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The Class Struggle Reignited: Norman Finkelstein on Mamdani, Israel, and the War Against Dissent [1]
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Date: 2025-07-09
Dr. Norman Finkelstein, a political scientist known for his rigorous critiques of Israeli policy and U.S. complicity in Middle East injustices, has long stood at the intersection of scholarship and political activism. A graduate of Princeton University and the author of works like The Holocaust Industry and Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom, Finkelstein’s voice is frequently controversial but deeply rooted in evidence and clarity of moral conviction. In a recent interview with Middle East Eye, he offers a piercing analysis of the Zohran Mamdani campaign in New York and its wider implications for class struggle, identity politics, and the boundaries of legitimate political discourse in the U.S.
A Clear Class War
At the heart of Finkelstein’s analysis is the claim that Mamdani’s campaign represents a rare and clarifying moment of pure class struggle. In contrast to previous insurgent campaigns like those of Bernie Sanders, which were diffused by partisan co-optation and identity-based distractions, Mamdani’s candidacy cannot easily be dismissed with charges of racial or gender insensitivity. As a young man of color from a Muslim background, Mamdani resists the usual "woke" critiques that were weaponized against Sanders. His focus—like Sanders’s—centers on affordability, inequality, and challenging the billionaire class. But Mamdani's identity insulates him from many of the deflective attacks that typically derail class-based politics in America.
Finkelstein warns that the ruling elite—armed with money, media influence, and political machinery—has a well-established playbook for suppressing insurgent movements. What they lack, however, is numbers. In a formal democracy, where the principle of one person, one vote still nominally applies, this presents a strategic vulnerability.
Manufactured Antisemitism as a Weapon
Finkelstein anticipates that Mamdani will face escalating accusations of antisemitism, a tactic he sees as a political bludgeon rather than a sincere concern. Drawing parallels with Jeremy Corbyn’s downfall in the UK, he argues that charges of antisemitism are often leveled not in response to genuine bigotry but as a means to delegitimize critics of Israeli policy. In Corbyn’s case, the allegations, though largely unsubstantiated, were amplified by media and political elites to derail a movement rooted in economic justice and Palestinian solidarity.
In the U.S., similar forces are aligning against Mamdani. Finkelstein names billionaire Michael Bloomberg, media organs like The New York Times, and influential political figures such as Jerry Nadler as part of a “Jewish supremacist” elite willing to use smears of antisemitism to silence dissent—especially dissent that threatens Israel or the status quo.
His advice to Mamdani: do not appease. Appeasement, as evidenced in Corbyn’s attempt to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism and distance himself from Palestinian advocacy, will only embolden the opposition and demoralize the base. Instead, Finkelstein urges Mamdani to stand firm in his convictions and surround himself with a diverse coalition—including young, anti-occupation Jewish activists—who will defend his integrity and amplify the message that support for human rights, including those of Palestinians, is not extremist but mainstream.
Identity Politics vs. Structural Power
Finkelstein criticizes both major U.S. political parties for using identity politics to obscure economic and class dynamics. While Republicans frame white grievance politics around affirmative action and “wokeism,” Democrats tokenize marginalized groups while remaining beholden to corporate power. In both cases, the bipartisan establishment avoids reckoning with the structural inequalities that underlie poverty, precarity, and political disenfranchisement.
In Mamdani’s case, however, identity cannot be weaponized in the same way. As a result, the struggle becomes more transparent: it’s about class, wealth, and whether democracy can survive the dominance of oligarchic power.
The Stakes for Democracy
Finkelstein sees Mamdani’s candidacy as a challenge not just to the Democratic Party but to the very idea that ordinary people can assert democratic power against entrenched elites. He recalls how Barack Obama entered politics backed by Chicago billionaires and ran a contentless campaign designed to inspire without confronting power. In contrast, Mamdani has put forth a concrete and unapologetically redistributive platform—free buses, universal childcare, progressive taxation—while running against the deep pockets of New York’s financial elite.
In Finkelstein’s view, what truly terrifies the ruling class is not Mamdani as an individual, but the movement he represents: a movement of renters, gig workers, and dispossessed youth who no longer respond to legacy media, political parties, or identity theatrics. He notes that elite influence—once decisive in elections—has eroded. The New York Times, which once shaped electoral outcomes with its endorsements, now struggles to maintain relevance. Mamdani’s campaign is a signpost that the electorate is waking up, refusing to play the passive role assigned to them by a failing oligarchy.
Conclusion
Norman Finkelstein’s interview is more than a commentary on a local campaign—it is a warning and a call to action. The backlash Mamdani faces is a test of whether authentic class politics can reemerge in the United States without being smothered by cynicism, slander, or co-optation. Finkelstein argues that the only way forward is principled defiance, coalition-building, and clarity: not in apologizing for imagined sins, but in reaffirming the dignity of democratic majorities against the tyranny of elite minorities.
In previous diaries I have described identity politics and culture war issues as “derivative injustices” and pet peeve issues that continually distract us from the fundamental flaw in our checks and balances — the collusion of party and corporation — that has usurped the traditional co-equal powers between The Branches, Religion, The States and The Electorate. To the extent we allow unaccountable powers to exist we will encourage those powers to enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of us.
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