An Effective Movement for Palestine Needs Allies Like Zohran Mamdani

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's recent statement on the anniversary of October 7, 2023, sparked controversy within the Palestine movement. The day commemorates the deaths of over 1,100 Israelis and 251 abducted by Hamas, as well as 74,000 Palestinians, including over 21,000 children, killed by the Israeli military. Mayor Mamdani's statement, which called for an end to the Israeli government's use of October 7 as a justification for a genocide, was met with criticism from some corners of the Palestine movement.

Protesters at an October 7 vigil hosted by Israelis for Peace chanted slogans such as "Mayor Mamdani, what do you say, how many kids did you kill today?" and called the mayor a genocide apologist. However, Palestinian analyst and writer Muhammad Shehada argued that the politics of those protesters were those of purity tests, not of building an effective mass movement capable of encouraging policy change.

Shehada stated that saying "I would only work with comrades who fully agree with me" is the recipe for dooming one's movement to remain a tiny ineffective minority. Social-media activist Abier Khatib also sounded off on the platform, stating that the protesters were attacking one of the few politicians actually bringing Palestine into the mainstream and making other politicians think twice about speaking up. Khatib continued, "You're not helping Palestine.

You're fucking scaring people away from it." Despite the controversy, the outpouring of mass outrage to the genocide in Gaza has fueled thousands of protests in support of Palestine in every state in the country and many cities outside the country. According to information obtained from the Crowd Counting Consortium, more than a million people participated in protests, including Mennonites occupying congressional buildings, Jewish activists in New York City taking over bridges, and Mothers for Ceasefire gathering weekly on a street corner of Durham, North Carolina.

The campaign has since suffered repression and setbacks, as the situation in Gaza has grown ever more dire, and the sea change in consciousness has not resulted in concrete policy outcomes stopping the genocide. However, a growing bloc of pro-Palestine elected officials, such as Darializa Avila Chevalier, Brad Lander, and Abdul El-Sayed, can help push legislation to block munitions shipments and cut military aid to Israel. To turn sympathy into an effective, sustained movement, ongoing organizing work, political discipline, and strategic alliances are necessary.

Mayor Mamdani, as a longtime champion of Palestinian rights, cannot be above criticism now that he is our leader. There are concrete demands to push for, including stopping the facilitation by some New York synagogues of Palestinian land in illegal settlements, and Mamdani's own "Not on Our Dime!" Act to prohibit New York-registered charities from financially supporting displacement and war crimes.

The problem for the pro-Palestine campaign was never about mourning the dead of October 7. In fact, the issue for many of us was that we were not allowed time nor space to grieve, because the tragedy was just as soon manipulated into justifying untold horrors in Gaza. To mourn all the lives lost does not equate the power imbalance between the colonizing force and the colonized, nor the scale of the resulting tragedies, which have been completely disproportionate.

Mayor Mamdani's commitment to mourning the loss of human life sits alongside his commitment to challenging antisemitism at home while opposing genocide abroad. Days before participating in the October 7 vigil, Mamdani launched a municipal Strategy to Combat Antisemitism. Both commitments are morally and strategically necessary.

The mayor's approach can help build an ethos of mutual caring, respect, and solidarity on the left. An inclusive movement for Palestine, one in which we debate out our differences in a comradely way, is an effective one. And one that is still possible to build.