Letter

In response to ‘New York, this city belongs to you’: Zohran Mamdani’s victory speech

First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

Zohran Mamdandi’s victory speech was a call to the barricades if ever I heard one. The tone and confidence with which it was delivered recalled Winston Churchill’s words after the German army was turned back at El Alamein: a pivotal point of World War II; “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

It also triggered the words of the late great Leonard Cohen’s anthem: “First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.” We live in well-founded hope. Zohran Mamdani is more than a politician; he’s a statesman. And a warrior. Turn the volume up indeed, Mr Trump.

— John Mosig from Kew, 3101