#queens

Diana Moreno Is Running for Zohran Mamdani’s Assembly Seat
Interview withDiana Moreno
▻https://jacobin.com/2025/12/moreno-new-york-assembly-mamdani

Dans cette interview il.est question du contre-pouvoir à construire pour gagner quoi que ce soit. Intéressant.

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17.12.2025 Interview by Melanie Kruvelis - Diana Moreno is a socialist, mother, and Ecuadorian immigrant. And she’s looking to fill Zohran Mamdani’s now-vacant seat in the New York State Assembly. We spoke to her about her campaign.

Before he ran for New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani began his political career as a state assembly member in Astoria, Queens. In 2020, Mamdani joined a slate of five socialists running for state office with the backing of New York City Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA). All five won their races and helped cement the chapter’s role in New York politics.

After its victory in the New York City mayoral race, NYC-DSA is assembling its next slate of socialist electeds to take on New York’s political machine and fight for a more affordable New York. On December 8, the chapter endorsed Diana Moreno to run for Mamdani’s assembly seat in Queens.

Moreno’s team will now sprint toward a special election, which will likely be on February 3 (New York governor Kathy Hochul will determine the exact date for the special election in January). According to her campaign, Moreno has raised more than $51,000 from more than 800 donors since declaring her candidacy and knocked on more than 2,400 doors in December.

Moreno, thirty-eight, is an Ecuadorian immigrant who grew up in Florida. In 2019, Moreno moved to Queens, working as an immigrants rights organizer and later as a staffer with the New York State Nurses Association. She also joined NYC-DSA and quickly became a leader in the chapter.

Moreno sat down with Jacobin contributor Melanie Kruvelis to discuss the path to her candidacy and what it means to succeed one of the country’s most prominent socialists in Albany.

Melanie Kruvelis

Walk me through your involvement in NYC-DSA. When did you join the organization? What has your leadership in the chapter looked like?

Diana Moreno

I moved to New York as a seasoned organizer. I was politically active in Florida and was ready to find a political home in New York. I saw what NYC-DSA was building after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s victory and the fight against Amazon in Queens.

I wanted to root myself not just in NYC-DSA but in Queens. I chose to move to Queens specifically. I studied Latino studies at the University of Florida and was interested in learning about how undocumented immigrants were building power without the right to vote. This was after 2006 and some of the big immigration protests, like the Day Without Immigrants protest. Learning about that brought me to Queens, because so many of the organizations involved were rooted in Queens.

I interned at [the working-class immigrant organization] Make the Road New York in 2015, and that sealed the deal for me when it came to where I wanted to move. It was the first time I felt like I was home after moving to the United States. It wasn’t just the political activity, it was the sense of culture and immigrant community. After Ron DeSantis became governor and the end of a relationship, I thought, “This is it — I’m moving, and I’m moving to Queens.”
Diana Moreno with fellow Bernie Sanders supporters. (@dianaforqueens / Instagram)

I joined NYC-DSA right after moving and got involved with Queens DSA, where I was hearing about Tiffany Cabán’s race for Queens district attorney. Since I was new to New York and the neighborhood, I was trying to hang out after meetings and meet new people. One of the first people I met was Zohran Mamdani. He was super friendly and gave me context on what the chapter was working on. I remember thinking, “Wow, this is nice — he’s a good comrade who is organizing me.”

I spent my first year in the chapter volunteering on Bernie Sanders’s 2020 campaign, and then Zohran’s state assembly campaign. Zohran’s first race was very unique: it was during the pandemic, so we were writing postcards and doing what we could under the circumstances.

In 2021, I was elected as a cochair of Queens DSA and spent two years in leadership there. I started free English classes for immigrants at the Astoria Food Pantry, which is a mutual aid space in Astoria that came out of Zohran’s assembly race. The story of that space is not told enough. Since Zohran’s campaign office didn’t have much use during the pandemic, we used it as a mutual aid space — and it continues to serve our neighborhood. The English classes we started there continue to this day.

After those two years in Queens DSA, I ran for citywide leadership in NYC-DSA and became the communications chair for our chapter. That was a really pivotal year for our organization. The genocide in Gaza had just began, and the Left had to be really sharp in our communications.

Melanie Kruvelis

You recently became a parent. How did that shape your organizing?

