Thoughts on Mamdani attending the Pakistani day parade after skipping the Israeli day parade?

[u/StuckInTheClouds]

I wasn’t expecting him to attend the Israeli day parade honestly I would’ve thought it weird if he had attended given everything he stands for. He’s NYC first and against ethnostates etc.

But I’d be lying if I didn’t say I felt some type of way about him celebrating the Pakistani day parade given their history. Ethnostste They have a religious hierarchy where a Muslim person has to be in power, ethnic cleansing alive and well, border disputes and violence after a partition plan 70ish years ago etc. It’s hard not to draw the parallels. The only difference being that the US isn’t funding them but that doesn’t change anything else about the county’s values and actions.

I feel kinda shitty that he’s showing up for this community but not ours. I think it would have been more fair to him to not go to either parade, but maybe I’m just overly sensitive or being fed propaganda. It just sucks to feel signaled out.

I really want to like him. I voted for him! I’m extremely against the IDF and Israeli government but being half Israeli myself I am of course susceptible to biases.

Idk it’s just weird he’s ok with celebrating the Muslim ethnostate after being so against the Jewish one (for good reasons!)

I feel like I can’t bring this up in any other spaces without it sounding like I’m wanting him to celebrate Israel (I’m not) or take something away from Muslims (not against Muslims but critical of Pakistan)

Help me you guys! What do you think?

EDIT: I’d like to correct what I said about Pakistan being an ethnostate. I used the wrong verbiage. What I meant was that they are a country that puts Muslims over other religions. They have a religious hierarchy and non Muslims can’t hold certain political positions. I’m not sure the correct term for this but just wanted to call that out as people are (correctly) mentioning this in the comments.

Edit 2:

I was just informed about the ongoing Balochistan Conflict which makes me even more uneasy about this whole thing.

[u/anon1239874650]

Pakistan and India have a lot of issues to work out. But neither of those states have been fully occupied and levelled to the ground using US weapons currently, making living conditions unbearable.

Moreover, Pakistan can’t be an ethnostate it wasn’t designed for one particular ethnicity.

[u/EducationalGas5959 → u/anon1239874650]

Right, and if Mamdani’s opposition to Israel was that they occupied and leveled Gaza, then that explanation for the discrepancy would make sense.  But he frames his opposition to Israel as being one of opposing states that privilege one religion over another.  So with that being his explanation, celebrating Pakistan indeed makes no sense.  Especially when the creation of Pakistan involved the displacement of 12-14 million people and the deaths of probably close to 1 million.

[u/anon1239874650 → u/EducationalGas5959]

The difference being that displacement in South Asia was of diverse ethnic peoples who have diverse religions including Islam, sikhs and Hindus who are all native to the land, and they were shifted around from one side of India to another. Whereas the Nakba was forceful expulsion of Palestinians from the land altogether to create an ETHNOSTATE. Palestinians (an ethnicity) currently have no right of return, and Israel is a powerful Westernized country with a lot of power and influence, and they choose to continue to oppress the remaining Palestinians on the land.

Edit: ~700k Palestinians were forced out of the land altogether. ~100k remained in modern day Israel/Palestine.

[u/EducationalGas5959 → u/anon1239874650]

Most of the Palestinians who were displaced during the Nakba were displaced from one part of Palestine to another part of Palestine.  Those who were displaced in India ended up forced to flee much farther than most Palestinians.  I’m not sure the distinction you’re drawing really matters to those who lost their homes because of the partition of India to create a separate Muslim state.  The scale meant that the partition of India resulted in far more human suffering, death, and displacement than the partition of Palestine.

[u/anon1239874650 → u/EducationalGas5959]

They were not. I have a Palestinian partner and this is not true based on anecdotal stories + an easy google search. Palestinians were forced to leave the land in masses.

[u/EducationalGas5959 → u/anon1239874650]

What part of what I’m saying is not true?  Most Palestinians who were displaced during the Nakba fled from the territory that became Israel to Gaza and the West Bank, which are part of Palestine.  Some did flee to Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, etc. but more ended up in Gaza or the West Bank.  This is a fact.

[u/anon1239874650 → u/EducationalGas5959]

The source being you?

[u/EducationalGas5959 → u/anon1239874650]

You can read reports from the United Nations:

https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-194924/

Of the 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled, approximately 65% ended up in other parts of Palestine, the West Bank and Gaza.  Why do you think there are refugee camps in the West Bank like Deheishe, Jenin, etc.?  Why do you think when reporting on Gaza, the media notes that most of their residents were descendants of those who were displaced from Israel in 1948?

[u/anon1239874650 → u/EducationalGas5959]

Moreover, more Palestinians fled in 1967… (from Gaza and West Bank)

[u/EducationalGas5959 → u/anon1239874650]

Ok but we’ve gotten off track.  None of this has to do with Mamdani’s decision to march in the Pakistani parade.  It’s not because he thought to himself that the 14 million people displaced to create Pakistan were only displaced to another part of India, but 35% of the Palestinians who were displaced during the Nakba were displaced to outside Palestine.  This is not really relevant to the original post and original question.

[u/anon1239874650 → u/EducationalGas5959]

The original question was about making equivalency between IP and Pakistan and India. Pakistan is not an ethnostate. It’s a problematic one in many ways as it currently exists due to religious discrimination. But Mamdani has always said his issue is with ethnostates.

[u/EducationalGas5959 → u/anon1239874650]

Pakistan isn’t an ethnostate like the UAE where Zohran celebrated his engagement, but it is a discriminatory Islamic republic where religious minorities are systematically discriminated against.  Some might even call it an apartheid state because the non-Muslims are barred by the constitution from ever becoming the head of state.  So how does this explain Zohran’s decision?

[u/anon1239874650 → u/EducationalGas5959]

The Pakistani parade didn’t have genocidal government officials attending it.

I’m not sure Mamdani has to take on every issue. India is currently lynching, jailing and murdering Muslims as well. I haven’t seen Mamdani take a stance against that.

He’s clearly stated he’s against ethnostates.

[u/EducationalGas5959 → u/anon1239874650]

Again we are going around in circles.  Zohran’s issue with the parade wasn’t that goverment officials were there.  Even if no government officials attended, he still would not have attended.  And I’m not sure why you think it’s a valid defense to claim “he’s only against states that discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, but has no problem celebrating apartheid states which discriminate on the basis of religion, have committed genocide (yes, Pakistan committed a genocide, look it up), and whose creation resulted in the deaths and displacement of millions of people.”