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Geoff Russ: Don't underestimate the appeal of Avi Lewis's Third Worldism

If establishment parties fail on the cost of living, the door opens for hard-left radicalism

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Avi Lewis was elected leader of the New Democrats on Sunday with a smashing first ballot win, inheriting a skeleton of a party. Only six NDP MPs sit in the House of Commons after Nunavut’s Lori Idlout’s recent floorcrossing.

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However, this is a time of revived left-wing radicalism in the English-speaking world. Do not dismiss Lewis, as many have. If he plays his cards right, he will not be a punchline for long.

Geoff Russ: Don't underestimate the appeal of Avi Lewis's Third Worldism Back to video

Last year in New York City, Zohran Mamdani came out of nowhere to topple NYC’s Democratic Party machine. He used the city’s astronomic cost-of-living as a springboard for millennial socialism and anti-establishment rhetoric to build a winning platform. He is now mayor of the world’s top financial centre.

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In Britain, Zack Polanski’s Greens are surging on a platform of “eco-populism” that blends hardline environmentalism with pro-affordability rhetoric and a full embrace of a Palestine-centric culture war.

Are we so deluded as to believe that Canada will be the exception in the North Atlantic? This country is famously inclined towards progressive ideas, and young people are alienated and beyond pessimistic about their futures when it comes to jobs and housing.

Some have said Lewis is too niche, theatrical, and ideological to succeed. Be warned that this sort of complacent thinking creates the climate for dangerous politics to thrive.

Mamdani was seen as a curiosity until he suddenly wasn’t. His 2025 campaign was anchored by affordability, and the promise of rent control and government-run grocery stores, but it went far beyond that.

The spirit of the phrase “Globalize the Intifada” invigorated Mamdani’s campaign, he claimed not use the phrase, but would not condemn it. His staunchly anti-Israeli rhetoric was a signal to those who are driven by Third-Worldist ideology, and wanted their co-practitioner in the mayor’s office.

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The term “Third-Worldism” is loosely thrown around. At its core, it is a deeply anti-Western ideology in which countries like Canada, the United States, the U.K. or Israel are “settler” oppressors, and the Global South and their diasporas are their victims. Attacking those “settler” countries with words or weapons grants a presumption of innocence.

Israel may be the current focus of modern Third-Worldism, but only because it is a convenient target at this moment in history.

For the far-left, the war between “colonizers” and the “colonized” is eternal, and zero-sum.

There was no Canadian flag on-stage at the NDP convention where Lewis was elected party leader. However, there was a large Palestinian one waving behind him during his acceptance speech.

For the hard-left, Canada’s colonial origins and Western-alignment make it an illegitimate “settler project.” To fly our flag would legitimize “so-called Canada” in the eyes of those who likely voted in Lewis as leader.

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If people want clues as to his Lewis’ future trajectory, he has already called for Mamdani-style government-run grocery stores, and openly embraced anti-Israeli, decolonial rhetoric

Justin Trudeau’s Liberals tried to placate these sorts of voters. They would flatter the resentful fringes of society in a bid to gain their votes, while keeping one foot in the Liberal style of politics.

Lewis is going further and wants to organize these emboldened fringes into a political force with real power in Ottawa, rather than just a widespread protest movement on university campuses. They want capitalism to be abolished, and believe borders are inherently racist.  

A country that erases its own borders, and makes the path to citizenship easier than buying a gym membership, is no real country at all. Lewis has condemned Prime Minister Mark Carney’s half-hearted immigration cuts, and called for newcomers to be granted “status on arrival”.

The erasure of “colonial” borders is a pillar of Third-Worldism, and it already has many loud proponents in Canada at the grassroots level. Over in Britain, Zack Polanski is similarly calling for raising immigration rates, while Mamdani has demanded the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

If Lewis has great love for the latest round of TFWs to take jobs at Tim Hortons, he has little for Canadian workers out in the bush. He has stated on a debate stage that Canadian pipeline workers are potential predators, and has attacked “Big Oil”.

Lewis’ platform included a proposal for a “Green New Deal,” along with a moratorium on AI data centres. Within hours of Lewis’ victory, Prairie New Democrats started running away from Lewis as fast as possible, with Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi disavowing Lewis’ anti-oil promises as  “ideological and unrealistic.”

If Conservatives were worried about a resurgence of support for the NDP among resource workers, they can breathe a sigh of relief.

However, it is young Canadians, a plurality of whom voted Conservative in the last federal election, who may be the wild card. Most Canadians under 35 voted Conservative because they wanted change, not because they became permanent members of the political right. Young voters powered Mamdani to victory in New York and are driving the surge of the Polanski-led Greens in Britain because they are fed up with the failure of mainline liberal politics.

The Conservatives have done an excellent job of courting these rightfully angry Canadians, but they will have competition from the left

Lewis is angling to capture what is likely a real constituency in Canada, made up of young radicalized by the cost-of-living, and many of whom partially or fully buy into Third-Worldist ideas about international and domestic politics. These people were once scorned as “woke,” but they are adult professionals who cannot find satisfaction in the economy.

If establishment parties fail on a bread and butter issue like housing costs, they open the door to radicals who bring their toxic ideologies with them.

Connecting economic grievances with a sense of abstract moralism is a powerful combination. Mamdani successfully did it, and Polanski is seemingly succeeding in Britain with his “eco-populism.” Given Lewis’ background as a hardline green activist, expect him to hew closer to the latter.

In any case, even if Lewis is highly unlikely to become prime minister, do not write him off just yet. Canada is not immune to the trends of the world.

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