Zohran Mamdani’s Win: Countering Social Perceptions

“I am Muslim. I am a Democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologise for any of this.” (From the transcript of Zohran Mamdani’s victory speech)

Zohran Kwame Mamdani’s victory as Mayor of a major US global city, New York, is of great significance from most angles. It is victory of the issues of average people over the domination of rich and affluent people’s concerns, it is victory of a young man with dynamism and firm convictions over the entrenched vested interests, it is victory of hope for humanistic values over the crass selfish interests, it is victory of values of march of human society towards the dream of equality.

Mamdani’s victory can be analysed from so many angles, especially his march from the very negligible strength to the unassailable victory. One aspect that needs to be considered is as to why he had to say that he is a Muslim and democratic socialist in his victory speech? Surely both these terms have been demonised in the popular perception from the past many decades.

The word socialism is equated with a close cousin of communism that focuses on the welfare of average people and is looked down upon by the Right wing, more so in the US.

The fear mongering against communism in particular reached its peak in the Cold War era. This was the period around which many colonies were getting independence from the clutches of colonial powers and trying to plant their roots as independent nations. Russia (the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or USSR that time) had also emerged as the major global super power. The US had already established itself as the major power, inheriting the legacy of colonial powers of yesteryear. The US, in particular, was keen that it establish its hegemony in the newly independent states. The USSR by this time was also offering these states help in strengthening their roots.

The example of Pakistan and India is quite apt. While the USSR offered to build India’s infrastructure, heavy industries etc., the US was keen to sell finished products rather than setting up core industries. India opted for developing its infrastructure while Pakistan generally depended on the US to supply finished products. The difference in the trajectory of the two neighbours is very clear.

This was accompanied by the US propaganda machinery launching its tirade against communism, which was practically supplemented by wars against such countries. The US war against Vietnam was the most atrocious part of their anti-communist tirade.

Worldwide, communism became a bad word, the US media leading this game of propaganda. This was very well demonstrated by public intellectual Noam Chomsky in his thesis Manufacturing Consent, on how the State deploys policies whereby the media creates an impression of communism being an evil force.

In the US itself, its hostility to communism manifested in the form of McCarthyism, which was an attempt to root out the communists from the US administration. “Senator Joseph McCarthy rose to national prominence by initiating a probe to ferret out communists holding prominent positions. During his investigations, safeguards promised by the Constitution were trampled,” as recorded in history.

The Right-wing in India toed this line and supported US policies against countries like Vietnam. Mercifully, the US armies were badly mauled in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, in India, the Right-Wing RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh)-BJS (Bharatiya Jansangh), took a similar line. Author Rahul Sagar explains that Hindu nationalist parties like the Hindu Mahasabha and the Jan Sangh supported the US-led anti-communist position during the Cold War because of their “distaste for communism…”

He writes that these groups were “driven to seek friendship with the West” for ideological reasons, though they also feared western materialism and U.S. attempts to “contain India.”

The Jan Sangh, the previous avatar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was critical of India’s non-aligned policies and wanted India to have pro-West policies. In accordance with all this, M.S. Golwalkar, in his book Bunch of Thoughts writes that Hindu Nation has three internal threats -- Muslims, Christians and communists.

All this created an anti-communist-socialist sentiments.

The phobia against Islam, Muslims, is a post-9/11 phenomenon. Zohran's father, Prof Mahmood Mamdani has written a brilliant book, ‘Good Muslim Bad Muslim’ showing that the roots of Al Qaeda and its clones were in the US policy of control in oil zones.

The US had invested $8,000 million and 7,000 tonnes of armaments in training and supporting these terrorist groups. The role of the US media in propagating “Islamic terrorism”, associating Islam with terrorism, was nothing short of crime against humanity.

This formula, which for the first time associated the political phenomenon of terrorism with a religion, was horrific, raising a finger against all Muslims of the world. In India, this global Islamophobia was an add-on on the already prevalent biases against Muslims, the roots of which lay in the British policy of ‘divide and rule’ that presented Indian history through the prism of religion of the kings. While kings rule for power and wealth, here religion was presented as the guiding motive of the policies of the king.

Through ‘selective historiography’, the demonisation of Muslim kings was reflected on to the present generation of Muslims. This led to the communal violence and pushed Indian policies in retrograde direction. This led to demonisation of Muslims leading to their marginalisation and ghettoisation in the society.

Zohran Mamdani brilliantly shows that this ‘communist-socialist’ and Muslim demonisation is the curse of global society. In these both demonisations, the US has played a leading role, assisted by the local factors of particular countries. Both these demonisations are strongly present in the ‘social common sense’ globally. India is also witnessing the opposition to the humane policies under the banner of socialism and Islam.

In the US, Mamdani is already being called a communist, a jihadi who will repeat 9/11 and what have you. A dangerous decoction is being prepared by the vested interests for whom only their own wealth and luxuries matter.

Mamdani is more for policies that will benefit all, irrespective of their social hierarchy. The opposition to him is being orchestrated by urging billionaires to leave New York and settle in other parts of the US.

Mamdani is very clear that socialism, and social welfare of all, is a must, and one’s religion should not matter in any way while making policies that benefit the deprived sections of society, irrespective of their religion. 

The writer is a human rights activist, who taught at IIT Bombay. The views are personal.