Mouhamadou Aliyu:  At the end of the day, we are poor, hardworking people. We just come out every day, we work hard, we work hard 12 hours, 14 hours.

Zohran Mamdani is huge. He’s your friend. He’s your brother. We were out there 45 days, under the snow, under the rain, the cold. Zohran Mamdani was with us.

Hello, my name is Mouhamadou Aliyu, a New York City taxi driver, and a member of New York Taxi Workers Alliance.

Mouhamadou Aliyu (video clip):  …We’re calling. We’re so desperate, we’re even going on a hunger strike.

Maximillian Alvarez:  So Mouhamadou, the last time that you and I spoke, it was 2021, you were on a hunger strike, at the end of your rope, fighting for relief from the city that had entrapped you and so many taxi drivers into this massive amount of debt to get the medallions that you need to drive a taxi cab in the city. And then the next time I saw you, a few years later, you’re in a campaign ad for Zohran Mamdani.

Speaker 1 (video clip):  You got arrested?

Speaker 2 (video clip):  I got arrested.

Speaker 1 (video clip):  And you worked for the government?

Speaker 2 (video clip):  And I worked for the government.

Speaker 1 (video clip):  Get arrested?

Speaker 2 (video clip):  Nope. Mouhamadou didn’t get arrested.

Speaker 1 (video clip):  Yeah, don’t let Mouhamadou get arrested.

Mouhamadou Aliyu:  Me and my family [are] going through so much. Here we are. I’m hoping someone who I believe can pull me out. What am I supposed to do? I’m going for him. I’m going for him. I’m not going after someone who I ask for help desperately many, many times and never [heard] a word, a simple word of empathy toward me or toward my colleagues.

Maximillian Alvarez:  And that’s Gov. Cuomo.

Mouhamadou Aliyu:  — 6,000 people.

Maximillian Alvarez:  So, I want to talk a little bit about the path from one point to the next, but let’s update people on that fight that was so crucial to you and so personal to you in 2021. How have things improved for taxi drivers like yourself? Where is that fight now, and what else needs to be done to get justice for you guys?

Mouhamadou Aliyu:  Thanks a lot. We taxi drivers, we appreciate this.

Going back in 2021, as you said, we were closing the deal. And then actually, the deal was closed. We won. We got what you want, which is the debt relief for taxi drivers, taxi owners. I even go out, and then I say I want my life back because it was done. The city was dead.

But unfortunately, we still have [a] few lenders out there that refuse to participate in the program. So, when we take 3,000 owners, maybe close to 300 or 400 of us, unfortunately, still have our debts that [have] not been resolved yet. We’re still dealing with this massive debt because these lenders are refusing to participate in the program.

So, we still have hope in the city because I think they’re still working on it. We believe somehow whoever’s left out there, including myself, 300 or 400 owner-drivers, hopefully, maybe [a] few months from now something will be done, and then everybody will be relieved. Because it’s a massive debt. And then some of us [are] still going through it. Hopefully we close the deal.

Maximillian Alvarez:  Well, I think that’s really important for people to understand is that the strike that you participated in was successful in getting the city to relieve a lot of taxi owner-drivers of their debt, but not everybody. And it’s really important for people to understand that that fight is still going on. Workers like you still need help, and it’s not as if life’s gotten easier for working people since then. Everything’s more expensive since 2021.

Mouhamadou Aliyu:  Definitely. I mean, yes, you put it out so beautifully. We’re still going to struggle at the end of the day, we are hardworking, poor, hardworking people. We just come out every day. We work hard, work our 12 hours, 14 hours. And the industry, the taxi industry going through so much right now, the competition is huge.

So, it’s not got back then. Things have changed. But we got the relief, the city relief, the taxi relief program, we got it done. Only [a] few of us still left out there. It is not like life having better, better, better, but things are moving. Just unfortunately, for some of us, it’s been almost the same. So, we hope these lenders, somehow they join the fight, we get some relief too. Because [a] few of us still left out there, and then now we’re still going through the same struggle.

Maximillian Alvarez:  Well, the Mamdani campaign, their messaging has really been one of no one left behind. Poor and working people have been left behind for too long, and Mamdani himself, as an assembly person, was there with you guys during that hunger strike, and that was long before he was running for mayor.

And so I want to ask what it meant to you to have him there. What does Mamdani’s involvement in that struggle mean to you, and what does it mean now that he’s running for mayor about what other taxi drivers feel towards him?

Mouhamadou Aliyu:  Zohran Mamdani is huge. He’s your friend, he’s your brother, and he represent. He’s close to people. He’s a good man, a man that thinks about his people. A man that feels about other people. He put humans [in] front before anything because…

How good, how much can I say about Zohran? Here we are, 2021, desperate, going through [a] nightmare, going through sadness, going through desperation, and we have someone coming in — With some other few politicians too — Coming in and sharing and showing us empathy, showing us love, most of all showing us support. We were out there 45 days, under the snow, under the rain, the cold. Zohran Mamdani was with us. When we see the city was not listening, so desperately we say we are going on hunger strike because we want our life back, Zohran Mamdani was with us. 15 days hunger strike.

Maximillian Alvarez:  At the same time that Gov. Cuomo wouldn’t even take a meeting with you at the state Capitol.

Mouhamadou Aliyu:  Well, let’s put it out there. We went to Albany four times, hundreds of us. We drove to Albany many, many times, begging for mercy, looking for help so desperately needed, we never got one. But Zohran Mamdani was there, and that was touching. The man put his life on the line for us. I’m going to put my life on the line for him. He even got arrested. How much can you expect from someone who [is] already showing such support, such love?

The fact that out there, we want representation, but at the same time we want to make sure whoever is representing us is addressing our issues. It really matters to us because we got family, we got people, and we are hardworking people. So time to time, we do need help because we got to better ourself. We got to better our life. We got to better the future of our family. We working hard because we want to get out of poverty so our children do not have to go through whatever we’re going through. So, reason why — Representation matters, but who is going to represent us matters most. And Zohran Mamdani we believe is going to address our issues the best.

Maximillian Alvarez:  Well, and as we know, the fight to improve the lives and lot of working people doesn’t begin and end with elected officials. It’s a long fight that’s going to keep going, and it’s going to take all of us.

And so I want to bring things back to the taxi drivers and the Taxi Workers Alliance, and I wanted to ask what folks out there watching can do to stay in this fight with y’all and to be side by side with you as you fight to get what you and your fellow taxi workers need?

Mouhamadou Aliyu:  Thanks again. For us, life is a struggle, and then we go through it [on a] daily basis. So, as I said earlier, some of us here dealing with massive debt, and our lenders, some of them refuse to participate in the program. And then we need, because we need these issues to be addressed and resolved somehow. So we asking for people’s support. But the best support people can show us will be to go with whoever best represent us. Because at the end of the day, we are dealing with the city, we are dealing with city hall. So, whoever [is] going to be in charge of city hall [is] going to address our issues best at most.

But it’s not going to be anybody because it has to be someone who [is] really willing to work with us. And the history shows someone was there already, someone did it, and then [he] was not even an elected official yet. So, can you imagine whoever that is being an elected official, being in charge of city hall, will address our issues much better.

So, the struggle [is] still going on, we still have hope, but we hoping, we know the solution has to come from city hall. And then representation matters, as I keep saying, because when you are best represented, your issues are best addressed.