Author: Robert Rubinstein

The Global Voice of ESG & Impact Investing

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A Brooklyn kid's reflection on an upset victory and what it says about the America we're becoming

There's a photo I keep thinking about. Mamdani on Fordham Road in the Bronx, holding a hand-written sign. People walking past him, uninterested, absorbed in their own lives and concerns. No crowds. No momentum. Just a young assemblyman doing the unglamorous work that nobody sees, that nobody celebrates, that few are willing to do.

That's the heavy lifting. That's what separates the people who talk about change from the people who actually make it happen.

I was very impressed. I wish him great strength.

Where I Come From

I was born in Brooklyn in 1952. By the time we moved to Lower Manhattan next to the Brooklyn Bridge, I'd already absorbed something essential about New York: it was a place where anything was possible, where the son of immigrants could make something of himself, where hard work and big dreams could actually coincide.

I left in 1974 to pursue what would become my life's purpose. Fifty-one years later, living in Amsterdam, watching a 34-year-old state assemblyman from Queens—an immigrant who arrived in America at age seven—deliver a victory speech, I was reminded that maybe, just maybe, that old New York spirit isn't quite dead.

The Race Nobody Thought He Could Win

Let's be clear about what happened. Zohran Mamdani didn't just win the New York City mayoral race. He demolished the conventional wisdom about what's possible in American politics in 2025.

When he entered the race, he was polling in single digits. The favorite was Andrew Cuomo, former governor, political dynasty heir, a man who seemed to believe the mayor's office was his birthright. The establishment lined up behind Cuomo. The big money lined up behind Cuomo. The conventional wisdom said Cuomo would cruise to victory.

Mamdani beat him twice. First in the Democratic primary in June, then again last night in the general election.

How does a democratic socialist with no name recognition, no establishment support, and no billionaire backers beat a Cuomo in New York?

By doing something so radical it's almost quaint: telling the truth about what life is actually like for working people in America's most expensive city. And by being willing to stand on Fordham Road with a hand-written sign while people walk past him.

The Brooklyn I Knew

Let me tell you about the Brooklyn I grew up in, the Lower Manhattan I watched from my window near the Brooklyn Bridge.

It was gritty. It could be dangerous. It definitely wasn't polished. But it was also a place where working people could afford to live. Where the neighborhood bodega owner lived above his shop. Where teachers and firefighters and nurses could raise families in the city they served. Where artists and musicians and writers could cobble together enough part-time work to pursue their dreams.

That New York has been systematically destroyed over the past five decades. Not by accident. Not by inevitability. But by deliberate policy choices that prioritized real estate values over human beings, that gave tax breaks to billionaires while slashing services for everyone else, that turned neighborhoods into investment opportunities and people into inconveniences.

I watched it happen from Amsterdam and from wherever my purpose took me over these fifty-one years. And last night, for the first time in longer than I can remember, I saw a glimmer of something different.

https://x.com/ZohranKMamdani/status/1985464603556372947

B Corp Asia Summit 2026-June 22-23, 2026

The B Corp certification is the gold standard globally for businesses that meet high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency, as verified by the non-profit organisation B Lab.

There are currently more than 10,000 B Corp certified companies in more than 100 countries, employing more than 1 million workers. In Asia, there are almost 400 B Corp certified companies, with 40% in Southeast Asia.
 

Pope Leo XIV attends the presentation of his first Encyclical Letter "Magnifica Humanitas" focused on the rise of artificial intelligence, in The Vatican on May 25, 2026.Gomez—Vatican Pool/Spaziani/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images

Pope Leo Uses First Major Papal Text to Warn About Dangers of AI

Pope Leo XIV has issued the first major theological text of his papacy, warning about the growing power of artificial intelligence and calling for stronger regulation of the technology.

Released Monday, the 42,300-word encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” marks Pope Leo’s most sweeping statement yet on the promise and dangers of AI, a topic he has repeatedly spoken about in the year since his election. Framed as an appeal for the defense of humanity in a rapidly automating world, the text urges governments, corporations, and individuals to slow the rate of technological development and ensure that AI remains subject to ethical and political oversight. He presented the encyclical at the Vatican alongside Christopher Olah, a co-founder of Anthropic, in a symbolic gesture of dialogue between Church leadership and the AI industry.  

The pope emphasized in the document that he is not opposed to innovation. Rather than rejecting technological progress, he wrote that “technology should not be considered, in itself, as a force antagonistic to humanity,” but instead must be guided by responsible and ethical use. But he warned that without stronger safeguards, artificial intelligence could deepen inequality, weaken human agency, and shift critical decisions increasingly out of human hands. 

“Calling for prudence, rigorous evaluation and even, at times, a slower pace in adopting AI does not mean opposing progress,” Leo wrote. “Instead, it is an exercise of responsible care for the human family.”

The Pope has raised AI as a central concern since early in his papacy, telling the College of Cardinals shortly after his election that the Church would confront risks artificial intelligence posed to “human dignity, justice and labor,” a focus he has returned to in speeches throughout his first year as pontiff.

Leo’s focus on AI is also reflected in his papal name itself, which he chose in reference to Pope Leo XIII, whose 1891 encyclical “Rerum Novarum” addressed the social consequences of the Industrial Revolution and established the foundation of modern Catholic social teaching on labor and technology. Leo XIV has drawn a direct comparison between the current moment of technological development and the one his most recent namesake confronted more than a century earlier, describing AI as ushering in a “new industrial revolution.”

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Encyclical Letter Holy See

SC: Regulated social exchange to secure public trust in charity fundraising and social impact investing

First regulated Social Exchange platform to modernise philanthropic funding, strengthen public accountability, and drive private capital into sustainability and community development initiatives pioneering move to modernise charitable fundraising, combat governance anxieties, and funnel private capital into social impact, sustainability, and community initiatives.

Spearheaded by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), the newly unveiled ecosystem is designed to introduce transparency and structured oversight for non-profit organisations, donors, and social enterprises at a time when the public is demanding stricter financial governance in charitable operations.

The initiative constitutes a core sustainability pillar within the country's Capital Market Masterplan 2026–2030, creating regulated, market-based fundraising channels for eligible community and climate-driven projects.

Speaking at the official launch in Kuala Lumpur today, Securities Commission chairman Datuk Mohammad Faiz Azmi described the platform as a transformative step in Malaysia’s evolving social finance landscape.

“Today marks a significant milestone for charitable and social impact financing in Malaysia,” he said.

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BHP files: leaked memo shows miner backtracking on key climate projects in Australia – video

The world’s biggest miner has halted or delayed projects to cut vast amounts of emissions and has quietly war-gamed options to stall major climate investments in its Western Australian iron ore operations into the next two decades, according to documents leaked to the Guardian and ABC’s Four Corners. In a statement, BHP said its progress towards net zero emissions was dependent on technological shifts in trucks, trains and dozers, which were not yet ready to be deployed

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