by Stefano Vaccara
NEW YORK (ITALPRESS) – New York greeted 2026 with electric energy full of waiting. A few minutes after the descent of Times Square, Zohran Mamdani, 34 years old, officially became the mayor of the most important city in the United States. First Muslim, declared socialist: a combination that until a few years ago would seem unthinkable, today is reality. Its night opening, very powerful in the symbols, took place under the city, in an abandoned metro station next to City Hall. A place that tells the idea of New York as a public infrastructure, as a collective promise. Next to him was the young wife Rama Duwaji, of Syrian origin, now a symbol of a multiethnic New York that claims without fear its cultural and religious identity, in open contrast with the MAGA wind of homologation and exclusion. Letitia James (the prosecutor Trump wants to process for incriminating him), while Mamdani laid his hand on two Korans, one of the grandfather, the other to Arthur Schomburg, a tribute to African American history. Ten minutes just. But a passage along a generation.
The City Hall settlement ceremony is scheduled today, in front of an estimated crowd of over 40,000 supporters. The event will be held outdoors and will see the participation of numerous guests and famous faces of the political, cultural and entertainment world. An event that promises a lot of participation and high public visibility. To bring Mamdani to the power of the most important city in the world was above all an avalanche of young people. Under 30, students, precari, riders, first-time voters. Girls and boys who had never recognized themselves and therefore had not participated in the city policy and who decided to enter us by weight, driven by a keyword: accessibility. Cases too expensive, inefficient transport, impossible services. Mamdani spoke their language, social and street, without mediation. And they brought him to power. But now the hardest part comes. That generation that elected him is enthusiastic, but also demanding. He has no infinite patience or automatic fidelity. It can quickly move from energy to disappointment, from commitment to disincanto. If Mamdani wants to remain in New York City’s leadership for a long time, he will have to prove, very soon, that he can transform the language of hope into concrete results.
The challenges are enormous: a gigantic administrative apparatus, a city marked by deep inequalities, political tensions and strong identity. It is an ambitious agenda that requires resources, alliances, compromises. The slogans will no longer be enough. And yet, on that underground night, New York seemed to remember itself because it exists: because it occasionally dared. To the point of relying on a new generation, and although aware that the risk is high, immobilism would have been even more. Mamdani embodies the challenge of entering the future without leaving anyone behind. Now you have to prove that you can hold this huge responsibility.
– photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
