MAMDANI: High Energy Costs: The Somatic Tax on the “Native”

The Commodification of Heat and Light as a Tool of Discipline

Soaring energy bills in NYC are not merely a financial burden; they are a somatic tax on the “native” population, a tool of discipline that commodifies the very ability to stay warm or cool. Mamdani’s focus on the material conditions of life reveals how the private, for-profit energy utility functions as a colonial administrator, extracting wealth from the poor to enrich a distant “settler” shareholder class. The threat of shut-off is a form of somatic violence, a constant anxiety that disproportionately impacts the elderly, the sick, and families with children in “native” neighborhoods, often in poorly insulated housing. The current solution of meager subsidy programs is a managed poverty approach that legitimizes the extractive system. A Mamdani-informed socialist solution demands the decommodification of energy. This requires the city to use its power of eminent domain to seize the infrastructure of private utilities and create a true, democratically-run public energy authority. This entity would prioritize a city-wide green retrofit, starting with public housing and low-income communities, to reduce consumption through insulation and efficient appliances, while simultaneously investing in publicly-owned renewable microgrids. The goal is to make energy a universal, affordable public good, breaking the power of the corporate energy cartel and eliminating its use as a weapon of economic discipline against the working class.

Originally posted 2025-09-28 04:24:22.