Talking ’bout a Revolution
By Bob Small
We’ve known John B since I arrived in Swarthmore as a legal immigrant from Philadelphia in 1988.
Recently, John B sent me an email asking my opinion on the recent election in his homeland of Brooklyn.
We should mention John is a fellow Lansman approaching his ninth decade. He is an artist, poet, and builds harpsichords in his spare time, which he has precious little of. He lives with his musician wife. This is an edited text of the email sent to him.
John, you should probably watch Watch the Final Mayoral Debate Live – New York City News Service It’s an hour long but we found it entertaining, We both thought Andrew Cuomo should never be given the levers of power until he’s finally incarcerated, in which case he could be felon-in-charge. If we lived in New York City, we would have worked for Curtis Silwa’s campaign as my wife’s daughter did. He’s the only candidate who works for animal welfare.
As for Zohran Mandami, many of his plans sound good, such as free bus fares, free universal child care and rent freezes but these may not be practical, unless he has the magic money tree in his backyard For such changes, he will need a natural support system on both a city and state level, and I don’t know where that comes from. We can’t hold his youth against him after castigating Joe Biden for his lack of same, but he’s only had four years in government. That, too, may be an advantage rather than a detriment.
As far as his being anti-semitic, read What NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has actually said about ..
Being Pro-Palestinian does not automatically make one an antisemite any more than being against pedophile priests equate to anti-Catholic. My position has always been that both sides, as is usual in most wars “have blood on their hands”.
The group I follow is Jewish Voice For Peace, though like most groups I follow, I disagree with some of their actions. If I wanted a group I always supported, I’d have to create it.
I’ve written many poems on this, all of which Benyamin Nethanyahu and Hamas will choose to ignore if I actually sent them to them. Why interrupt a good war for the sake of peace, anyhow.
As far as Mandani, we await the verdict of my wife’s daughter, currently ensconced in Brooklyn.
