran Mamdani be the exception, and let Uncle Bernie Sanders be his comrade… So, will Zohran Mamdani also become president of the United States? This is a premature question, right there.
Prof. Dr. Ali Akdemir, Arel University Faculty Member, aliakdemir@arel.edu.tr
About Post Author
