On the first day of the new year, Zohran Mamdani took his oath as mayor of New York before a few thousand people on the steps of city hall, while tens of thousands more watched on screens on a closed street nearby. Samuel Earle, who was there, reads the moment as more than a change of office: it is a bet that a city can be governed by people who are invited into the room rather than kept outside it. Such openness runs against decades in which politics was taught to feel like a burden, and the question now is whether that invitation can outlast the cheering.
At Mamdani's Block Party, a Simple Truth: People Want More Politics, Not Less
A collective life, not a quiet one
Mark
Why does a block party matter for an inauguration?
Mimi
Because Earle reads it as the argument itself. Thousands attended in person, tens of thousands watched on screens, and volunteer leads got most of the seats.
Mark
What's the participation record he points to?
Mimi
A viral video in Queens and the Bronx, a scavenger hunt, a football tournament, a jobs portal with 74,000 applications, and 15-minute listening slots over 12 hours.
Luke
Worth saying this is a commentary piece. The events are reported, but the claim that they reject neoliberalism is Earle's interpretation.
Mark
And the Starmer comparison?
Mimi
Earle quotes Starmer in January 2024 wanting a politics that treads lighter, and calls his unpopularity a warning.
Luke
Careful, though. He asserts Starmer assumed people want less politics, and links that to unpopularity. That's an argument, not a demonstrated cause.
Mark
What about the 104,000 volunteers?
Mimi
That figure comes from the mayor's own pamphlet, so it's his campaign's number.
Luke
Right, and nothing here shows whether participation can survive governing. The free childcare, buses and rent freeze are promises so far.
Mimi
Mamdani himself says the campaign can't end. Whether that holds is the thing to watch.
Der Puls
- A mayor sworn in outside city hall, with thousands in the square and tens of thousands more crowding a closed street to watch on giant screens.
- Decades of cynicism about government have left voters doubting politics and turning away, and the new mayor is trying to reverse that pull.
- Volunteer armies, a jobs portal flooded with 74,000 applications, and 15-minute listening slots show a campaign that refused to stop recruiting people.
- The crowd chanted 'tax the rich' and the pamphlets thanked over 104,000 helpers, so the energy now has to be turned into government.
- Free childcare, free buses and a rent freeze are the promises that will test whether participation can survive the grind of governing.
On the first day of the new year, Zohran Mamdani took his oath as mayor of New York before a few thousand people on the steps of city hall, while tens of thousands more watched on screens on a closed street nearby. Samuel Earle, who was there, reads the moment as more than a change of office: it is a bet that a city can be governed by people who are invited into the room rather than kept outside it. Such openness runs against decades in which politics was taught to feel like a burden, and the question now is whether that invitation can outlast the cheering.
On 1 January, Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as mayor of New York outside city hall. A few thousand people stood in front of him, and a nearby Manhattan street had been closed so tens of thousands more could watch on enormous screens. Samuel Earle was there, and he described a cloudless blue sky with biting arctic wind, a fitting mix of permission to dream and warning against complacency.
Mayors rarely take office this way. A smaller, more exclusive ceremony is the norm. Earle argues that mass participation drove Mamdani's rise, and the open invitation was a natural extension of that. The campaign kept finding ways to bring people in, from a viral video recorded in Trump-leaning parts of Queens and the Bronx, to a volunteer army of canvassers, to a city-wide scavenger hunt and a jobs portal that drew 74,000 applications. In his victory speech he said politics was no longer something done to people: 'Now, it is something that we do.'
Earle sees these efforts as part of a wider rejection of the old neoliberal consensus, which treated government as an obstacle and welfare as a grudging favour. Mamdani's agenda pairs universalist welfare, including free childcare, free buses and a rent freeze, with a commitment to keep involving people. 'I don't think the campaign can end,' he told an interviewer.
The inauguration carried that spirit forward. The crowd chanted 'tax the rich,' volunteers held most of the seats, and every attendee received a pamphlet thanking the more than 104,000 people who made the day possible. In his closing speech Mamdani promised a 'new era' of big government and said: 'If our campaign demonstrated that the people of New York yearn for solidarity, then let this government foster it.'
