The College Democrats of America (CDA), the youth wing of the Democratic National Committee, forced two of its members to resign from leadership positions following a right-wing smear campaign this week.
They were branded anti-Semites after expressing anger at Israel’s assault on Gaza in a heated social media exchange.
Christopher Woodside, a twenty-year-old student at Catholic University of America, says he was fired 6 August from his position as Communications Director with the DC Federation for College Democrats, CDA’s Washington DC branch.
Woodside told The Electronic Intifada he was “told we would never receive donations because I made the organization seem radical.” He added, “while I was officially asked to resign by the state level at DC College Dems, it was highly suggested their request for me to leave was from being pressured at the national college Dems level.”
Woodside noted that CDA has a pattern of firing its members for dissenting on foreign policy issues. He says he was fired from a national level CDA position in January for criticizing President Obama’s deadly drone policy.
The same same day as Woodside, Boston College student Evan Goldstein was forced to resign from his role as CDA’s social media coordinator.