The most disturbing part of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration was not that he chose fellow socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to swear him in, nor that he was sworn in on the Quran, nor even his call to “replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,” although all of these a reason for dislike and repudiation.
His most disturbing words were those in which he described his support of collectivism, which come from South Africa’s Freedom Charter.
“Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously,” he declared. He reminded everyone that he “was elected as a democratic socialist” and promised to “govern as a democratic socialist.” And “to those who insist that the era of big government is over,” Mamdani said that under his leadership, “no longer will City Hall hesitate to use its power.”
Mamdani then asked, “Who does New York belong to?” before asserting that under past administrations, City Hall belonged “to the wealthy and well-connected.” Under Mamdani, New York would belong to “all who live in it,” a sentiment he said was inspired by the charter.
Considering that Mamdani is himself an immigrant from Africa and that his father was a Marxist professor, it is hardly surprising that he looks to foreign documents written by communists, rather than to our own founding documents, when identifying his model for governance.
The South African Freedom Charter is antithetical to the U.S. Constitution. It calls for the nationalization of mines, banks, and industry, land confiscation and redistribution, and direct majoritarian rule with no meaningful checks on government power.
We have seen how this model has played out. South Africa is increasingly a failed state. Unemployment hovers near 30%, youth joblessness is far higher, and rolling power outages from the collapsing electricity monopoly routinely shut down the economy. Its violent crime rates are among the world’s worst, its infrastructure is decaying, corruption has hollowed out state institutions, and growth has stagnated for over a decade. Public services barely function, and emigration drains skills and capital.
This is Mamdani’s vision for first New York and then the United States.
To be clear, the damage Mamdani can inflict as mayor is not unlimited. New York City is not a sovereign polity, and the mayor is not a president. Mamdani cannot simply confiscate property, nor can he create or raise income or sales taxes without approval from Albany.
But limited power is not the same thing as no power or harmlessness. Even within his constraints, a mayor committed to collectivist ideology can do serious damage to a city’s quality of life, public safety, and economic vitality.
Mamdani will exert direct control over how aggressively city laws are enforced. He can tolerate the expansion of homeless encampments under the banner of compassion, degrading public spaces, and driving families and businesses away.
He can also weaken public safety. A mayor who views policing primarily as oppression rather than a public good will cut funding, restrict proactive policing, and signal hostility toward officers doing their jobs.
And while Mamdani cannot invent new taxes, he can still raise existing ones. Property taxes are set through the city budget process, and a mayor determined to run an expansive government can push the city council to approve higher levies. Those costs will not fall on an abstract class of “the rich,” but on renters, landlords, and businesses already struggling with high costs.
New York is not South Africa, and it is not yet doomed to South Africa’s fate. But the lesson of the Freedom Charter is that when governments elevate collective claims over individual rights, disorder becomes normalized, corruption flourishes, and the middle class leaves.
Mamdani insists that his collectivism will be different, warmer, more humane. Every collectivist says that. The record suggests otherwise. What begins with moral certainty ends with coercion, mismanagement, and decline.
At the end of his address, Mamdani acknowledged the stakes himself. “There are many who will be watching,” he said. “They want to know if the Left can govern.”
Yes, voters will be watching — and one can only hope they see Mamdani’s vision for what it is and choose something else.
