David Dinkens' legacy narrative has largely been written by his political opponents - ie, the Rudy Giuliani Republicans, ADL and allied groups, and the NYC police union (NYC PBA). Unfortunately, Mayor Dinkins lost control of his own story early on in his single term as Mayor. I don't think it helps Zohran Mamdani very much to use David Dinkens as a metaphor for his own campaign to be NYC's Mayor.
Interestingly, when Mandami won the primary, Chat GPT said he would be the first socialist mayor in NYC history., ignoring Dinkins. They've now corrected it and portray it pretty accurately
Agree that the Dinkins legacy got written by his opponents, so he left pretty unpopular, but his tenure proves the point that none of the predictions of doom came true.
Important lesson that needs to be mentioned especially in context of Dinkins mayoralty.
1. 1975 NYC Spearheaded neoliberalism with creation of the “Financial Control Board,” (FCB) in response to deindustrialized NYC’s need for public investment. The FCB essentially empowered more conservative NYS to effect a financial coup d’etat over NYC finances, and depending on the City’s deficit level.
2. Mayor Ed Koch preceded Dinkins and had run up the deficit, thus making the City vulnerable to a takeover.
3. consistent with this article, Dinkins ran with labor support on a progressive platform.
4. To kill his reforms in advance, the powers that be threatened an FCB takeover of City finances before his election.
As a result, Dinkin’s hands were tied, he lost labor’s support, and we wound up with capitalist thug Giuliani.
I support Zohran with open eyes. Winning the majoralty in Wall Street’s “Empire State” is merely step 1.
Love this. And yet, I think it's time and past time that modern democratic socialists update their language to reflect current ideas. In Sweden, Norway, Denmark and other successful countries who have consistently elected and re-elected progressive governments but who hate the former USSR and it's terminology, they call themselves "Social Democrats,' not socialists. Labels and language matter. The right has spent decades darkening the term 'socialism,' and you're not going to erase the stain by feeding into it. We need to claim our values loudly and proudly, without being mistaken for something very 19th and early 20th century.
David Dinkens' legacy narrative has largely been written by his political opponents - ie, the Rudy Giuliani Republicans, ADL and allied groups, and the NYC police union (NYC PBA). Unfortunately, Mayor Dinkins lost control of his own story early on in his single term as Mayor. I don't think it helps Zohran Mamdani very much to use David Dinkens as a metaphor for his own campaign to be NYC's Mayor.
Interestingly, when Mandami won the primary, Chat GPT said he would be the first socialist mayor in NYC history., ignoring Dinkins. They've now corrected it and portray it pretty accurately
https://chatgpt.com/c/68aca0b7-c66c-8321-a693-61970b774fef
Agree that the Dinkins legacy got written by his opponents, so he left pretty unpopular, but his tenure proves the point that none of the predictions of doom came true.
Important lesson that needs to be mentioned especially in context of Dinkins mayoralty.
1. 1975 NYC Spearheaded neoliberalism with creation of the “Financial Control Board,” (FCB) in response to deindustrialized NYC’s need for public investment. The FCB essentially empowered more conservative NYS to effect a financial coup d’etat over NYC finances, and depending on the City’s deficit level.
2. Mayor Ed Koch preceded Dinkins and had run up the deficit, thus making the City vulnerable to a takeover.
3. consistent with this article, Dinkins ran with labor support on a progressive platform.
4. To kill his reforms in advance, the powers that be threatened an FCB takeover of City finances before his election.
As a result, Dinkin’s hands were tied, he lost labor’s support, and we wound up with capitalist thug Giuliani.
I support Zohran with open eyes. Winning the majoralty in Wall Street’s “Empire State” is merely step 1.
Love this. And yet, I think it's time and past time that modern democratic socialists update their language to reflect current ideas. In Sweden, Norway, Denmark and other successful countries who have consistently elected and re-elected progressive governments but who hate the former USSR and it's terminology, they call themselves "Social Democrats,' not socialists. Labels and language matter. The right has spent decades darkening the term 'socialism,' and you're not going to erase the stain by feeding into it. We need to claim our values loudly and proudly, without being mistaken for something very 19th and early 20th century.