Oh, What a Tangled Web of Communists and Islamists Lies Behind Zohran Mamdani

Zohran Mamdani’s 2025 mayoral campaign benefited from an extensive activist network connecting Marxist and Islamist movements, several of which are under congressional scrutiny for foreign and extremist ties.

This article provides an overview of the key organizations, individuals, and funding channels involved.

Subsequent articles will explore these connections in greater depth, one focusing on the communist affiliations tied to Chinese Communist Party, aligned networks, and another examining extremist groups linked to Hamas.

A central pillar of Mamdani’s political base is the immigrant-rights organization Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM) and its political arm, DRUM Beats, which organized a large-scale South Asian voter mobilization for his campaign.

Both groups are linked to the far-left People’s Forum, a socialist organization funded through the CCP-aligned network of billionaire Neville Roy Singham, a U.S. citizen residing in Shanghai.

The People’s Forum works closely with the ANSWER Coalition, a front for the Marxist-Leninist Workers World Party (WWP) and its offshoot, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL).

Mamdani’s personal ties to this broader ideological network trace back to his student years. While attending Bowdoin College, he co-founded the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which he credits as the start of his political activism.

SJP, founded by Hatem Bazian, operates under the umbrella of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), which publicly praised Hamas following the October 7 attacks on Israel.

SJP’s leadership includes individuals previously involved with Hamas-linked organizations such as the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) and the Holy Land Foundation, both shut down or sanctioned for financing or coordinating with Hamas.

Multiple investigations have identified AMP as a key conduit for U.S.-based pro-Hamas activism.

Through SJP, Mamdani is connected to what congressional reports describe as the “Hamas-linked” side of this activist network.

That bloc converges with the CCP-funded and Marxist-Leninist coalition through joint campaigns such as Shut It Down for Palestine, co-organized by SJP, the ANSWER Coalition, and The People’s Forum.

The “Shut It Down for Palestine” (SID4P) campaign brings together multiple activist groups, some alleged to have affiliations with Chinese Communist Party–aligned organizations and others with Hamas-linked entities.

This alliance reflects a fusion of Islamist extremism and communist internationalism united under shared anti-Israel and anti-American objectives.

Pakistan’s Haqooq-e-Khalq Party (HKP), a socialist party, part of this same international far-left ecosystem, deepens the overlap.

Founded by Cambridge-educated historian Ammar Ali Jan and socialist politician Farooq Tariq, HKP advocates merging nationalist and socialist revolutionary movements.

The group maintains close ties with The People’s Forum and DRUM, extending the CCP-linked network into Mamdani’s campaign support structure.

On the ground in New York, DRUM’s director of organizing, Kazi Fouzia, a Bangladeshi immigrant who received asylum after entering the U.S. as an illegal alien, led neighborhood-level mobilization efforts crucial to Mamdani’s primary victory.

“We’re like a gang,” she said, describing the group’s influence. “When we go to any shop, people just move aside and say, ‘Oh my God. The DRUM leaders are here.’”

Taken together, Mamdani’s origins in SJP, his campaign’s backing from DRUM and The People’s Forum, and the shared activities of CCP-funded and Hamas-linked groups expose a unified network, an unusual convergence of communist, Islamist, and foreign-funded entities operating collectively within the same American political space.

Among the potential legal issues surrounding Zohran Mamdani’s campaign network are possible violations of federal nonprofit law and foreign-agent statutes.

The significant overlap between Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM) and its political arm, DRUM Beats, raises 501(c)(3) compliance concerns since organizations with that tax-exempt status are prohibited from direct political campaigning.

Despite her open involvement in Mamdani’s campaign, Kazi Fouzia is still listed as DRUM’s director of organizing on her own LinkedIn profile, further blurring organizational boundaries.

Campaign-finance records also reveal that Mamdani’s campaign collected roughly $13,000 from donors listing foreign addresses; by October 14, 91 of those donations had been refunded, totaling $5,723.50.

The Coolidge-Reagan Foundation filed criminal referrals alleging illegal foreign contributions, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith has demanded records citing evidence that the same network acted as an unregistered foreign agent of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while maintaining U.S. tax-exempt status.

Activities involving foreign-linked funding and coordination with overseas political entities may fall under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

Senator Marco Rubio formally requested that Attorney General Merrick Garland investigate whether Neville Roy Singham and the organizations he funds are violating FARA provisions.

According to the Network Contagion Institute, the “Shut It Down for Palestine” coalition, of which several campaign-affiliated groups are members, has received financial and logistical backing from CCP-aligned entities whose messaging mirrors Beijing’s propaganda strategy of presenting China as a defender of global justice while undermining U.S. influence.

Further illustrating the ideological overlap, the International ANSWER Coalition, a major partner in this network, is operated by the Workers World Party (WWP), a Marxist-Leninist communist organization founded in 1959 by Sam Marcy.

WWP has a long record of defending authoritarian regimes, including North Korea and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, and even praised the Chinese government’s violent suppression of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

The FBI once described WWP as a “hard-line communist organization dedicated to world revolution.” The party has spawned several front groups, including the International Action Center and ANSWER, which have served as vehicles for its political agenda.

In 2022, DRUM executive director Fahd Ahmed publicly praised his “opportunity to engage with Mohiba Ahmed, Raza Gillani, and Ammar Ali Jan from Haqooq-e-Khalq Party,” a radical Pakistani socialist movement.

Meanwhile, The People’s Forum—another group within this same orbit—is under congressional investigation for possible CCP ties and foreign funding.

Senator Chuck Grassley has cited evidence that The People’s Forum was financed through Neville Roy Singham’s China-linked network and may have operated as an undeclared foreign agent under FARA.

The Program on Extremism at George Washington University likewise lists The People’s Forum within a broader Singham-funded network of U.S. activist groups engaged in pro-Palestinian organizing that carries CCP-influenced narratives.

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