‘Don’t overestimate the pink tide’
Adam Serwer at The Atlantic
Candidates “endorsed by New York City’s democratic-socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, swept the city’s primary elections” creating “alarm in both conservative and centrist circles over the future of the Democratic Party,” says Adam Serwer. The “leftist trend goes beyond New York,” but the “boring reality may be that different places have different politics.” What is “happening in Brooklyn doesn’t necessarily tell us what will happen in Texas,” and the Democrats’ “moderate wing is not going extinct any time soon.”
‘South Africa’s crises will not be solved by blaming migrants’
Zwelinzima Vavi at Al Jazeera
South Africa is “witnessing a dangerous escalation of anti-migrant sentiment,” says Zwelinzima Vavi. The “anger felt by many South Africans is real,” as “entire communities feel abandoned by political leaders who promised a better life but have failed to deliver.” But “while the anger is understandable, it is misdirected,” since migrants “did not create South Africa’s unemployment crisis” or “cause the collapse of local government.” The “roots of South Africa’s multiple crises run much deeper.”
‘Animals are woven into the fabric of our American story’
Robin Ganzert at Newsweek
The American story is “often told through the lens of presidents, soldiers or titans of industry, but one chapter is commonly overlooked: The practical — and symbolic — role animals have played in the American epic,” says Robin Ganzert. Long “before America ran on electricity, gasoline or machines, the economy was largely agrarian.” From “farming in early settlements to hoofbeats on frontier trails,” animals “have been woven into the fabric of the American story since 1776.”
‘If Andy Burnham becomes Britain’s next PM, he would just be a more popular version of familiar politics’
Doug Saunders at The Globe and Mail
Potential British Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s “actual policy would differ little in substance” from Keir Starmer’s, “only perhaps in a better articulated, better negotiated, more voter-pleasing form,” says Doug Saunders. The “big difference is not in ideology but in electoral competence.” During his “nine years in mayoral office, a period that included the pandemic and the post-Brexit economic crisis, Mr. Burnham’s popularity has remained sky-high and led him to win a popular vote majority in the by-election.”
Opinion, comment and editorials of the day