Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first St. Patrick’s Day in Metropolis Corridor could begin with one thing extra pointed than the same old breakfast-pageantry circuit: a lesson in Irish historical past from one among his closest labor allies.
After the mayor mentioned Monday that he had “not thought a lot about” whether or not he helps Irish unity, Transport Employees Union President John Samuelsen mentioned he plans to lift the difficulty straight with Mamdani at Gracie Mansion’s annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast — and made clear he sees the query as a part of a a lot older labor and political custom in New York.
“It’s clear to me that he will support the cause for Irish reunification,” Samuelsen advised New York News, calling Mamdani’s reply “a cautious” one. He added: “We’re gonna go over this with him in detail, and he’s gonna stand with us.”
For Samuelsen, the difficulty goes past parade-season ethnic politics and lies inside the identical custom of employee justice and Irish republican politics that formed the TWU itself.
In his telling, that lineage runs by TWU founder Michael Quill, the Irish-born freedom fighter turned union firebrand who grew to become a New York labor legend after main the 1966 transit strike that shut down the town for 12 days and helped win a 15% wage improve for greater than 30,000 staff.
Samuelsen mentioned Quill was an Irish republican influenced by James Connolly, and that the TWU was modeled on the Irish Transport and Normal Employees’ Union.
“Our roots are in Ireland,” he mentioned. “We’re directly named after the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union.”
Mamdani’s Monday reply landed awkwardly after he stepped into that historical past on Friday on the James Connolly Irish American Labor Coalition’s annual luncheon in Midtown. There, Mamdani quoted Connolly — “The cause of labor is the cause of Ireland, and the cause of Ireland is the cause of labor” — and praised Irish People as central to each the story of New York Metropolis and the town’s labor motion.
On the luncheon, Samuelsen advised this paper that whereas members will definitely differ on sure points, the rights of staff and the reason for Irish unity weren’t up for debate.
“He’s not the ambassador to the United Nations. He’s the mayor in New York City, and he’s only been that for less than three months,” Samuelsen mentioned of his ally, who he mentioned Friday had to this point achieved an “excellent job” in standing with the town’s working class. “I don’t think it’s reasonable to conclude that he is going to be an expert on the geopolitics of every nation that’s in his constituency.”
“He’s going to give an honest answer, and then he’s going to go consult with people he trusts regarding this Irish question,” he added.
Mayors have a clumsy historical past with Irish politics
New York mayors have a protracted, uneven historical past of brushing up in opposition to Irish nationalist politics.
Ed Koch lengthy used onerous anti-British language on Northern Eire, then briefly softened his stance after a 1988 go to earlier than reversing himself once more in New York and saying it was “an error” to disclaim that the British had been an occupying pressure.
David Dinkins as soon as intervened on behalf of Irish republican figures, together with urging compassion within the case of Jimmy Smyth.
On March 17, 2018, then-Mayor Invoice de Blasio declared St. Patrick’s Day “Gerry Adams Day” at Gracie Mansion, honoring the previous Sinn Féin chief for his position within the Northern Eire peace course of — a transfer that drew backlash from Troubles victims’ households and unionists.
Nonetheless, the difficulty has lately surfaced elsewhere in metropolis politics.
Two Mamdani allies, former Metropolis Council Member Justin Brannan and Meeting Member Keith Powers, hosted visiting Northern Irish politicians from the SDLP — a center-left nationalist celebration that backs reunification by constitutional politics — at Metropolis Corridor earlier this month.
Brannan later wrote that that they had mentioned “the possibilities, challenges, and future of a United Ireland,” including that it was “always meaningful to spend time with people who are serious about Irish reunification.” He didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Sinn Féin reads Mamdani’s Connolly invocation as a nod to Irish unity
Mamdani poses for a selfie with Sinn Féin TD Louise O’Reilly after the James Connolly Irish American Labor Coalition luncheonPhoto by Sinn Fein TD Louise O’Reilly Fb
Friday’s luncheon additionally introduced Eire’s republican celebration, Sinn Féin, into the image. Louise O’Reilly, the celebration’s TD (member of the decrease home of Irish parliament) who appeared in New York as a part of the celebration’s annual push to advertise Irish unity, advised New York News that Sinn Féin sees a referendum on unity coming inside 4 years and desires Irish America to prepare now.
“I’m here to talk to people about the struggle for Irish self-determination,” she mentioned. “Without the influence of Irish America, we wouldn’t have a Good Friday Agreement…I’m here to ask these people to stick with us and to use their influence… to pass the resolutions… to talk about Irish unity.”
In Eire, Sinn Féin is pushing for planning towards reunification, whereas Taoiseach Micheál Martin, the Fianna Fáil chief and Irish Prime Minister, has mentioned a referendum by 2030 is untimely. Beneath the Good Friday Settlement, a border ballot would occur provided that the British Secretary of State believed a majority in Northern Eire would possible again it.
The most recent Census knowledge present Irish ancestry stays a significant demographic pressure in New York. Nationally, 30.7 million People claimed Irish ancestry in 2022. A more moderen survey compilation estimates roughly 2.1 million New Yorkers are of Irish ancestry, together with about 376,000 in New York Metropolis.
Latest public polls measuring Irish-American assist for reunification are sparse, however latest reporting exhibits the difficulty nonetheless has an organized constituency: POLITICO Europe reported in 2024 that Irish-American politics on the difficulty have moved “from bombs to ballots,” with Pals of Sinn Féin elevating $2 million over 5 years for nationalist advocacy within the US.
For Mamdani, whose politics are formed by an anti-colonial worldview, that rigidity just isn’t new. His outspoken assist for Palestinian rights has made him a distinguished voice on one of the polarizing points whereas governing a metropolis that has vocal assist for the state of Israel.
O’Reilly prompt he might look to Sinn Féin’s First Minister, Michelle O’Neill, the primary Irish nationalist to carry the place, for example of a politician who has remained grounded in motion politics whereas taking up the obligations of broader management.
“Michelle is a First Minister for all; she has had to stretch herself in order to fulfill that role,” mentioned O’Reilly. “You can’t take Michelle’s Republicanism from her.”
O’Reilly mentioned she was admittedly “starstruck” upon seeing the mayor in particular person, a politician whose rise during the last yr attracted world consideration and whose lefty political opinions align with these of Sinn Féin. Earlier than being elected as an Meeting Member in 2020, Mamdani lauded Sinn Féin’s platform of increasing public housing, chopping rents, and freezing rents.
“People don’t want to see a compromise. They want to see that you are authentic and true to yourself, that you will work hard, and that you will represent them,” she mentioned of the success of the brand new mayor. “He has stolen the heart, not just of New Yorkers, I think, but he’s stolen the heart of a lot of the world because he’s very true to himself.”
Sharing a selfie of herself and Mamdani after the luncheon, which celebration chief McDonald additionally posted, O’Reilly mentioned she was honored to share a platform with Mamdani, to listen to him quote James Connolly and “to reaffirm the close links between organized labor and Irish unity.”
Sinn Féin and O’Reilly didn’t reply to requests for remark on the time of publication on whether or not it was Mamdani’s invocation of Connolly that they considered as an implicit endorsement of Irish reunification. The road Mamdani quoted comes from an extended Connolly passage that explicitly hyperlinks staff’ rights to the reason for Irish freedom.
