NEW YORK: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani rallied supporters Sunday with heavyweight support from US Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as the race enters its final stretch, telling a raucous crowd that his campaign is a “movement of the masses.”
Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, took the stage at a small stadium in Queens where he and two of the nation’s leading progressives pitched his candidacy as a force to take on billionaires and “oligarchs” who have thrown money and support behind his opponents.
“When you insist on building a coalition with room for every New Yorker, that is exactly what you create: a tremendous force,” Mamdani said. “This, my friends, was your movement, and it always will be.”
As the crowd chanted his name, Mamdani reiterated plans to hire thousands of new teachers, renegotiate city contracts, freeze rent increases for the city’s 1 million rent-regulated apartments, build more affordable housing and provide universal child care.
With early voting underway ahead of Election Day on Nov. 4, Mamdani, a democratic socialist, is in an increasingly caustic race with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent candidate after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani, and Republican Curtis Sliwa, who campaigned Sunday in Queens.
Cuomo has sought to cast Mamdani, a 34-year-old state assemblymember, as a naive candidate whose agenda would damage the city. In a radio interview Sunday morning, Cuomo argued that he is the real Democrat in the race while saying Mamdani’s democratic socialism would result in an exodus of residents and businesses.
“The socialists want to take over the Democratic Party. That’s what Bernie Sanders is all about. That’s what AOC is all about,” Cuomo said, adding, “He wins, book airline tickets for Florida now.”
Cuomo resigned as governor in 2021 following a barrage of sexual harassment allegations that he denies. Mamdani has often pressed Cuomo over the allegations, and on Sunday he told the crowd that it is time to leave behind the former governor’s “playbook of the past.” But he urged supporters not to take his lead in the polls for granted and to turn out to vote.
“We cannot allow complacency to infiltrate this movement,” Mamdani said.
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have supported his campaign for months including before the Democratic primary in June. On Sunday they cast Mamdani as an antidote to what they called the creeping authoritarianism of President Donald Trump’s administration.
Ocasio-Cortez, whose district includes Queens, said a victory for Mamdani will send a message nationally that a progressive message can prevail.
“It is not a coincidence that the very forces that Zohran is up against in this race mirrors what we are up against nationally ... an authoritarian, criminal presidency fueled by corruption and bigotry, and an ascendant right-wing extremist movement,” she said.
Sanders said a Mayor Mamdani would represent “not the billionaire class” but working families.
“In the year 2025, when the people on top have never, ever had so much economic and political power, is it possible for ordinary people, for working class people, to come together and defeat those oligarchs?” Sanders said. “You’re damn right we can.”
Under the slogan “New York Is Not For Sale,” the rally featured rousing speeches from religious and labor leaders along with state elected officials including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. The event was emceed by Sarah Sherman of “Saturday Night Live.”
Mamdani recently received an endorsement from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a moderate New York Democrat. Jeffries, in a statement, said he has disagreements with Mamdani but supports him as the nominee, adding that the party should unify against Republicans and Trump.
Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams abandoned his reelection campaign and endorsed Cuomo.
New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani rallies voters with support from Bernie Sanders and AOC
https://arab.news/9mqqn
New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani rallies voters with support from Bernie Sanders and AOC
- Zohran Mamdani reiterated plans to hire thousands of new teachers, renegotiate city contracts, freeze rent increases for the city’s 1 million rent-regulated apartments
8 in 10 British Muslims face ‘financial faith penalty’ when seeking home finance, survey finds
- Restricted choices plague potential buyers
LONDON: Eight in 10 British Muslims say their home finance choices are restricted because of their faith, according to a new national survey that highlighted what researchers describe as a growing “financial faith penalty” in the UK housing market.
The report, published by Islamic home finance fintech firm Offa, found that 80 percent of Muslim respondents believe their religious beliefs limit their access to suitable home finance, while those who do use Islamic products often face slower decisions, heavier paperwork and poorer customer experiences than in the conventional mortgage market.
Based on surveys of 1,000 British Muslims conducted by Muslim Census, and 2,000 non-Muslims carried out by OnePoll, the research calls on providers, brokers and policymakers to modernize Islamic home finance and improve access to Sharia-compliant products.
Among the 24.3 percent of British Muslims who have used Islamic home finance, just 5 percent said they had received a same-day decision.
Some 62 percent waited up to two weeks, while 33 percent waited more than 15 days, including 16 percent who waited over a month.
Long decision times were cited as the biggest challenge by 28 percent of respondents, followed by excessive paperwork (22.6 percent) and poor customer service (18.9 percent).
Islamic home finance differs from conventional mortgages by avoiding interest and steering investment away from sectors considered harmful to society, including gambling, alcohol, tobacco, arms trading and animal testing.
Sagheer Malik, chief commercial officer and managing director of home finance at Offa, said the findings showed British Muslims were being underserved by outdated systems.
Malik said: “Property is the asset class of choice for many of the UK’s 3.87 million Muslims, both as a route to generational wealth and as a long-term financial foundation, yet our insightful research report reveals that British Muslims are being underserved and deterred by slow, outdated and opaque Islamic home finance provision.
“This is not a niche concern. It goes to the heart of financial fairness and inclusion in modern Britain.”
He added that Muslims deserved Sharia-compliant products that matched mainstream standards on “price, speed and simplicity.”
Despite strong demand, uptake remains low.
Only 12.8 percent of British Muslims surveyed said they currently use Islamic home finance, with a further 11.5 percent having done so in the past. More than three quarters (75.7 percent) have never used it.
Faith plays a central role in financial decisions, with 94.2 percent saying it is important that their financial products align with their ethical or religious beliefs. Yet more than half of those using conventional mortgages said they felt unhappy or uneasy about doing so because of their faith.
The study also found that British Muslims share similar home ownership aspirations to the wider population, with 79.1 percent citing the desire to provide a stable home for their family, while 18.6 percent said building generational wealth was their main motivation. Only 2.2 percent said they did not want to own a home.
The report suggests Islamic finance could appeal beyond Muslim communities. While 64 percent of non-Muslim respondents had never heard of Islamic home finance, 63 percent said they favored its ethical principles once explained.
Younger generations were the most receptive, with 43 percent of Generation Z and 37 percent of millennials saying they would consider using Islamic home finance, compared with just 7 percent of baby boomers. More than three quarters of Gen Z and 72 percent of millennials also said it was important that their finance provider avoided investing in ethically harmful sectors.
Offa said the findings pointed to an opportunity to expand ethical finance in the UK, provided the industry can deliver faster, simpler and more transparent services.
