Unless you are an avid fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as I am, chances are you’re not familiar with Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin – a deeply corrupt and monstrously ruthless supervillain, whose ambitious criminal enterprise finally lands him in the New York mayor’s office.
Fisk’s ascendancy to mayor of New York, often compared to the rise of US President Donald Trump, was so normal and natural in the irredeemably corrupt sphere of American politics – even in the fictional version – that the only force capable of opposing him was a blind vigilante lawyer, Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil.
Daredevil’s superhero qualities, attained after he lost his sight in a childhood accident, embodied the desperate aspirations of generations of Marvel fans to fight the power of Fisk’s corruption.
Then came Zohran Mamdani, the real mayor of New York, whose rise to power might only have been imagined through the superhero aspirations of Murdock.
Mamdani represents the moral courage and charismatic convictions of Murdock, now metamorphosed into the actual authority of the mayor of New York – with just one minor difference: Murdock is a Catholic Christian, while Mamdani is a Shia Muslim.
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In Mamdani’s figure, the desperate schizophrenic duo of Fisk and Murdock have finally come together, meeting in a widely loved and admired mayor who has frightened the living daylights out of genocidal Zionists and corrupt Democratic Party hacks alike.
They have no clue what to do with him. Good.
Meet the kingmaker
The recent New York Times headline was both panicked and concessional: “Mamdani Emerges as Kingmaker, Pushing His Slate to a Primary Sweep”.
The quiet part of this backhanded praise was that genocidal Zionists are losing their grip on what they thought was their city. It isn’t, and it never was.
The New York Times is a misnomer. It should be called the Tel Aviv Times. It alliterates better.
“Mayor Zohran Mamdani shook the Democratic establishment by helping drive three progressive candidates to victory,” the Times article noted.
Today, our own moral universe is trying to reconfigure its sense of right and wrong
That is a fact: Brad Lander, Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier are the three most recent tips of the iceberg that is unsettling the New York Times and its readers. These three bold and defiant candidates emerged victorious in their primary races last week, beating out opponents who were deeply rooted in the corrupt Democratic Party machinery.
Leading the victory chants after their triumphs was a chorus of “free, free Palestine”, punctuated by calls of “DSA” (Democratic Socialists of America). New York is palpably changing, and with it, perhaps the whole country.
Consider what Mamdani has done in the span of just a month. At the end of May, he dared to ditch the fascistic “Israel Day Parade” in New York, attended by far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, an enthusiastic proponent of Israel’s genocidal wars.
Then, in a speech on 18 June, Mamdani compared Aipac, the country’s leading pro-Israel lobbying group, to “monsters” dealing with “dark money”; and just days later, he led a sweep of three democratic primaries by decisively anti-Zionist candidates.
This is seismic.
A national trend?
Integral to this new slate of victories is a rainbow coalition of Jews, Christians, Muslims, African Americans, Arabs – you name it, they are there. And at the heart of their political activism is the central cause of Palestine, as the quest for Palestinian national liberation finally finds a footing in this country.
Mamdani says – clearly, openly and without any Obama-esque prevarications – that he does not believe in any state that privileges one religion over another, whether that is a Jewish state, an Islamic state or a Christian state.
Genocidal Zionists grind their teeth and grumble. But the world goes on, the discourse is changed, and the candidates Mamdani backed are poised to weather the storm and move on to the US Congress.
While the question of Palestine is central to this extraordinary rise of progressivism, it is imperative to remember that this noble cause is deeply intertwined with a broader programme of action – one that addresses the grassroots issues of the working class, and empowers the city’s vast demographic diversity.
Against generations of anti-Palestinian racism engineered by genocidal Zionist propaganda, Palestinians have now entered the collective political consciousness of the working and middle classes alike.
The key question now for pro-Israel establishment Democrats is whether this democratic uprising against corruption and cowardice will be limited to New York, or start spreading countrywide.
A Senate primary race is currently under way in Michigan, where another Aipac-backed candidate, Haley Stevens – who has said “Israel comes to me in my dreams”- is competing against Abdul el-Sayed, a physician who advocates medicare for all, the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and a halt to arms sales to Israel.
Establishment Democrats (many bought and paid for by Aipac) are quite nervous about that one, too – and so is the New York Times, where columnist Michelle Goldberg writes: “It’s perfectly understandable for mainstream Democrats watching this race to be anxious. I’m anxious.”
Proof in the pudding
Indeed, it is a nerve-wracking spectacle to see genocidal Zionism losing its grips on Americans.
As Goldberg recuperated from her anxieties about the Michigan race, news emerged that a similar headache was afflicting establishment Democrats in Colorado, where 29-year-old democratic socialist Melat Kiros roundly defeated Diana DeGette (another Aipac mouthpiece) in a Denver-area primary.
The New York Times notes that Kiros, in her campaign biography, “highlighted the fact that the Manhattan law firm where she once worked had fired her in 2023 after she refused to take down a letter that raised questions about Israel’s historical legitimacy, defended pro-Palestinian campus protesters and challenged the firm’s response to activist law students”.
With Zohran Mamdani’s win, the age of moral silence is ending
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Now what? New York is too “commie”, Michigan too Arab, and what about Colorado? Too Rocky Mountain High?
The issue must be seen in the context of people’s real needs and demands. The proof of Mamdani’s democratic socialism project is in the pudding: after just a few months in office, our mayor has tirelessly fought for the working class and for tenants, secured $1.2bn in state funding for universal childcare, recovered more than $9m in restitution for workers and small businesses, and won a $31m settlement for tenants – all while eliminating a $12bn budget deficit.
When it comes to the Gaza genocide and Palestinian rights, Mamdani and those he endorses are effectively weaving that cause into the fabric of a new American politics – a politics that Israel and its US-based advocates wrongly thought was too weak to bother watching.
To understand the importance of what Mamdani is doing, you need only compare him with his predecessor, Eric Adams, who left office in ignominy and rushed to Israel to announce: “I served you as the mayor.”
A key aspect of Daredevil’s unflinching sense of right and wrong is that as a devout Catholic, though a vigilante, he does not kill evil characters who cross his path; he just beats them to a pulp and sends them to hospital in time to repent. This distinguishes him from another character, Frank Castle, aka Punisher, who has no qualms about killing evil people. Their disputes on this issue form one of the most potent theological debates of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Today, our own moral universe is trying to reconfigure its sense of right and wrong. We need to watch over Mamdani, our daredevil mayor, and pray for his success in changing the very moral fabric of this city – and with it, perhaps the country.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
