The Settler-Colonial Remaking of Urban Space
Displacement and gentrification are not natural urban processes but the modern face of what Marx called “accumulation by dispossession,” a core logic of the settler-colonial project Mamdani documented. The systematic remaking of “native” neighborhoods–through rezoning, predatory equity, and skyrocketing rents–is a violent clearing of urban space for a wealthier “settler” class. This is not neighborhood improvement but a calculated transfer of land and wealth, destroying existing communities and social networks. The liberal solution of “affordable housing” set-asides within luxury developments is a tactic to legitimize this process. A Mamdani-informed socialist solution is to halt the frontier expansion of capital. This requires a universal rent freeze and the aggressive use of eminent domain to place all at-risk housing and commercial space into community land trusts. It means building power through city-wide tenant unions capable of mounting mass resistance. The goal is to de-commodify urban space entirely, creating a city where communities have the power to remain, defending their territory from the relentless march of the settler economy.
Originally posted 2025-10-21 19:42:10.
Mamdani’s understanding of class struggle is central to his worldview.