How Zahraan Mamdani Turned Multilingualism into a Political Act that Won in New York?

SadaNews - In February 2025, an Emerson College survey revealed that Zahraan Mamdani had only 1% of voting intentions. His name was unfamiliar to most New Yorkers, his face absent from traditional media, and his chances in a race crowded with prominent names seemed nonexistent.

However, in his quest to win the position of Mayor of New York, Mamdani did not rely on the traditional methods that American politicians have used for decades. While his opponents were content to deliver their speeches in English, the young Ugandan-American of Indian descent and Muslim faith was building linguistic bridges to the heart of a city of immigrants described as one of the most diverse in the world.

Mamdani’s campaign utilized six languages besides English: Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, Luganda, Spanish, and Urdu, which transformed into a political discourse that succeeded in its mission in a city where immigrants make up more than a third of the population.

Mamdani garnered 1,016,968 votes (50.4% of the total), defeating former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was backed by over $40 million from major donors and corporations. Mamdani’s campaign, which relied on less than half of that amount collected from small donors, had its real weapon in a program close to the demographic categories of New York that could speak directly to people's hearts in their native languages.

So how did this dramatic leap occur? The answer lies not in expensive television ads or giant billboards in Times Square, but in short videos that began to spread on social media, featuring a 34-year-old speaking in languages that the city was not accustomed to hearing in its political speeches.

A Cultural Mix that Reflects New York

In one of the videos that garnered millions of views, Mamdani explains the voting system of ranked choice using the example of "Misti," a famous Bengali dessert. In another clip, he speaks in Urdu about "the inflation of halal food" citing the example of "a plate of chicken over rice that was sold for $5, now priced at $10."

In a third video, he discusses in Spanish housing issues with a Latino family in Washington Heights, and in a fourth, he engages in conversation in Bengali with Shahana Hanif, the first Bengali Muslim woman elected to the city council.

These clips were not translations of the same message, as each video was designed to carry cultural signals specific to its community: references to Bollywood films with Indian communities, Islamic religious terms with Arab and Pakistani communities, and discussions about the conditions of delivery workers with Latino immigrants. Mamdani understood that New York is not a single city, but dozens of parallel cities, each with its own language, concerns, and understanding of the world, as noted by New York-based journalist Joanna Insco in her English article.

New York state government estimates indicate that over 800 languages are spoken in the city, and around 2.5 million residents (about a third of the population) face difficulties communicating fluently in English. For decades, these millions remained marginalized in the political process, not because they didn’t care, but because no one had spoken to them in a way they truly understood.

Mamdani understood this equation early on. He stated in one of his remarks, "Most campaigns focus on 'permanent voters,' those who participated in the last three primaries. But this approach ignores a large part of our city. We realized we could reach them if they identified with our policies," but this identification does not happen through automated translations or interpreters, but through direct communication that carries the flavor of culture and native language.

America has long shaped itself with the myth of the "melting pot," that romantic idea that immigrants from all cultures dissolve into a single American identity, abandoning their languages and traditions for the sake of integration. However, Mamdani's campaign was a clear declaration that this myth is no longer valid, even if it once was.

In one of his media interviews, Mamdani clearly stated, "We ran a campaign aimed at reaching all New Yorkers, whether I spoke their language or made an effort to communicate with them. The coalition that emerged reflects the diversity of these five boroughs." He did not ask people to give up their languages, but confirmed to them that their languages are an essential part of their American identity, and that democracy becomes deeper when it speaks in all these tongues.

But language alone was not the reason for success, as Munshi asserts, saying, "The content on social media was engaging, well-produced, and exciting, but the most important was its substance. It gave us a topic of discussion that transcended Mamdani as an individual or his campaign as an event, and awakened a collective consciousness."

Mamdani, the young Ugandan-Indian Muslim, became the first Muslim to hold the position of Mayor of New York, the first American of South Asian and Ugandan descent, the youngest mayor in the city's modern history, the second democratic socialist after David Dinkins, and the seventh immigrant mayor since the beginning of the direct election of mayors in 1834.

Mamdani’s Passion for Languages

But his passion for languages dates back to an earlier period in his life. In the summer of 2013, Zahraan Mamdani, the young Ugandan-Indian residing in America, arrived in Cairo to learn Arabic. Coincidentally, his journey with the language was intertwined with harsh political transformations, as he arrived just 11 days before the outbreak of popular protests aiming to oust the late President Mohamed Morsi.

Mamdani recalls that he studied in the Arabic program at Middlebury College. A friend recommended that he continue learning the language at a language institute in Cairo, so he took his advice and enrolled in an intensive course for six weeks.

In his published memoir titled "Bearded in Cairo" in his university's newspaper "Bodwin Orient," Mamdani discusses his experience in discovering how he could engage with people in Cairo. Like any foreigner wanting to learn Arabic, he tried to mingle with the locals and speak with them using what he learned, walking among people and attempting to catch bits of conversations with passion. However, he soon realized he was akin to a Shakespearean character wandering in 21st-century London, as he describes.

Mamdani understood that there are two types of Arabic. He says, "In Egypt, as in any other Arab country, people speak a local dialect of Arabic known as colloquial. They are two languages; although clearly related, they differ significantly."

As a dark-skinned man with black hair and a Muslim name, people received him indifferently as he walked down the street, as he resembled the majority of Egyptians in shape, appearance, and clothing.

This made him feel like he had entered another community distinguished by privileges, but of a different color. Mamdani noted the concept of "social capital," but it had changed its color, meaning that it was no longer as he knew it in the West, where privilege belonged to the "white Christian man,” but it had become a color of skin and a name that resembled his own.

He felt he resembled the majority, not the minority for the first time, and that he belonged visually and culturally to the community around him, which facilitated his movement and discovery of the surrounding society without being viewed as an outsider or foreigner. It also allowed him to live a new experience of belonging and acceptance that he did not feel in the Western society that represented for him an experience of marginalization or alienation.

Mamdani reflects in his article "The Symbolism of the Beard" in societies, and how it remains loaded with stereotypes and ready judgments wherever it appears. In the United States, it may evoke an implicit accusation of terrorism following the events of September 11, especially if combined with other elements like "Muslim, dark-skinned.” In Cairo, it has a different meaning, as the beard indicates a political classification. He says some people thought he belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood just because of his beard.

He expresses his astonishment at the universality of prejudgments, as while he attempted to challenge the American stereotype, he found himself facing different stereotypes but in the Arab world.

Mamdani describes his experience in Tahrir Square as a "world of ecstasy" and mass appeal; that ecstasy generated by the sudden freedom when ordinary people could raise their voices after a period of marginalization. He says, "Those who had little say in society's directions were immediately given the chance to express their opinions."

He criticized in his article the American and Western political hypocrisy regarding the Arab Spring. Mamdani's experience in Cairo did not last long, as his parents worried about him and insisted on his return to Uganda, after which he left but insisted on returning on another occasion. Perhaps that incomplete experience of learning Arabic in Cairo was the reason for his colloquial Arabic accent, which blended Egyptian and Levantine vocabulary.

Source: Al Jazeera