Green Shoots: Thanks, New York, for a much-needed shot in the arm

Zohran Mamdani won the mayoral election in New York with over 50% of the vote. His Republican and right-wing opponents wouldn’t be able to shift him even if they combined their votes. In today’s terms, that is about as comprehensive a victory as the people of that great city can bestow.

And while New York’s mayor-elect throws down the gauntlet to the orange wave of intolerance, prejudice, and hate, Cape Town’s mayor is at prayer with Angus Buchan, the conservative evangelist.

And Heinz Winkler – remember him as the first winner of SA Idols – has started something that we should all pay attention to. He styles his new One80 movement on Charlie Kirk’s gig, with Faith, Family & Freedom the clarion call.  It’s appealing to ordinary people because it sounds like an honest effort to rebuild our society.

Be careful – it is nothing more than tapping into South Africa’s religious identity to make money, and buttress a right-wing political agenda. It's the Trump / Republican playbook, and we need to be careful how our personal behaviours, the things we say, and the viewpoints we support are feeding this beast. 

Think about it. Do you think it's accidental that Dudula and their ilk are on the rise, and so many of us silently applaud? It’s the same with the witty but snide remark in our social circles about transgender people – it has never been just a joke.

We think we’re standing up for strong family values to save our society – these evangelists and their propagandists believe that it's only heterosexual nuclear families that should be allowed to exist.

They exclude the single parent from ever being able to bring their resilience and strength to contribute to society, and the grandparents who’ve had to be parents again don’t count. The blended families who find ways to love each other are not enough, and the two dads or two mums with well-adjusted and deeply loved kids don’t qualify as the defenders of family values. Let’s not get going on non-Christian set ups.

These are the types of families that hold our society and build it in its diversity. I know these families, and so do you. I am these families. And the good people of New York must know them too and see how the diversity they represent is precisely what strengthens their community. And so they recognised how important it was to vote for this young, progressive Muslim of immigrant African roots to lead the top city in the USA.

They see the danger of the terrible orange disorder that seeks to divide and rule their people and the world. We should be seeing the danger too, and challenge ourselves to think carefully and critically about how we see the world unfolding. Check if you're identifying too easily and uncritically with Angus Buchan and his ilk when they make their headline argument about family values – that it is the man who is head of the household, and feminism and diversity will lead us down the path of destruction.

What rubbish. I am equal to my wife, and we share the tribulations and triumphs of modern living, of teaching our boys as best we can that you don't have to be a king in your home, that it is better to have power with than power over. Rather, try to be a compassionate and kind partner and father at home – you don’t need a crown to do that. 

Today, destructive right-wing politics is intricately connected to religion because they know that so many of us believe deeply in God, and our faith guides the path we make in this world. My good, faithful friends and family - know that if we imbibe this rising conservative Christian fundamentalism, we are in danger of losing ourselves and becoming pawns in the goose-step march of the Trumps and Putins and Gayton Mackenzies of this world as they seek to divide and dominate. Resist! I beg you.