DSA member led radical group demanding eradication of West
Socialist Democrat Darializa Avila Chevalier, set to represent New York's 13th District, participated in Columbia University's 2024 campus occupation and co-founded an anti-Israel group banned after the protests.
Darializa Avila Chevalier, 32, who enjoys backing from Columbia professor Mahmood Mamdani, joined Students for Justice in Palestine in 2014 following a summer internship in the West Bank city of Nablus, according to New York Post. She went on to co-found Columbia University Apartheid Divest, known as CUAD, a campaign designed to pressure the prestigious university into severing all financial connections with Israel.
CUAD spearheaded the disruptive tent encampment demonstrations that occupied Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus throughout much of 2024. The group was subsequently banned from campus permanently after the takeover.
During the protests, Chevalier praised the encampments as beautiful while wearing a keffiyeh scarf over a t-shirt displaying the organization’s name, as New York Post reports. She told the Associated Press she remained actively involved through alumni networks to provide support whenever students requested assistance.
The Columbia graduate applauded the encampment’s organization during demonstrations that stretched across several weeks in spring 2024 before law enforcement ultimately stormed the campus and arrested members of the pro-terror gathering. She highlighted how participants ensured mutual safety and met one another’s health and security needs while protecting against doxxing attempts.
She described witnessing students distribute electrolytes and water during hot weather, then hand warmers and blankets as temperatures dropped in the evening.
The protests inflicted numerous injuries, caused damage to campus facilities, and generated an atmosphere of intimidation targeting Jewish students and faculty members. More than 70 students received lengthy suspensions following the takeover, with several facing expulsion.
Chevalier suggested that the administration and then-president Minouche Shafik could resolve the situation immediately by accepting student demands. She pointed to the university’s previous divestment decisions regarding private prisons and South African apartheid as precedent.
She dismissed concerns about the university’s position, claiming it represented not a question of whether Columbia would divest but when, adding that continued resistance only damaged the institution.
Shafik stepped down from her position weeks after the protests concluded, referencing a period of upheaval that tarnished her leadership.
Other former CUAD members include Mahmoud Khalil, who faced arrest by immigration authorities in March 2025 and currently appeals to the Supreme Court in a final attempt to prevent deportation.
Radical Mission Statement
The anti-Israel organization laid bare its objectives in a since-deleted Instagram post explaining its mission. The statement declared members were Westerners committed to the total elimination of Western civilization, expressing complete solidarity with liberation movements across the Global South.
The message proclaimed an internationalist Intifada seeking nothing short of universal liberation. It rejected what it termed genocidal and eugenicist regimes attempting to undermine the humanity of colonized populations.
The group’s manifesto further stated that as American fascism becomes increasingly explicit and undeniable, members would seek community and guidance from militants in the Global South who have fought on the frontlines against tyranny and domination supporting the imperialist world order.
Chevalier’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
With information from New York Post
