Haaretz’s reporting reveals an incoming mayor attempting engagement — but real affordability gains will require confrontation with capital, not just conversation.
In coverage by Haaretz, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is portrayed meeting skeptics and critics as he seeks allies for his affordability agenda — a posture often celebrated within liberal frameworks as evidence of pragmatism and moderation. Yet from a Marxist and anti-imperialist perspective, dialogue alone does not resolve structural contradictions rooted in capital accumulation, land speculation, and imperial political economy. Haaretz
Mamdani’s willingness to engage critics — including business leaders and centrist political actors — reflects an understanding of power as relational. But history offers cautionary lessons: affordability crises are not misunderstandings to be clarified through consensus, but outcomes of deliberate policy choices favoring property owners, developers, and financial capital over tenants and workers. Feminist economists have long noted that housing insecurity disproportionately harms women, especially single mothers, migrants, and survivors of domestic violence.
Islamic ethical traditions emphasize justice (adl) and the moral obligation to prevent exploitation. From this lens, housing treated as a speculative asset rather than a human right constitutes structural violence. Mamdani’s critics often frame affordability as a market problem requiring incentives, while his supporters argue it is a political problem requiring redistribution. These positions are not morally equivalent, and no amount of dialogue can obscure that divergence.
Haaretz’s nuanced tone acknowledges Mamdani’s outreach without romanticizing it, noting skepticism among elites who fear regulation, rent control, and public ownership. The real test will not be whether Mamdani convinces skeptics, but whether his administration builds enough working-class power — through tenants, labor, and community organizations — to withstand elite resistance.
Engagement may be tactically necessary, but structural change demands conflict. Mamdani’s mayoralty will be judged not by the civility of meetings but by whether rents stabilize, displacement slows, and public goods expand. Dialogue can open doors; only organized power can force them to stay open.