Diana Moreno

Halfway through my term in leadership, I got pregnant. I decided to step down from NYC-DSA and receded from a lot of the activity I had been involved in since moving to New York. I gave birth in August 2024 and spent time taking care of myself and my family.

Not long after I gave birth, Zohran was making the rounds about supporting his race for mayor of New York City. I got one of those calls. Zohran made his case and pushed me to be bold and vote yes in the organization’s endorsement of this huge undertaking. A few weeks after the endorsement, he called me to be in his launch video. He said, “We need a mom. Are you down to be the mom in our launch video?” My son was just three months old. Leaving home to be in something like a video takes a lot from a new parent. But I was like, “OK, for my comrade, I’m in.”

Zohran’s campaign pushed me to get back in the ring. Through that phone call and being in the video, I was ready to dip my toes back into the movement. It had to look different, because I’m a mom. But as I started to become more confident in being a new mom, I started coming out again and bringing my child with me. I started showing up to Zohran’s [campaign] events with my baby.
Diana Moreno and her son waving a Palestine flag. (@dianaforqueens / Instagram)

I also started to think about what I could do from home for the race. I saw these online affinity groups popping up on Instagram. So I started the Latinos for Zohran Instagram account. We grew to more than 14,000 followers and worked to make sure Latinos in New York saw Zohran as the next big thing and that [Andrew] Cuomo had to go.

And then Zohran won the primary. People started asking me that night, “We’re going to need someone to replace him — what do you think?” I thought they were crazy. I had a ten-month-old. I didn’t think I wanted to go to Albany six months out of the year. But I started having conversations with NYC-DSA leaders, and other NYC-DSA electeds like Claire [Valdez] and Phara [Souffrant Forrest].

The world kept hammering at us. Zohran’s historic victory happened while fascism was knocking at our door. I thought, “Am I going to close the door on running in this political moment?” I decided I was going to jump in, because I felt in my gut that this was the time to step up.

I quit my job at NYSNA. I’ve never been willingly unemployed in my life, since I started working in an ice cream shop in Florida when I was fifteen. It’s a big risk for me, as someone who grew up working-class and saw my parents work their asses off to start a life in a new country. The threat of financial instability with a kid is real. It felt scary to go without a paycheck for the chance to serve. But I felt I had a movement behind me, and I could afford to take this risk.

Melanie Kruvelis

You’ve been a part of helping build out NYC-DSA’s electoral campaigns and building its bloc of socialists in office. What lessons have you learned from that work that you hope to bring to Albany?

Diana Moreno

One race I was closely involved in was Illapa Sairitupac’s race. I was a member of his kitchen cabinet. I helped him prep for endorsement forums, emceed field launches, and held fundraisers. That taught me a lot about what it means to be a socialist candidate for office.

I also worked closely with our electeds through my work, first as an immigrant rights organizer, and later when I worked at NYSNA. I saw how they showed up differently than other elected officials and were focused on showing up at the grassroots level. They don’t just sign on to letters of support — they show up at the picket line.

Tiffany Cabán and Zohran have been some of the strongest models for me. They both represented me in Albany and city hall, and they’ve shown me what it means to be principled and stand up for your values, even when you’re the minority. Tiffany did that brilliantly during the Eric Adams administration.

Zohran has modeled what it means to be a comrade, regardless of his position. When I was working at New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE), we had a case of wage theft in his district. Not only did Zohran show up at the picket with the workers who were demanding fair pay, but he also called them personally and worked directly with NICE to advocate for the workers. He really advocated directly for his constituents, which is rare. That’s my model for what I want to do. I want to show up, make those direct phone calls, and put my body on the line when necessary.

Melanie Kruvelis

Before Zohran ran for mayor, he represented the 36th district in the assembly. You’re now running to replace him once he takes office in January. As a constituent, talk about how you saw Zohran advancing democratic socialism while in the assembly.

Diana Moreno

Zohran really helped develop and contribute to the health of the Socialists in Office committee [NYC-DSA’s coordinating body with socialist elected officials in the city and state], which was just forming when he won his first election. We were building the bridge while we were walking on it. He worked on making sure our socialists in office were as cohesive as we could be. That is a role I hope to play once we get into office.

Once he was elected to the assembly, Zohran continued organizing and advocating for his constituents not just as a suit in Albany but as someone who is pushing a vision for democratic socialism and expanding our political imagination. Something like the REPAIR Act [Repeal Egregious Property Accumulation and Invest It Right]: it’s like, of course, why don’t we already do this? Why don’t we require private colleges like NYU and Columbia to pay their fair share of taxes to make sure the City University of New York is fully funded?

