Aber Kawas: “We Are Trying to Stand Up for Humans”
Palestinian American organizer and socialist Aber Kawas, endorsed by Zohran Mamdani, speaks to Jacobin about her campaign for New York’s state senate, her family’s history with ICE deportations, and tying the pro-Palestine movement to US domestic politics.
Socialist New York State Senate candidate Aber Kawas: “Our platform is fighting to afford health care, to afford housing, to afford transit. But it’s also to fight destruction abroad.” (Aber for Senate)
Tomorrow is an election day in New York, and a large slate of democratic socialist candidates are on the ballot at the federal and state levels in the Democratic primary. The election will be a test of the organizing power of the New York City Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA) and the knock-on effects of the continued popularity of its mayor, Zohran Mamdani. One of those candidates is longtime community organizer and Palestine advocate Aber Kawas, who is running for state senate in District 12 in Queens.
For Jacobin Radio’s podcast The Dig, host Daniel Denvir spoke to Kawas about her campaign. You can listen to the episode (which also features conversations with a number of other left-progressive electoral challengers) here.
Daniel Denvir
You are a Palestinian American running to represent Astoria, the heart of socialist Queens. What place does the movement for Palestinian liberation hold in your campaign and in your politics more generally?
Aber Kawas
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