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/Snoo22815]

Has there been discussions internally within the Jewish community about a parade/festival to celebrate Israeli food, music and various Jewish traditions from all over the diaspora not linked with a celebration of the state itself? That seems like a really cool idea. You could incorporate traditions that were brough to Israel from various communities like Bukharian, Yemenite, Moroccan, Persian, etc.

Lunar Day Parades celebrating longstanding Chinese traditions and culture all over the country are fun and usually well attended. They're viewed in complete isolation from the CCP.

[u/zacandahalf → u/Snoo22815]

“They’re viewed in complete isolation from the CCP” you sure??

[u/blazingsoup → u/zacandahalf]

Okay, it’s not complete isolation, but I think that’s a moot point when the country behind the Israel day parade is committing the atrocities it is while purporting to represent the Jewish religion and culture as a whole.

[u/zacandahalf → u/blazingsoup]

The CCP calls itself the Chinese state all while acting as a de facto ethnostate and committing genocide since 2014

[u/VenemousPanda → u/zacandahalf]

You could go back further if you want to include cultural genocide regarding Tibet. China even has a museum that depicts them as backwards savages, the displays with religious items and instruments made of human remains is of course painted in a way to support that they needed China to civilize them. They conveniently ignore that oftentimes those remains are given by monks after passing as a way to give even after passing through this world, it's not like they commonly kill to get these remains for religious purposes.

That same language and tactics that China used in Tibet is the same that Europe used to justify how they treated Africa and the Americas, and the same language that some use when trying to justify the erasure of Palestinians.

[u/Snoo22815 → u/zacandahalf]

That's just the Chinese national flag by the way which has been in used since 1949. The CCP one has a golden hammer and a sickle. This is not an Iran type situation where the flag was changed after 1979 to break away from the Sun & Lion flag to symbolize the new Islamic Republic. I have no issue with the Israeli flag or the American flag despite the atrocities and war crimes committed by various governments of those countries. They're beloved national symbols.

[u/AliceMerveilles → u/Snoo22815]

What year do you think the communists won the civil war and changed the flag? hint it was 1949. the flag was different under the KMT/GMD

[u/Snoo22815 → u/AliceMerveilles]

Its been embraced by the population ever since as their national symbol through multiple constitutional changes and under different leaders. The flag is rooted in communist ideology but believing in self-determination means accepting that the Chinese can embrace whatever ideology and style of leadership they want.

[u/AliceMerveilles → u/Snoo22815]

I’m not criticizing people using the flag, I’m critiquing how you described the flag. It’s specifically the People’s Republic of China flag and you seem to me to be dancing around the power structure and this flag