any analysis of mamdani and the police must include the fact that the nypd constitutes one of the largest standing armies in the world, and they genuinely don't give a fuck what the civilians like the mayor think if they feel threatened. any attempt to dismantle this structure without violence will be fraught and prone to sudden and catastrophic failure. the nypd has not been afraid to explicitly threaten city executives in the past.

[–] CyborgMarx@hexbear.net 38 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

This is precisely why I believe Zohran's strategy of tackling that violent structure through the premise of "reducing police workload" is such a near-genius political move, the first known example of a successful socialist triangulation in US politics

First it neutralizes the propaganda arm of the police state by forcing police advocates to argue in favor of overworking cops lmao

Then it practically reduces the absolute volume of police encounters with civilians, which translates as a practical on-the-ground form of abolition in areas inhabited by vulnerable people. While simultaneously strengthening and training an entire army of social workers who can build actual community networks the cops never could

Lastly it plays to the self-interest of those class traitors by offering them the carrot of less work and hassle, while the threat of pushing Zohran out completely would threaten to bring back their previous workload

End of the day these pigs just want to get paid and when that's paired with a frozen budget, their capacity over time shrinks as the city around them grows in relative terms

Leading to the emergence of new incentives that force them to defend the new status quo despite the fact that while it would be individually beneficial for grunt pigs, it's collectively disastrous for the department in the long term

[–] TankieTanuki@hexbear.net 22 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Maybe I'm an idealist with a death wish but I think real leaders should be willing to risk their lives for the people

[–] stink@lemmygrad.ml 7 points 1 week ago

They have a higher budget than Iran's military.