The new rising star of American Democratic Socialism (DSA the acronym in English) is Darializa Ávila Chevaliera 32-year-old Dominican-American sociologist.
Born in Miami, to Dominican parents; Raised there, in the Dominican Republic and Washington Heights, she graduated from Columbia University. She challenges Congressman Adriano Espaillat, the head of the Latino congressional bloc in Washington.
Whoever wins, the Dominicans will retain control of the New York’s 13th Congressional District.
The fight between them reflects the internal struggles of the Democratic Party, between the old guard with old ideas, and the new generation with progressive ideas.
When I met with her, I asked her the obligatory question.
How do you reconcile socialism in the capital of world capitalism, New York, Wall Street, how do you reconcile all that?
With a soft, slow voice and calm manner, Ávila Chevalier answered me, convincing me that I asked the question to the wrong person.
“They must reconcile that, They must explain that two of the poorest congressional districts are here” near Wall Street, “they must explain that,” he pointed out.
For her, democratic socialism does not seek to expropriate or persecute, it seeks “save the nation”. Because the real danger is the excessive accumulation of a few, which produces abysmal economic inequalities, which can destroy society.
Darializa Ávila Chevalier, of American Democratic Socialism (DSA), along with supporters of her campaign for the seat.
Socialism, according to her, does not threaten capitalism, On the contrary, it is their only hope for salvation.
For her it is a personal matter. “my generation We must delay starting families, buying houses, these things are not within our reach, this must change. Governments change but everything is much worse. I will work so that working families have a decent life. This system failed, we need something new,” he said.
Ávila Chevalier suspended her studies for a doctorate in sociology because she could not pay the tuition.
“All my life I have been a community organizerfrom primary and secondary school to university,” he said.
Certainly, Ávila Chevalier began to stand out with lStudent protests at Columbia University against Israel’s massacre in Gaza. She was in the organization. He also organized protests against police brutality. Now he organizes young voters, in Washington Heights, Harlem and the Bronx.
“I have the deep conviction that oppression in any place is oppression in all places,” because nothing exists in a vacuum; everything is connected. “The destruction of homes in Gaza is connected to evictions from public housing projects and homelessness in our cities,” he says.
“I have been selected for this position, you see my name, my photo, but this is not about me; I am part of something much bigger than me,” she says.
“We have the opportunity to organize people to fight for something bigger than themselves, because the politicians of the system impose their agendas. They do not care about the impact of public policies on the population, that must end,” he said.
Ávila Chevalier’s grandmother He emigrated to Venezuela in the 70s. His mother, María Chevalier, a native of Higüey, lived in Venezuela and returned to the Dominican Republic. He emigrated to Miami, where Darializa was born, returned to the Dominican Republic, before returning to the United States.
Avila Chevalier remember your childhood In Miami, “we moved very frequently, we had problems paying the rent.”
His name, like many Dominican names, is a combination of two names to create a third; one grandmother is called Daris, the other, Alisa, she is Darializa.
Graduated as a sociologist from Columbiagot his first job, he told his father, Raymundo Ávila, a native of La Romana, the news. When she told him how much he would earn, he replied: “It can’t be that you earn so little, you studied at Columbia.”
“I understood that I could not and should not accept less, that I could not accommodate this, that I had to work to change it. There he began his political participation and today, he challenges Espaillat, in the primaries on June 23.