The Not on Our Dime Act [designed to end New York–based nonprofit organizations’ funneling of tax-exempt donations to illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine] was another example of being bold and brave as an elected official — and not just staying in the frame of what the governor wants. This is about doing what is right and not giving our tax dollars to nonprofits that are displacing Palestinians.

If Zohran had not organized us into the idea that he can and should be the next mayor of New York City, we wouldn’t be looking forward to swearing in a democratic socialist mayor in January. I want to continue that legacy of expanding our political imagination beyond what we think is possible.
A campaign event for Diana Moreno. (@dianaforqueens / Instagram)

Melanie Kruvelis

A looming threat over New York City is a major escalation with ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]. What should New York’s state leaders do to protect New Yorkers from ICE?

Diana Moreno

We are in a humanitarian crisis and have to explore all avenues to cut off collaboration with ICE. The New York for All Act starts that, but we must go further. We need to unmask ICE, track who these ICE agents are who are abusing human rights and dignity for New Yorkers, and hold them accountable. We need to use all the resources elected officials have. We should use our offices to host legal clinics, know-your-rights trainings, and bystander intervention workshops.

We also need to put our bodies on the line as elected officials. We need consistent court accompaniment and to patrol our districts. We should show up, especially in areas in our districts with a high concentration of immigrants, to personally introduce ourselves and distribute know-your-rights literature. We should be there to tell people, “I am here to protect you and your family. Here’s what you need to know.” This direct personal intervention can help deter some of the most violent tactics ICE is using in our communities.

We need all hands on deck. We must coordinate with other state offices, such as the attorney general. We need this coordination to prevent what we recently saw in Elmhurst, where ICE broke down the door of a mother and terrorized her four children, who are now so afraid to leave their mother that they won’t go to school.

Melanie Kruvelis

You come from a working-class immigrant background. Your family’s struggle to find stable work and housing in the US was a big politicizing moment for you. How do you think we bring more folks like you into the socialist movement?

Diana Moreno

DSA and its current membership have to be present during this immigration crisis. It’s been great to see, for example, the growth of Latinos Socialistas, a NYC-DSA working group that I was a part of starting. I would love to see a more coordinated effort between that group and other parts of NYC-DSA, such as the Immigrant Justice Working Group, to show up in our immigrant-heavy neighborhoods to offer our support. That might look like know-your-rights trainings, helping folks fill out documents ahead of court hearings, and developing plans for immigrants if ICE shows up. Those are things that are really difficult for the community to do on their own. Navigating any bureaucratic system is difficult, and even more so when it’s so emotionally charged. You need encouragement and support.

We need rapid response from DSA members if there is an ICE sighting, using their citizen privilege to get badge numbers, get things on video, and put their bodies on the line if necessary and safe. That consistent showing up as DSA members in those communities with high needs during this crisis is a way to bring people into our movement who know what it’s like to live in fear of your family being taken from you.

#USA #New_York #Queens #politique #social-démocrates

Africa’s mysterious queens : the legendary Candaces of Meroe
▻https://www.visionscarto.net/africa-mysterious-queens

The Candaces of Meroe were true rulers, governing the Kushite Empire, modern-day Sudan and Ethiopia, from at least 25 BC to mid-century AD, in both diplomacy and warfare. But as only few texts remain from this period, and even less have been translated, these iconic queens are often forgotten and the few pieces of information we have about them often results from fantasies. Let’s dive in their history with the insight of Claude Rilly, an eminent French linguist who has spent thirty years (…) Articles

https://visionscarto.neocities.org/2025-manon-meroe/carte-kosh-EN.jpg

#history #africa #queens

700 million plastic bottles: we worked out how much microplastic is in Queensland’s Moreton Bay

When it rains heavily, plastic waste is washed off our streets into rivers, flowing out to the ocean. Most plastic is trapped in estuaries and coastal ecosystems, with a small fraction ending up offshore in the high seas.

In the coastal ocean, waves and tides break down plastic waste into smaller and smaller bits. These micro and nanoplastics linger in the environment indefinitely, impacting the health of marine creatures from microorganisms all the way up to seabirds and whales, which mistake them for food.

