Shams Ur Rehman Alavi
www.asiantribune.net
Now that a few days have passed after Zohran Mamdani’s stunning victory in New York and discussions are over, it’s pertinent to look at the entire saga—campaign and election for the post of Mayor in arguably the most influential city in the world i.e. New York.
The perception about any nation or a region in any other country is formed through media in their own country and unknowingly the impact on minds is per the tilt of media group owner ‘spolitical line, views, even location, future interests, expectations and association with the country.
Billionaires, multiple lobbies, influencers and at least two major sections with deep pockets, apart from the owner of X, Elon Musk, were against Mamdani.
But despite right-wing and section of supremacists’ efforts, Mamdani ran a clean campaign and was open about his views and remained natural about h is identity.
There was open display of hate and a targeted campaign was launched on social media, when the first indication came that he was poised to win, but this didn’t have much affect.
Mamdani seemed honest, hiding nothing and natural from the beginning, addressing the real issues.
In Asian countries, media men don’t realize that America has a history of Muslim heroes in the past, long before the recent immigration.
Karim Abdul Jabbar was an icon years ago. Mohammad Ali was a national hero. Louis Farrakhan was taking out Million March, half a century ago, too.
Besides, it’s not about religion, always. All states and cities are different. Hispanics, Blacks form huge chunk of population in many big cities.
Harsh anti-immigration policies & racism affect them too.
Of late, there was crackdown on not just illegal migration but also narrative against immigrants gained ground in a section of society. Media houses and right-wing groups spread propaganda and even using term ‘alien’ (sic) became a fashion.
While African, Asian, Hispanic, Muslim, Blacks were otherized, Elon Musk, who is also an immigrant from South Africa, began a tirade against immigrants and spread a narrative against immigration that appeared to be a campaign against certain races and people felt that his views were similar to those who discriminate on the basis of skin.
Masses have been visibly uncomfortable about the open and excessive subservience of a number of American politicians towards foreign country [and foreign land], especially, due to the powerful lobbies that have huge money at their disposal.
Mamdani’s plank was ‘affordability’. He focused on housing, promised rent freeze on stabilized units, building new affordable units, ending developer tax breaks, universal free childcare, fare-free buses and expanded subway prices, dollar 25 minimum wage by 2027, addressing concerns of the gig works, community-led reforms, investing in mental health crisis et al.
President Trump used the term ‘socialist menace’ for Zohran Mamdani. However, the latter remained unfazed and raised the issues of the common man. He talked about issues that affected the citizens.
For residents of New York, rising rents and crumbling subway were issues that were important. Outsiders who didn’t know the ground realities of New York, casually commented, sitting thousands of kilometers away in TV studios in London and Paris, but that’s unfair. Link.
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