WARNING FROM HISTORY: Communists Robert Thompson and Benjamin Davis leave the Federal Courthouse in New York City during the 1949 ‘Foley Square Trial’ / Pic: CM Stieglitz/World Telegram & Sun/Library of Congress/CC
After Zohran Mamdani’s electoral win, BHABANI SHANKAR NAYAK points to the forgotten role of US communists in New York’s radical politics
AS THE dust of the recently concluded mayoral election settles in New York’s political consciousness, a new dawn begins.
Red babies are once again in the streets of Harlem, and it is now confirmed that 34-year-old Zohran Kwame Mamdani is the mayor-elect of New York City. Mamdani, a self-confessed socialist, is a member of both the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America.
His victory demonstrates that market-led bourgeois politics can be challenged and defeated by working people united around a clear, progressive political agenda.
New York is one of the richest cities in the world, yet one in four of its residents lives in poverty. The costs of housing, rent, childcare, transport, food and other essentials have become unaffordable for a dignified, basic life.
In this wealthy city, more than 500,000 children go to bed hungry each night. In response to such acute crisis, Mamdani offers politics of hope in the hopeless world of racialised capitalism in US.
Mamdani’s campaign promised to freeze rents, reduce the cost of childcare, double the minimum wage, provide free public transport and increase corporate tax rates. He also pledged to establish city-owned grocery stores, expand mental health services and promote community safety across New York.
These progressive policies are not radical enough for a total transformation but the policies are a necessary response to the times and essential for the survival and dignity of working people in New York.
In an age of resurgent fascism, the left can fight back and win
Zohran Mamdani’s triumph in the contest for the New York mayoralty is a historic moment. He has crushed Andrew Cuomo – but more importantly, the brand of politics that the Democratic Party establishment represents.
He now has the opportunity to ensure that it is the US left which assumes the leadership of the movement against Trumpism.
He has won over half the vote, defying the opinion polls, and he is the first mayoral candidate to win over a million votes since John Lindsay in 1969.
The socialist left – the authentic, real deal, unapologetic, loud and proud socialist left – will now take power in New York City, the biggest and important city in the United States. In age of darkness, one of the great centres of the Western world has elected a socialist who stands against capitalism, against racism, against genocide.
This is a historic moment – and the consequences will reverberate not just around the United States, but across the Western world and indeed beyond. There are so many lessons that we must now learn so that what is today triumphed in New York will tomorrow take power at national level across the West – and drive back the rising tide of fascism.
Federal agents wrestle an individual to the ground during a raid on the Canal Street area of New York City on Tuesday, October 21, 2025. (Image: Screengrab/FreedomNews.TV)
“Once again, the Trump administration chooses authoritarian theatrics that create fear, not safety,” said NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
More scenes of chaos and community anger erupted Tuesday night in downtown New York City as federal agents under the orders of President Donald Trump targeted a popular area for street vendors, many of them immigrants struggling to get by, and shoppers looking for more affordable bags, clothing, and other accessories than what’s available in retail stores.
Illegal street vending is a well-known practice in the Canal Street area of Chinatown. Still, the arrival of masked agents and military-style vehicles on Tuesday devolved into another episode of violence in Trump’s America, with frightened vendors running for their lives and passersby expressing outrage over the violence being used against the unlicensed retailers.
NewsCopter 7 showed arrests taking place between Lafayette and Center streets in Chinatown, an area typically busy with merchants selling T-shirts, handbags, perfumes, and designer knockoffs, as New Yorkers faced off against federal agents.
The scene grew chaotic as vendors packed up their tables and attempted to flee, with several people seen running and falling as authorities from multiple agencies, including Homeland Security, ICE, DEA and the FBI, pursued them.
As agents tried to detain individuals, crowds of New Yorkers gathered, shouting and pushing in an attempt to intervene. Some bystanders were heard cursing at officers, one officer was seen pointing his taser at the angry crowd, and several arrests were made.
Footage from Canal Street posted online showed agents tackling vendors and the angry response from the crowds witnessing the heavy-handed raid:
Trump's Nazi ICE Gestapo has come to Canal Street in New York City to kidnap residents — and New Yorkers are having none of it. 😳👇 pic.twitter.com/olGgtLvjli
“Trump’s Nazi ICE Gestapo has come to Canal Street in New York City to kidnap residents—and New Yorkers are having none of it,” saidsocial justice activist Bill Madded in a social media post, pointing to the footage.
New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani also condemned the raid.
“Federal agents from ICE and HSI—some in military fatigues and masks—descended on Chinatown today in an aggressive and reckless raid on immigrant street vendors,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Once again, the Trump administration chooses authoritarian theatrics that create fear, not safety. It must stop.”
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for DHS, told the New York Times that the operation was led by ICE and others, including the FBI and Border Patrol, but did not, the newspaper reported, “immediately indicate the number of people arrested or disclose their immigration status.” Witnesses said agents were demanding proof of immigration status from those detained.
don't let anybody tell you ICE is underfunded, they're conducting an armed military raid on the Canal Street vendors right now and they brought a bearcat to combat the knockoff hermes bags pic.twitter.com/eHIbPPd7vo
The surprise raid, noted many observers, came just days after right-wing political commentator Savanah Hernandez, a Trump loyalist, posted a video of herself on Canal Street documenting the street vending scene and denigrating many of the immigrants who find work there.
“A few days ago, this far-right poverty tourist and provocateur discovered Canal Street,” noted Justin Brannan, a member of the New York City Council, referencing Hernandez’s recent video segment. “Today, Trump’s ICE cowboys marched in. They’re not hiding it. They’re telegraphing it now.”
