New York, city of powers in the plural, generates an imagination almost as powerful as its real influence.
The unofficial capital of the United States seems to have concentrated on its territory all of the powers: economic with Wall Street, politics through the UN, seat of world governance, cultural of course for one of the most filmed cities in the world. . Its place at the federal level is ambiguous, its rivalry with Washington legendary.
New York is also the city of all paradoxes: a symbol of finance, in 2011 it was also the epicenter of one of the biggest protest movements against American capitalism: Occupy Wall Street.
A fundamentally democratic city, it was ruled for nearly twenty years by two Republican mayors, Rudolph Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg, before electing Democrat Bill de Blasio in 2014.
An open, multicultural and progressive megalopolis, it is also that of inequalities and the city of the Republican candidate Donald Trump who claims to embody the New York Way Of Life in his campaign.
If we all have the impression of knowing New York thanks to Hollywood films and series that represent it as THE symbolic city of power, we rarely dwell on its political and territorial organization.
Admittedly, everyday life in his city hall was popularized by Michael J Fox, the legendary New York Mayor chief of staff in the hilarious Spin City series. However, its networks of influence, its actors, and its places of power are unknown.
Who governs New York? How to define its place within the American group? In what way is it more than the whole city of representations of power and with what consequences?
These are some of the questions we are addressing today with our guests in this new Power Workshop dedicated to New York City of Power.
Credits: AD
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Radio France
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