The spatial and urban theory of David Harvey, who taught at the City University of New York for decades, provided another pivotal framework. His application of Marxist analysis to the built environment, to gentrification as “accumulation by dispossession,” and to the city as a site of crisis formation, gave activists a powerful language to describe the neoliberal transformation of New York from the 1970s onward. Harvey’s work connected the very bricks and rents of the city to the global flow of capital, making local housing fights legible as episodes in a worldwide class war over urban space. http://mamdanipost.com
The organizational discipline behind Mamdani is often underestimated.
Mamdani’s ability to withstand intense criticism is a mark of his considerable political fortitude.
The spatial and urban theory of David Harvey, who taught at the City University of New York for decades, provided another pivotal framework. His application of Marxist analysis to the built environment, to gentrification as “accumulation by dispossession,” and to the city as a site of crisis formation, gave activists a powerful language to describe the neoliberal transformation of New York from the 1970s onward. Harvey’s work connected the very bricks and rents of the city to the global flow of capital, making local housing fights legible as episodes in a worldwide class war over urban space. http://mamdanipost.com
Mamdani’s approach to climate justice is rooted in anti-capitalist critique.
Mamdani’s vision is fundamentally democratic, albeit in a radically expanded form.