As masked federal agents target street vendors on Canal Street, THE CITY watched one street vendor being detained.
As the operation carried on, agents were confronted with a spontaneous crowd of protesters.
While members of the New York community denounced the raid, Hernandez, who is not from New York City, took a bow for what she accepted as her role in instigating it.
“Illegal immigration and the crime tied to it have been plaguing your city,” Hernandez said with pride. “I make no apologies for reporting on what real New Yorkers have to deal with every single day.”
A statement from the office of New York’s Democratic Governor, Katherine Hochul, described Hernandez as “a bigot” and denounced the operation in the city.
This bigot @sav_says_ posts a video about Canal Street and less than 48 hours later, Trump sends in ICE.
Who this administration chooses to uplift and who they choose to attack says it all. pic.twitter.com/N10vR4Kua4
The afternoon raid sparked an impromptu protest in lower Manhattan outside federal buildings that lasted late into the evening, with residents denouncing Trump and the behavior of the agencies operating in the city.
“I am so angry. What are they doing to our city? It’s terrible,” Nicole Parcher, a New York City resident who attended the protest, told WABC.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Photojournalist Vural Elibol is being hospitalized after falling and hitting his head on the ground during a harsh intervention by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, in New York on September 30, 2025. (Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The shoving incident marked at least the second physical altercation involving an ICE official at the US federal court in New York in the last week.
A photojournalist at the US Federal Court in New York on Tuesday had to be taken to a hospital on a stretcher on Tuesday after an immigration enforcement official shoved another person into him, causing him to fall and hit his head on the floor at a US federal courthouse in New York City.
Gothamistreports that photojournalist Vural Elibol of the Turkish-based Anadolu Agency had to be hospitalized on Tuesday morning after a confrontation involving multiple masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.
Video of the incident posted on social media by photographer Stephanie Keith showed several people in the courthouse, along with at least three masked ICE agents, attempting to enter an elevator.
When an unidentified man attempted to get in the elevator with the ICE agents, one of them grabbed him and shoved him outside. At the same time, another ICE agent shoved a woman, identified by the New York Daily News as freelance photographer Olga Fedorova, away from the elevator, where she fell into Elibol and knocked him over.
Elibol was then seen writhing in pain on the ground while grabbing his head. Medical professionals subsequently showed up on the scene, placed him in a neck brace, put him on a stretcher, and took him to Downtown Hospital, according to the New York Daily News.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) so far has not responded to multiple publications’ requests for comment.
The shoving incident marked at least the second physical altercation involving an ICE official at the US federal court in New York in the last week. This past Friday, an ICE agent was caught on camera throwing an Ecuadorian asylum-seeker, Monica Moreta-Galarza, to the ground after she tearfully demanded the return of her husband, who had just been dragged away from her by masked agents.
Although DHS suspended the ICE officer in the immediate wake of the incident, CBS Newsreported on Monday that he had already been reinstated after a “preliminary review” of his actions.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Thousands march in New York City (Photo: Midia Ninja)
Protesters marched to the UN headquarters in New York, where they were joined by Colombia President Gustavo Petro
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the UN General Assembly, thousands of pro-Palestine protesters marched only a few blocks away to demand his arrest. Demonstrators first rallied in Times Square, hearing from a variety of speakers from organizations across the pro-Palestine and anti-war movement, then the crowd marched west to the UN headquarters.
Netanyahu gave his second UNGA address since the beginning of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza on the morning of September 26.
“Netanyahu is inside the UN right now. Having just spoken to a mostly empty room about Israel’s war on Gaza,” said Palestinian Youth Movement organizer Nidaa Lafi. “Rest assured Netanyahu, everywhere you go, you will be met with empty rooms.”
(Photo: Midia Ninja)
Over 100 diplomats from over 50 countries walked out of the UN General Assembly while Netanyahu spoke. The Israeli Prime Minister vowed to “finish the job” in Gaza, where over – including over – Palestinians have already been killed by Israeli forces.
Netanyahu also said the recognition of a Palestinian state would be “insane”, and akin to “giving al-Qaeda a state one mile from New York City after September 11. At the present moment, 157 out of 193 UN member states recognize Palestine as an independent state.
In an unprecedented operation, Israeli forces broadcast Netanyahu’s speech via loudspeakers within the Gaza Strip. In a step further, Netanyahu’s office claimed that the Israeli military had taken control of the phones of Gaza residents “and Hamas members” to broadcast the speech – though no evidence has thus far supported this claim.
“It’s clear more than ever that the interests of the Palestinian people are one and the same with American workers,” Nadya Tannous of the Palestinian Youth Movement told Peoples Dispatch. “Everyday human beings who want to see our tax dollars sent towards our infrastructure, our education, our healthcare, our children, rather than being sent in the billions to weapons for the state of Israel.”
“Our fates are all tied together as a global working class,” Navruz, a member of the United Auto Workers, told Peoples Dispatch while he was marching in New York City. “We’re all morally compelled. We’re seeing unions in Europe threaten to sh ut down ports, we see the power that workers have, and we need to be organizing in our workplaces, organizing with our coworkers to stop the genocide.”
Gustavo Petro addresses pro-Palestine demonstrators at UN (Photo via Palestinian Youth Movement)
When the crowd of thousands of demonstrators arrived at the United Nations headquarters, they were joined by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, days after delivering a scathing rebuke of Israel’s actions in Gaza at the UNGA.
“What is happening in Gaza is genocide. There is no other way to put it: it is an attempt to wipe out the Palestinian people,” Petro declared before the assembled crowd of protesters, standing alongside Pink Floyd musician and activist Roger Waters. Petro urged the people of the US to “disobey the order of Trump” and to instead “obey the order of humanity.”
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