Earle warns that the question now is whether he can keep the energy alive while governing. Starmer's experience is a cautionary tale: he assumed voters wanted less politics, and the silence was soon filled by louder voices. Mamdani has promised the opposite, telling the crowd: 'It will be loud, it will be different.'
On 1 January, Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as mayor of New York outside city hall, in front of a crowd of a few thousand. A nearby Manhattan street had been closed to traffic so tens of thousands more could watch on enormous screens. The writer, Samuel Earle, was among those present. He describes the weather as a cloudless blue sky with arctic winds, which he took as a fitting mix of license to dream and warning against complacency.
Mayors rarely take office like this. A smaller, more exclusive ceremony is the norm. But Earle argues that mass participation has been central to Mamdani's rise, and an open-invitation party followed from that.
The campaign kept finding ways to bring people in. It began in November 2024 with a viral video in which Mamdani interviewed people in parts of Queens and the Bronx that had swung heavily to Donald Trump. A volunteer army grew for canvassing and door-knocking, and he praised it in his speeches. In August last year he ran a city-wide scavenger hunt that thousands joined, followed not long after by a football tournament. After winning in November, he opened a jobs portal for CVs and areas of interest, which drew 74,000 applications. In mid-December he offered New Yorkers 15-minute slots to talk through their problems, spread across 12 hours. In his victory speech he said politics is no longer something done to people: "Now, it is something that we do."
Earle insists these are not publicity stunts. He sees them as part of Mamdani's rejection of the old neoliberal consensus, just as his universalist welfare policies are. For decades, he writes, major western parties treated government as something to get out of business's way and to help people only grudgingly. Receiving welfare could feel like personal failure, and voting like wasted effort. Leaders encouraged the suspicion. Earle cites Ronald Reagan's line about the nine most terrifying words in English, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help," and Tony Blair's 2000 remark, "I don't feel myself a politician even now." As turnout fell or stalled and parties lost members and purpose, apathy set in. By 2006 the political scientist Peter Mair could describe governing western democracies as "ruling the void."
Earle credits Mamdani with seeing that this void holds interesting voices, overlapping interests and shared yearnings, and with saying openly that government should help. The agenda has two parts. One is universalist welfare: free childcare, free buses for all, and a rent freeze on all rent-stabilised apartments, without stigma over who "needs" them. The other is continuing to find ways to involve people, which is much harder in government than on the campaign trail. Mamdani told a recent interviewer: "I don't think the campaign can end."
The inauguration worked as both culmination and continuation. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders played supporting roles, as they had during the election. The crowd chanted "tax the rich," the campaign's unofficial soundtrack. Volunteer leads got most of the seats, and every attendee received a pamphlet carrying a message from the mayor that praised their efforts. It said the gathering was possible only because more than 104,000 friends and neighbours gave their time and energy. In his closing speech, a love letter to New York, Mamdani announced a "new era" of "big government" and said: "If our campaign demonstrated that the people of New York yearn for solidarity, then let this government foster it."
Earle notes Mamdani is not the first to answer this appetite for participation. Since the 2008 financial crash, movements across the political spectrum have emerged, fuelled by social media and disillusionment with major parties. Even Trump and Nigel Farage, with mass rallies and social media fluency, give supporters a sense of inclusion. But the negative view of politics persists, and Earle points to Keir Starmer's uniform unpopularity as a warning.
Starmer, he argues, assumed people wanted less politics. In January 2024, after 14 years of Tory misrule, Starmer called for a politics that "treads a little lighter on all of our lives," saying populism "needs your full attention" and is exhausting. The quiet did not last, Earle says, and noisy actors filled the silence. Mamdani, by contrast, told the crowd: "It will be loud, it will be different." The test ahead is whether he can sustain participation while delivering free childcare, free buses and the rent freeze.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
I don't think the campaign can end.— Zohran Mamdani, in a recent interview
If our campaign demonstrated that the people of New York yearn for solidarity, then let this government foster it.— Zohran Mamdani, inauguration speech
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Politics & Governance