Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1541179
THE minute New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani was elected on the Democratic ticket, social media was awash with an ugly backlash from certain quarters. The cue is in his name, his non-Cauca- sian appearance and his roots. Mamdani is a Muslim, born in Kampala, Uganda to Indian-American filmmaker Mira Nair and Ugandan scholar Mahmood Mam- dani. He has lived in New York since he was eight years old and became a natu- ralised American citizen in 2018. The new mayor's wife, Rama Diwali, herself a renowned illustrator, was born in Texas to Syrian Muslim parents from Damas- cus. But who cares about the impressive ac- complishments of this dignified family, right? Those who are triggered by anyone who is not white (even though their own complexion might be closer to Arabs and Africans then they would like to admit) saw the various shades of brown and freaked out: OMG, immigrants! They flew into immediate panic mode, spread- ing the usual alarmist rhetoric. I have no idea whether Mamdani is go- ing to make a good mayor or not, but all I know is that if I were a New Yorker, I would be more comfortable with him, an articulate man who fights for the work- ing class, than with having as a president a bumbling orange man who acts like he has just stumbled out of a bar at 3am with a hooker on each arm. The hate is real, however, and it is very worrying because most of it is based on flimsy, often inaccurate, perceptions and is spouted by those who judge peo- ple purely on their ethnicity. What also amuses me (but also drives me to de- spair) is that all the Maltese pontificating on this and other immigrant-related is- sues have no clue that they would prob- ably be treated with exactly the same contempt and prejudice if they chose to make America (or any other Western country) their home. Do you think the average dark-skinned Maltese landing in the mid-West, for ex- ample, with an obvious 'foreign' accent and strange customs would be accepted with open arms? Yes, I said 'strange' be- cause, believe me, much of what we con- sider normal would be considered weird in a country where most people are either not religious or else follow a branch of Christianity—Protestant, Baptist, Pres- byterian, Methodist—which does not have the same heavily symbolic rituals as Catholicism. Have you ever watched the faces of tourists as they attend a Good Friday procession? Well, I have, and it is the same fascinated but perplexed expression which we have when we see Muslim men pouring out of a mosque on a Friday. As for our other uniquely Mal- tese ways, which have nothing to do with religion, those too would be looked at as odd. The Maltese, like all immigrant com- munities, have always carried their tra- ditions with them, but those who adapt the most and who are the most accept- ed are those who shed a lot of what they left behind in their country of origin and embrace the ways of their new country. It is also this which leads to a lot of in- ter-generational clashes between immi- grant parents and their children, who are second-generation, who often cannot see eye to eye on a variety of issues. This can likewise be the inspiration for a lot of humour—if you have ever watched stand up acts by British or American comedi- ans whose parents were immigrants you will know exactly what I mean. Of course, I completely understand that anything which is 'different' is hard to adjust to and that the learning curve has been steep. But with the movements of people migrating across the globe, in- ter-marriage and children born out of different ethnicities, it is futile to keep trying to segregate others into conven- ient boxes. A multi-cultural world is the reality not only in New York, which was basically built on immigrants, but pret- ty much everywhere, as we are keenly aware of ourselves. Since the election of Mamdani, how- ever, I can sense the temperature of an- ti-Muslim rhetoric has been going up. Obviously, it goes without saying that the fear of terrorism perpetuated by radical Muslims is a legitimate one. But the cue is in the word radical, in the same way that there are Christian extremists who commit murder, sociopath serial killers who kill at random and mass shooters who open fire in schools. Generalising to include an entire religion or race is on- ly stoking the fires of an already volatile situation. It's like saying that all Maltese men are a danger towards their wives or girlfriends just because our most horrific domestic violence murders have been by these men. I've also read the statistics about the crime rates in London which are be- ing circulated, claiming "40% of sexual crimes in London last year were commit- ted by foreign nationals." However, these figures were subsequently debunked by The Guardian in August of this year, which pointed out that the figures re- leased by the Met Police did not refer to those who were found guilty, but to the number who were brought to court. It is also becoming apparent that reporting the ethnicity only when crimes are com- mitted by non-whites is further fuelling this belief that migration from certain countries has led to more crime. Before many people get too hot under the collar however, when crimes are committed by foreign nationals, I com- pletely agree with deporting them, and in fact I would go one further and not let them serve their sentence here—our prison is bursting with criminals as it is. A recent news report stated that be- tween 2021 and last August, 5,481 irreg- ular immigrants were made to leave the country after serving their sentence. Of these, 2,298 were deported back to their country of origin, while the others were sent to other EU member states. Unfortunately, countering the in- grained racism against certain national- ities is an uphill struggle if someone has made their mind up, built an impenetra- ble wall and will not budge from their position. In fact, I can practically guar- antee that this column will attract the inevitable hate-filled comments by those who probably just read the headline and went berserk without getting past the first paragraph. This reaction will hardly make any difference though—it will still remain a multicultural world, and we just have to learn how to live in it. I have no idea whether Mamdani is going to make a good mayor or not, but all I know is that if I were a New Yorker, I would be more comfortable with him, an articulate man who fights for the working class, than with having as a president a bumbling orange man who acts like he has just stumbled out of a bar at 3am with a hooker on each arm 3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 NOVEMBER 2025 OPINION Josanne Cassar Adjusting to the reality of a multicultural world She has worked in the field of communications and journalism for the last 30 years New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani