Wednesday, July 01, 2026
Mamdani-backed socialist primary winner founded group whose goal is to ‘eradicate' Western civilization
Darializa Avila Chevalier helped launch Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which said it wants to end the West
Published June 25, 2026 9:50am EDT
The socialist backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani who won Tuesday night’s primary election in New York’s 13th Congressional District founded a group in college that called for the total destruction of the West.
Darializa Avila Chevalier, 32, a Democratic nominee for U.S. Congress who made career out of "community organizing," wrote in her biography for an opinion piece in independent news outlet The Electronic Intifada that she "helped launch the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign Columbia University Apartheid Divest."
"We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization," the group said in a now-deleted 2024 Instagram post.
In May 2024, eight years after she graduated from Columbia, Chevalier was back on campus advocating alongside the group she founded, known as CUAD, wearing a keffiyeh and a t-shirt emblazoned with the group's name.
Darializa Avila Chevalier, Democratic candidate for Congress in New York's 13th Congressional District, speaks with a voter in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan on June 14, 2026, in New York, N.Y. (Shuran Huang/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Avila Chevalier was interviewed by the Associated Press at the school's infamous encampment against Israel that year, which was later broken up by police.
Only months after that, CUAD, caused a firestorm when it reportedly posted its goal of eradicating Western Civilization.
Avila Chevalier was interviewed by the Associated Press at the school's infamous encampment against Israel that year, which was later broken up by police.
Only months after that, CUAD, caused a firestorm when it reportedly posted its goal of eradicating Western Civilization.
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