Hope often feels like a cringy subject. It feels like a word that should be written in sparky writing on driftwood, hung up next to a “Live, Love, Laugh” poster. But in the turbulent and often dark political environment we find ourselves in, it is more important than ever. Politics has been devoid of hope for some time. I felt a short-lived flash of it after the replacement of a Conservative party that had brought so much pain. However, the re-election of an increasingly authoritarian Donald Trump and the disaster of Keir Starmer’s premiership has quickly brought back the all too familiar haze of pessimism.
Yet, it is in the unlikely forms of Zohran Mamdani in New York and Zack Polanski here in the UK that this long awaited hope is emerging. Whether it be policies that actually address the issues that matter most to voters, or cutting through the veil of bluffing and bullshit that most politicians hide behind, both men have brought a vital freshness to a stale politics.
Modern politics has been haunted by a feeling we are picking between the lesser of two evils, a feeling perpetuated by a politics of blame. Instead of providing policies enticing us to vote for their party, politics has become a battle of fingers pointed, trying again and again to prove to us why the other side is worse. We’ve seen this in Trump’s obsession with destroying any positive legacy that Biden could dream of and in how Labour’s greatest selling point has gone from not being the Conservative Party to not being Reform UK.
This change in narrative has been successful. Mamdani was a little known figure in the Democratic Party a year ago, but beat an established figure, the ex governor of New York Andrew Cuomo. Polanski has attracted unprecedented levels of membership to the Green Party, now boasting more members than the Conservatives and even ahead of labour in some polls.
The success of the New York Mayor elect and Green Party leader has come from a shift to a message of hope. They have set out policies which look to address the cost of living crisis and find sources of funding that really put the burden on the broadest shoulders. Instead of simply promising to make people’s lives slightly more bearable, they promise to fix the problems that are causing lives to be so unbearable.
This message of hope is not just important for reinvigorating a tired politics; its true power lies in its ability to confront a climate of hate that has emboldened the right. The right has peddled a fearful agenda painting immigrants as “burdens” and “criminals” at fault for our problems. The impunity with which ICE agents operate in the US and increasing instances of racist attacks in the UK show that this rhetoric has very real consequences outside of the sphere of political debate. Mamdani and Polanski have made much inground in humanising immigrants in public discourse, adding nuance back into discussions of this evolving and complex issue.
Politics does not need parties that pander to the right, but instead confront it head on and challenge it with what it fears the most: the truth. This can be done when refugees and immigrants are not used as scapegoats to hide from the reality of the problems facing us. Addressing these problems and seeking to provide answers for them is the only way to challenge what has long been seen as unchallengeable. This is what Mamdani and Polanski do so well.
It is yet to be seen if the success of this new politics of hope will continue. Mamdani will have his work cut out fighting a president that has labelled him a “communist”. Polanski’s leadership of the Green Party is still in its infancy, but for now it seems the only way is up. As the old English saying goes: It’s the hope that kills you. However, whatever happens we must make the most of this rare glimmering of hope whilst we still can. That means fighting for it.
