Zohran Mamdani's exciting win in New York City has sparked an interest in my conversation with his father, the scholar Mahmood Mamdani, from over 12 years ago. Sadly, much of it is still relevant.
Mamdani's insistance on looking beyond victims and perpetrators to the issues driving violence really resonates. The point about yesterday's victims becoming today's perpetrators hits hard because it exposes the futility of purely punitive approahces. His question about what makes genocide thinkable rather than just condemning it as evil is exactly the kind of intellectual rigor we need more of.
Mamdani's insistance on looking beyond victims and perpetrators to the issues driving violence really resonates. The point about yesterday's victims becoming today's perpetrators hits hard because it exposes the futility of purely punitive approahces. His question about what makes genocide thinkable rather than just condemning it as evil is exactly the kind of intellectual rigor we need more of.
Yes, this is so true. Thanks for reading.