JAKARTA - New York Mayor Candidate (Cawalkot) Zohran Mamdani stated that more than 1,000 students of pro-Palestinian demonstrators were arrested and injured as a result of repressive actions by the authorities were victims of human rights violations (HAM).
"This is a position that I hold as a reflection of consistency in whatever the problem is. This is a position that is in line with the attitude I hold when it comes to my own constituents," Mamdani said on Thursday. local time quoted from Arab News, Friday.
"This is a position that I hold as a reflection of consistency in whatever the problem is. This is a position that is in line with the attitude I hold when it comes to my own constituents," Mamdani said on Thursday. local time quoted from Arab News, Friday.
Mamdani's statement was related to pro-Palestinian demonstrations on many campuses in the US, including universities in New York, in the spring of 2024. This attitude automatically contradicts New York Mayor Eric Adams' strict policies.
Apart from being responded to repressively by the security forces, many students for participating in the pro-Palestinian demonstration at that time, were expelled from the university. Meanwhile, his graduation was rejected for participating in demonstrations for 10 consecutive days in April 2024.
However, different actions were accepted by students who supported Israel in New York reportedly not facing the campus's harsh policies.
According to Mamdani, regional heads in the United States should apply equal laws and morality to all citizens.
"My point is, I think New Yorkers are fed up with politicians who talk unclear, who have a set of rules for a group of people and then another set of rules for other people's groups," he said.
"I think it's time for us to believe in equality for everyone. So, if we say that we believe in freedom, justice, security and freedom, then how can we continue to draw a line on Palestine?" continued Mamdani.
"We know that the more you draw the line, the easier it will be to draw that line for more people, and the more you will end up justifying what you previously thought could not be justified."
Mamdani is known to have led a hunger strike in front of the US White House in November 2024. The action called for a ceasefire resolution in Gaza.
If elected in the Democrats' preliminary elections on June 24, 2025 and become Mayor of New York, Mamdani promised to treat everyone equally.
"I think it also applies to policies and everyday impacts for New Yorkers, with one example for me is that as a [politician] Democrat, we often talk about how weapons in elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools make the environment even more unsafe. And we mock the idea of Republicans that the answer to gun violence is to put more armed officers in the educational environment," said Mamdani.
"However, when it comes to organizing students to support policies and human rights, there are too many elected officials in New York City who support the mayor's decision to send a New York Police Department to Columbia and CUNY (New York City University)," he continued.
The security forces acted repressively on campuses where protesters camped at a wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations at many universities in the US in the spring of 2024. This demonstration spread to many campuses in the world.
The efforts of the authorities to disperse student demonstrators in the US are not uncommon to get resistance. But unfortunately, the disbandment in a repressive manner was at the request of university officials, including the New York Adams Walkot.
"The belief in the importance of consistent politics makes me say, it will not send the police to respond to the camp as we saw in the previous school year," said Mamdani.
"Because this action actually makes students much more unsafe than before, because an officer opened fire while carrying out the task. And it was only a few moments before a student was killed by a lock. And I think that makes me understand clearly why we tend to oppose these things and why we need to do it, whatever the problem is," he said.
VOIR éGALEMENT:
Furthermore, Mamdani assessed that New York Adams was a pro-Israelian politician. According to him, Adams had misinterpreted the student demonstration movement by acting harshly on pro-Palestinian protests for justifying what Israel was doing.
"I think it misinterpreted the sentiments of New Yorkers. I think the majority ... especially New York Democrats, want to see genocide end, want to see genocide," Mamdani said.
He claims many have been offended by the New York Adams Walkot policy over the past year rejecting calls for a ceasefire in Gaza to justify the killing of children, including his attitude towards pro-Palestinian student demonstrators last spring.
On the one hand, Mamdani emphasized that many Jewish New York voters defended the lives of Palestinians in support of the ceasefire in Gaza and called for a stop of military aid to Israel.
There is a large and beautiful Jewish population throughout the city of New York, and like any other religion, they also vary politically. And there have been many acts of civil disobedience and protests that I have followed over the past year calling for a ceasefire, calling for an arms embargo, which is actually led by New York Jews," he said.
"Thousands of New York Jews. I am proud to have been supported by the Jewish Voice for Peace Action as the first city candidates they have supported in their history as an organization," continued Mamdani.
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