Dr. Craig Considine

Rice University

Bio

Dr. Craig Considine is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Rice University. His work examines radical ideologies, interfaith spaces, and the defense of Western liberal societies—including the United States and Israel. He is the author of ten books, including When Marx Meets Islam: Navigating Radical Ideologies in Defense of the West. Considine has received fellowships from the Middle East Forum and the Jewish National Fund.

When Marx Meets Islam at the Ballot Box: Piker, El-Sayed, Mamdani, and the Soft War's Electoral Turn

Abstract

This paper updates When Marx Meets Islam, arguing that a “soft war” against the U.S.–Israel partnership has entered electoral politics. Using Marx, Gramsci, Fanon, and Said, it treats Hasan Piker, Abdul El-Sayed, and Zohran Mamdani as three functions of one alliance: vernacular narrative, a battleground Senate nomination, and New York municipal power. Campus and protest frames—Israel as apartheid, aid as complicity, armed factions as “resistance”—now operate through primaries and City Hall as political infrastructure.