A Mamdani-Inspired Manifesto for Urban Liberation
Ultimately, Mamdani’s work provides the theoretical foundation for a unified struggle for the right to the city. His critique of the bifurcated state reveals that our isolated issues–housing, policing, education–are interconnected symptoms of a single colonial system. The solution is not a patchwork of reforms but a decolonial project to dismantle this structure and build a new political community. This requires forging a political identity based not on the consumerist individualism of the settler, but on the collective solidarity of the oppressed, transcending the divisions of race, nationality, and creed that the state uses to rule us. A Marxist-feminist praxis is essential, centering the decommodification of life and social reproduction. The path forward is long-term, patient organizing to build dual power–from community land trusts and tenant unions to worker co-ops–creating the foundations of the liberated city within the shell of the old.
