Five Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) chapters issue a joint statement on NYC-DSA pressuring NYC-YDSA to unendorse protests of Zohran Mamdani at City Hall on Oct 7 "On October 5, 2026, a post was shared on NYC-YDSA social media accounts endorsing a rally outside City Hall. Organized by New York City students, the protest marked three years of ongoing genocide in Gaza, and included messaging criticizing Mayor Mamdani’s failures to uphold his commitments to the Palestinian liberation movement. The flyer included the NYC-YDSA logo, as well as logos of four member chapters of NYC-YDSA: Hunter College, Lehman College, the City College of New York, and The New School. These chapters endorsed the protest independently of the citywide organization. Shortly afterwards, the NYC-DSA Steering Committee requested that the post be removed and the endorsement revoked, even though NYC-YDSA Steering had voted unanimously to sign on. Along with objecting to a protest critical of Mayor Mamdani, a chapter elected official, the NYC-DSA Steering Committee took issue with the use of an inverted red triangle and Arabic text in the post, which they described as “pro-Hamas dogwhistles.” YDSA Steering members were told explicitly that chapter leadership was considering removing funding from NYC-YDSA or stripping our organization of representation on NYC-DSA Steering as repercussions. In consideration of this, NYC-YDSA Steering voted narrowly to take the post down. We, the leaders of YDSA chapters in New York City, responded to this repression by uploading our own versions of the post, removing the logo of NYC-YDSA. In response, we received personal calls from NYC-DSA leadership asking us to take it down. We refused. It is our responsibility to show up with our partners in the Palestine movement when they are fighting for justice. We reaffirm our commitment to Palestinian liberation, and to protesting against any elected official who fails to use their power to oppose the extermination of the Palestinian people. As the youth wing of an unapologetically anti-Zionist mass socialist movement, we believe that our elected officials should be beholden to us, not the other way around. Our commitment is to Palestine, not any elected official. We welcomed Mamdani’s promise of a better city and a better world, but over the last ten months of his tenure, we have seen the Mayor continue to capitulate to the same Capitalist and Zionist forces that continue to undermine his administration’s promises. He has kept Zionist billionaire Jessica Tisch as police commissioner, despite her vocal defense of the genocide and record of enabling racist violence. He has stood by while weapons are shipped to Israel through our airports, taken no action to combat the illegal sale of stolen Palestinian land in New York City, overseen the creation of a “Strategy to Combat Anti-Semitism” that directs millions of dollars to explicitly pro-Zionist organizations, and betrayed his campaign promise to dissolve the NYPD Strategic Response Group that has brutalized so many of us and our comrades. We know that he can do better. Our struggle for liberation cannot be complete without the liberation of Palestine and an end to all colonial and imperialist oppression. We do not believe in a narrow economism wherein an “affordability agenda” justifies abandoning those who are victims of genocide and apartheid. Our experience as participants in the student intifada has taught us this lesson well. Palestine is not a burden, it is the compass of any genuine socialist and internationalist movement. If the Mayor wants to be an advocate for the working class, he must recommit to Palestine and take real action to end NYC’s complicity in genocide. Mayor Mamdani has a responsibility to do all that is in his power to divest our public funds from genocide, including public university funds. The CUNY student movement recently forced CUNY to disclose its investments after a two-year legal battle. CUNY’s records revealed over $1 million of NY taxpayer dollars and working-class students’ tuition money invested into weapons manufacturers, including Israeli weapons manufacturers, that have armed Israel with bombs and missiles during the genocide in Gaza. CUNY’s records also revealed further money invested into private prison contractors such as CoreCivic and GEO Group, which owns the notorious ICE detention facility Delaney Hall. Mayor Mamdani has the authority to appoint and replace a third of CUNY’s Board of Trustees, and he can use that authority to make divestment possible. He still has time to deliver on the promises of justice that brought him into office. No one can pressure us into forsaking our principles, and no politician will ever be above the socialist movement. We will continue to fight for a world free of oppression, occupation, and genocide."