The rise of Zohran Mamdani, who is set to become New York’s first Muslim and African mayor of South Asian descent, and his political vision is rooted in his father and Columbia University academic Mahmood Mamdani’s civil rights activism and the idea of linked struggles for freedom
Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani first came to the United States (US) from Uganda as one of the 23 recipients of scholarships offered to the East African country as a gift for independence from the British in 1962. He was pursuing engineering at the University of Pittsburgh when, one day, he heard the words ‘which side are you on’. Members of the racial justice organisation Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), who rode buses through the American South to uphold the Supreme Court ruling that interstate travel could not be racially segregated, sang these words for those willing to board a bus to Montgomery, Alabama.
The words moved Mahmood Mamdani. He got on that Montgomery-bound bus and marched there for full civil rights and racial equality for African Americans before he was thrown in jail. When he was given one phone call, he called the Ugandan ambassador to the US and asked him if he could help. The ambassador wondered why he was in jail when they had sent him to study. Mahmood Mamdani replied that they had sent him to the US as a gift for Ugandan freedom. He added that SNCC, which was fighting for dismantling the systems of segregation and discrimination in the American South, was fighting for freedom too. ‘It is the same,’ Mahmood Mamdani told the ambassador.
Speaking in June 2025, as he ran for New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani, Mahmood Mamdani’s son, said he was raised with the understanding that his father articulated to the Ugandan ambassador that freedom and the fight for it are interconnected. This understanding has guided Zohran Mamdani’s refusal to budge or soften his critique of Israel, which has been charged with genocide before the International Court of Justice. It has been a critical aspect of his rise to power, even as the pro-Israel lobby in the US aggressively stamps out narratives of Palestinian dispossession and suffering.
Zohran Mamdani on Affordability and Justice
Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist set to become New York’s first Muslim and African mayor of South Asian descent, broke the taboo among American politicians about criticising Israel. He challenged the assumption that many Jewish voters prioritised Israel over other issues. Mamdani has since reinforced this approach as he is set to take charge of the city with the largest Jewish population in the US and the second-largest in the world after Tel Aviv.
One-third of New York’s Jewish voters voted for him despite Zohran Mamdani’s criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza and promise to arrest Netanyahu, who faces war crime charges before the International Criminal Court for starving and depriving Palestinians, if he showed up in the city. He focused on affordability and attracted many by his honesty on an important issue.
In his unexpectedly friendly meeting with President Donald Trump on November 21, Mamdani remarkably repeated his views on Gaza and how the US was funding what the UN and the Israeli human rights organisations B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel have concluded is a genocide. He has been critical of the US’s military aid, arms, and diplomatic support to Israel.
Zohran Mamdani Stands Firm
Trump and Mamdani discussed the mayor-elect’s plans to lower the cost of living in New York City, where the two grew up. Trump said he agreed on a lot more with Mamdani than he would have thought. He promised to work together once Mamdani takes office in January. The friendly meeting was remarkable, particularly since Trump did not challenge Mamdani’s comments on Gaza amid the shifting discourse on Israel-Palestine in the US.
Zohran Mamdani going to the White House and calling out Israel would have been unthinkable even six months back. He has played a part in the paradigm shift in the US around Israel and Palestine. Mamdani has refused to back down when the US politics appears to be shifting. Trump chose not to push back or defend Netanyahu despite being known as a hawk on Israel and an enabler of the Israeli regime. His willingness to permit Mamdani’s criticism and his weariness of Netanyahu’s forever wars signal the shift.
Mamdani reiterated the illegality of Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank after a Manhattan synagogue hosted a group encouraging American Jews to emigrate there in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention’s Article 49, which prohibits an occupying power from transferring its population to occupied territory. The 1949 Convention is the cornerstone of international law, which seeks to protect civilians during war and occupation.
Zohran Mamdani and Progressives
Mamdani has inspired other progressive candidates to criticize Israel and challenge those who do not. Former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth noted that Mamdani has broken the ice by all appearances and started a trend, even as he cautioned against equating New York with the US at large, as the city is a solidly Democratic and extraordinarily progressive. Roth wrote that much of New York’s Jewish population shares that progressivism.
Zohran Mamdani’s Charisma and Principles
Mamdani’s charisma and grounding have played a key role in his rise. His meeting with Trump after the two harshly criticised each other reflected this. Trump had called Mamdani a ‘communist lunatic’, threatened to send the National Guard to New York, and cut off federal funding to New York City if he were elected the mayor. Mamdani met him after describing Trump as a fascist and a despot.
In a turn of events, Trump, who faced criticism from his supporters for inviting Mamdani, acknowledged the mayor-elect’s effort to make New York City more affordable. He called the meeting great, really good, and very productive, and said they want New York to do well. Trump congratulated Mamdani for running an incredible race. They talked about housing, food, and prices as Mamdani stuck to his stance on Israel, which has enjoyed unqualified US support for decades.
For Mahmood Mamdani, this refusal to change his stance told the electorate that the Ugandan-born Zohran Mamdani was a man of principle, that affordability was not just mere rhetoric, and that he could be taken seriously at his word. Zohran Mamdani’s campaign was focused on affordability and critique of Israel. He refused to budge even as millions of dollars were being pumped against him and powerful people, including Trump, attacked and smeared him.
Zohran Mamdani’s steadfastness echoes the themes explored in Mahmood Mamdani’s new book, Slow Poison: Idi Amin, Yoweri Museveni, and the Making of the Ugandan State. Some of the themes in the book—how racial, ethnic, and religious minorities come to occupy political positions in the context of majority exclusionary polities—have resonance in his son’s historic rise.
Mahmood Mamdani has noted that being a minority brings with it disprivileges and privations but also a certain privileged perspective. Minorities are never fully part of the society in which they live. They are never fully considered a part of that society. Mahmood Mamdani notes that in some sense, it is what W E B Du Bois called double consciousness. Mahmood Mamdani argues that this is what gifted individuals from minority positions have been able to utilise to mobilise against the downside of this position.
The insights underpin the dedication he wrote in his 2020 book, Neither Settler nor Native, to his son, recognising Zohran Mamdani’s ability to navigate challenges and inspire change: ‘You teach us how to engage the world in difficult times. May you inspire many and blaze a trail!’ Zohran Mamdani has truly blazed the trail, despite all odds, and inspired millions globally.
