What Was Behind Zohran Mamdani’s Upset Victory and What Does This Tell Us About American Politics Today?: A Conversation with Liza Featherstone and Doug Henwood

In today’s episode we speak with Liza Featherstone and Doug Henwood about Zohran Mamdani’s upset victory in the recent primary for in New York mayor’s race.  We first learn more about this 33-year-old socialist, and remarkable campaign he and his team put together to defeat ultimate political insider and ex-governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo.  We probe behind the headlines to see the ways Mamdani’s platform was responding to a set of crises that the Democratic establishment chose to ignore.  We both address the onslaught of Islamophobic attacks on Mamdani, and also see what they mask—why is Zohran Mamdani both so reviled by some, and loved and championed by others?  And is this race about the future of the Democratic party, and why should we care?

Liza Featherstone is the author of Divining Desire: Focus Groups and the Culture of Consultation, published by O/R Books in 2018, as well as Selling Women Short: the Landmark Battle for Workers’ Rights at Walmart (Basic Books, 2004).  She co-authored Students Against Sweatshops (Verso, 2002) and is editor of False Choices: the Faux Feminism of Hillary Rodham Clinton (Verso, 2016). She's currently editing a collection of Alexandra Kollontai 's work for O/R Books and International Publishers and writing the introduction to that volume.

Featherstone's work has been published in Lux, TV Guide, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Ms., the American Prospect, Columbia Journalism Review, Glamour, Teen Vogue, Dissent, the Guardian, In These Times, and many other publications. 

Liza teachers at NYU 's Literary Reportage Program as well as at Columbia University School for International and Public Affairs. She is proud to be an active member of the New York City Democratic Socialists of America and of UAW local 7902.

Doug Henwood is a Brooklyn-based journalist and broadcaster specializing in economics and politics. He edited Left Business Observer, a newsletter, from 1986–2013, and has been host of Behind the News, a weekly radio show/podcast that originates on KPFA, Berkeley, since 1995. He is the author of Wall Street: How It Works and for Whom (Verso, 1997), After the New Economy (New Press, 2004), and My Turn: Hillary Clinton Targets the Presidency (OR Books, 2016). He’s written for numerous periodicals including Harper’s, The New Republic, The Nation, The Baffler, and Jacobin. He’s been working on a book about the rot of the US ruling class for way too long and needs to acquire the self-discipline to finish it.