When we look at the scale of the problem of microplastics (smaller than 5mm) and nanoplastics (defined as 1 micrometer or less), we find something alarming. Our new research shows the shallow embayment of Moreton Bay, off Brisbane in Southeast Queensland now has roughly 7,000 tonnes of accumulated microplastics, the same as 700 million half-litre plastic bottles.

This bay accumulates plastics fast, as the Brisbane River funnels the city’s waste into it, along with several other urban rivers. The research hasn’t yet been done, but we would expect similar rates of microplastics in Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay and Sydney Harbour.

Our research shows how much plastic waste from a big city makes it into its oceans.

https://images.theconversation.com/files/623779/original/file-20241007-15-nffky9.jpg

Plastic buildup in Moreton Bay

What volume of microplastics does a large city accumulate offshore? It’s hard to measure this for cities built on open coastlines. That’s because sediments and microplastics are rapidly washed away from the original source by waves and currents.

But Moreton Bay is different. The large sand islands, Moreton (Mugulpin) and North Stradbroke (Minjerribah) Islands largely protect the bay from the open ocean. This is why the bay is better described as an enclosed embayment. These restricted bays act as a trap for sediments and pollutants, as waves and currents have limited ability to wash them out. These bays make it possible to accurately measure a city’s microplastic build-up.

The bay supports a range of marine habitats from mangroves, seagrass and coral reefs, as well as an internationally recognised wetland for migrating seabirds. Dugong and turtles have long grazed the seagrass in Moreton Bay’s shallow protected waters, while dolphins and whales are also present. But microplastic buildup may threaten their existence.

Most types of plastic are denser than water, which means most microplastics in coastal seas will eventually sink to the seafloor and accumulate in sediment. Mangroves and seagrass ecosystems are particularly good at trapping sediment, which means they trap more microplastics.

We wanted to determine whether Moreton Bay’s varying ecosystems had accumulated different amounts of plastics in the sediment.

We measured the plastic stored in 50 samples of surface sediment (the top 10cm) from a range of different ecosystems across Moreton Bay, including mangroves, seagrass meadows and mud from the main tidal channels.

https://images.theconversation.com/files/623776/original/file-20241007-15-pm9vz5.jpg

The result? Microplastics were present in all our samples, but their concentrations varied hugely. We found no clear pattern in how plastics had built up. This suggests plastics were entering the bay from many sources.

We tested for seven common plastics: polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

Of these, the most abundant microplastic was polyethylene (PE). This plastic is widely used for single-use plastic items such as chip packets, plastic bags and plastic bottles. It’s the most commonly produced and used plastic in Australia and globally.

In total, we estimate the bay now holds about 7,000 tonnes of microplastic in its surface sediments.

In our follow-up paper we explored how rapidly these plastics had built up over time. We took two sediment cores from the central part of the bay, where sediment is accumulating. Cores like this act as an archive of sediment and environmental changes over time.

The trend was clear. Before the 1970s, there were no microplastics in Moreton Bay. They began appearing over the next three decades. But from the early 2000s onwards, the rate rose exponentially. This is in line with the soaring rate of plastic production and use globally. Our analysis shows a direct link between microplastic concentration and population growth in Southeast Queensland.

https://images.theconversation.com/files/623793/original/file-20241007-15-w1n36i.jpg

The challenge of measuring microplastics

To date, we have had limited knowledge of how much plastic is piling up on shallow ocean floors. This is because measuring microplastics is challenging. Traditionally, we’ve used observation by microscope and a technique called absorption spectroscopy, in which we shine infrared light on samples to determine what it’s made up of. But these methods are time-consuming and can only spot plastic particles larger than 20 micrometres, meaning nanoplastics weren’t being measured.

Our research team has been working to get better estimates of microplastic and nanoplastic using a different technique: pyrolysis-gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Here, a sample is dissolved in a solvent and then heated until it vaporises. Once in vapour form, we can determine the concentration of plastic and what types of plastics are present.

This method can be used to estimate how much plastic pollution is present in everything from water to seafood to biosolids and wastewater.
What’s next?

It’s very likely microplastics are building up rapidly in other restricted bays and harbours near large cities, both in Australia and globally.

While we might think microplastics are safe once buried in sediment, they can be consumed by organisms that live in the sediments. Currents, tides and storms can also wash them out again, where marine creatures can eat them.

