Sadiq Khan has been mayor of London since 2016. Zohran Mamdani is becoming mayor of New York. Sadiq Khan is Muslim and so is Zohran Mamdani. Though Sadiq Khan was born in London, his parents arrived in England in 1958 from Pakistan. Zohran Mamdani was born in Uganda to Indian parents, and arrived (with his parents) in the United States in 1998. Sadiq Khan is a left-wing politician, and so is Zohran Mamdani. Sadiq Khan is head of the most important British city – Zohran Mamdani is about to become the head of the most important American city. These two are not the only non-European, Muslim mayors of big European or American cities. Muslims are not merely mayors of cities: they are members the Parliament of the United Kingdom, of the United States Congress; they are also top party activists in both countries. The West is undergoing a monumental change. It is becoming less white and less Christian. It is also becoming more and more left-wing.
One might say that the current process is a reversal of what happened in the 19th century and a bit later: the colonization of the Third World by the Europeans. But no. This current phenomenon is by far different. The 19th century Europeans went to the Third World countries and conquered them by force of arms or by the sheer civilizational superiority. Present day Third World conquerors are invited and welcome. They do not have a civilizational superiority. Furthermore, the colonizing Europeans were the odd ones out: they never formed any part of the societies that they ruled over and controlled. Present-day arrivals from Africa and Asia have enmeshed themselves into Western societies, speak their languages and had partly adopted the culture of the host nations. The 19th century colonizers were looked up to as vehicles or conduits of higher civilization. The arrivals from Africa or Asia are not looked up to: the host nations are either indifferent (not to say lethargic). The host nation’s intellectuals, on the one hand, are doing never-ending penance for the real or imaginary wrongs that their forefathers have done to the forefathers of the Third World arrivals.
To grasp the magnitude of the change, just think about your grandparents and imagine what would their reaction had been if they had been told that in fifty years’ time London and New York would be governed by Muslims whose ancestors hailed from India. Your grandparents would never ever have believed it, won’t you agree? That’s a fairly good test to realize the epic change that is taking place. The two mayors (just as other political figures of non-European extraction) have been elected partly by the votes of other immigrants and partly by the votes of the indigenous people. The fragmentation of Western societies is in progress.
