The Dig Organizing Zohran’s NYC w/ Alina Shen and Fahd Ahmed
7 snips
May 6, 2026 
Alina Shen, Organizing Director at CAV, builds tenant and youth power in Chinese and Bengali neighborhoods. Fahad Ahmed, executive director of DRUM, organizes low-income South Asian and Indo-Caribbean New Yorkers. They discuss building multiracial working-class power, tactical organizing for a left mayoral campaign, tensions of governing versus grassroots pressure, and strategies for housing, policing, and movement infrastructure.
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Mass Organizations Make The Movement Working Class
- Mass organizations are essential to reflect class character because only large working-class membership reshapes movement politics.
- DRUM argues cadre groups and coalitions matter, but mass organizations make the movement genuinely working-class.
Day One Endorsement Born From Political Vacuum
- CAV and DRUM heard disillusionment after the 2024 presidential election and Adams indictment, making a risky day-one endorsement of Mamdani strategic.
- They convened a working-class assembly and chose Mamdani because he backed their rent-freeze demand.
Door Knocking With Continuous Feedback Loop
- CAV Voice ran targeted door knocking, phone outreach, poll coverage, and synthesized feedback to refine messaging.
- They used mass-line feedback from Sunset Park, Chinatown and Western Queens to pivot outreach tactics week-to-week.