This is not a problem that will solve itself. We’ll need clear management strategies and policies to cut plastic consumption and improve waste disposal. Doing nothing means microplastics will keep building up, and up, and up.

▻https://theconversation.com/700-million-plastic-bottles-we-worked-out-how-much-microplastic-is-

#plastique #bouteilles_en_plastique #pollution #Queensland #Moreton_Bay #pollution_plastique #déchets #côtes #micro-plastique #nano-plastique #Australie #rivière #eau #villes #océan

Das Queens von München (▻http://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/archit...
▻https://diasp.eu/p/5927882

Das Queens von München

#architekturinmunchen #architekturspaziergange #das #nchen #queens #riem #von

#Atticus_Lish illumine les trajectoires de la misère américaine
▻https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/culture-idees/190916/atticus-lish-illumine-les-trajectoires-de-la-misere-americaine

Queens, quartier de #New_York, Zou Lei, clandestine irréductiblement vivante, Skinner, vétéran démoli de la guerre d’Irak, Jimmy, taulard voué à le redevenir. Un formidable roman, profondément politique, c’est-à-dire qui ne s’affiche pas comme tel. Extrait en fin d’article. © DR

#Culture-Idées #Buchet-Chastel #Littérature #migrants #Parmi_les_bandits_et_les_loups #Queens #rentrée_littéraire_septembre_2016 #USA

Enfin une poupée noire aux cheveux crépus (mais ça n’est pas suffisant) - Slate.fr
▻http://www.slate.fr/story/102023/poupee-noire-cheveux-crepus

http://www.slate.fr/sites/default/files/imagecache/1090x500/kickstarterpoupee.jpg

Si elle obtient les financements suffisants, Angelica Sweeting s’est engagée à fabriquer la poupée en série et à leur adjoindre des carrières professionnelles intéressantes et valorisantes « parce qu’il est temps que les petites filles aient accès à de nouveaux standards ».

L’initiative est évidemment en tout point réjouissante et n’est pas sans rappeler celle de Taofick Okoya, un homme d’affaires nigérian qui, après avoir cherché en vain une poupée noire pour sa nièce, avait lancé sa propre collection de poupée baptisée « Queens of Africa ».

On ne peut en revanche que déplorer le fait qu’à chaque fois, il s’est agit d’une initiative personnelle financée par le crowdfunding ou une fortune personnelle. Les grandes marques, elles, continuent à proposer les mêmes produits standardisés aux enfants, en faisait fi des sentiments que peut susciter le fait de jouer avec des objets en qui on ne se reconnaît pas.

#beauté #racisme

The anatomy of the Resource Curse: predatory investment in Africa’s extractive industries
▻http://africacenter.org/2015/05/the-anatomy-of-the-resource-curse-predatory-investment-in-africas-extr
#Africa #Resource_Curse #corruption

This #ACSS Special Report delves into the often murky linkages between senior government officials, unscrupulous natural resource investors, and the loopholes they exploit in the international financial system. By tracing the actions of the Hong Kong-based #Queensway Group, a major actor in Africa’s extractive sector, the report provides a detailed portrait of the mechanics that perpetuate the inequitable development, weak institutions, and instability so frequently observed in Africa’s resource-rich countries.

The World Cup : #Algeria in #Queens
▻http://africasacountry.com/the-world-cup-algeria-in-queens

Islamic hymns emanated from street food carts on Steinway Street in Astoria, Queens, in observance of Ramadan. At Cafe Borbone, a non-descript Italian coffeehouse nearby, a middle-aged, working-class, almost all-male crowd gathered for Algeria’s maiden knockout round appearance, with not even a glass of water in sight, a far cry from the chic shisha bars […]

#MEDIA #Germany #World_Cup_2014

What’s Wrong With The Germans?
▻http://africasacountry.com/whats-wrong-with-the-germans

This summer, two private German TV channels offer their audience the experience of visiting exotic Africa from the comfort of their homes: #RTL started in July the reality TV show ‘#Wild_Girls_–_Auf_High_Heels_durch_Afrika’ (Wild Girls – Across Africa on High Heels) in which highly stylized, white women, propped up with [...]

#HISTORY #OPINION #TELEVISION #Eyeworks #Groeten_uit_de_Rimboe #ProSieben #Queens_in_the_Jungle #Reality_Queens_auf_Safari #Toast_Kannibaal