Apartheid-Free Communities gathering in Philadelphia, 2024 AFSC
PHILADELPHIA (March 21, 2025) – Over 500 communities have taken a pledge declaring themselves “apartheid-free.” Pledge signers commit to cut ties with Israel’s apartheid regime against Palestinians and to oppose all forms of racism, bigotry, discrimination, and oppression. These 500+ groups represent hundreds of thousands of constituents and include congregations, faith communities, solidarity organizations, non-profits, student organizations, veterans’ groups, businesses, and even municipalities. What started as a small initiative in North America has now expanded to Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe. A map and full list of apartheid-free communities can be found here.
“We at St. Columba Church in Oakland, CA are proud to sign on as an Apartheid Free Community,” said Meg Bowerman of the St. Columba Catholic Church in Oakland, CA. “We took the pledge because it is with an African-American lens that we strive to educate ourselves in Catholic Social Teaching fostering solidarity with all those who suffer oppression. Our people recognize the apartheid in Palestine and see the similarities to Jim Crow in our country. We seek to educate ourselves with the apartheid in Palestine and will advocate through the Apartheid Free Community to stop support of the missiles causing the genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.”
For decades, the Palestinian people have faced Israeli occupation and systematic human rights abuses. According to international law apartheid is defined as a legally enforced system of separation and oppression based on race, creed, or ethnicity. Palestinian human rights groups have described Israel’s policies as apartheid for decades. Over the past few years, much of the international human rights community – including B’tselem, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International – have also joined the call for an end to Israeli apartheid.
"The segregated roads, illegal settlements, illegal separation walls, and military watchtowers add up to a powerful image of apartheid, settler colonialism, and military occupation," said Barbara Barnard, Clerk of 15th Street Friends Meeting (Quakers). “We at the 15th Street Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends support the Apartheid-Free Pledge, which is in keeping with at least two of our core testimonies to the world: our advocacy for peace and non-violence, and our advocacy for the equal value of all persons, no matter their race, gender, ethnicity, class, or sexual orientation.”
The Apartheid-Free campaign originated in 2022, following the emerging consensus among the international human rights community that Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people amounts to the crime of apartheid. An interdenominational coalition of faith groups in North America, convened by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), came together to organize the pledge.
“The fact that more than 500 congregations, organizations, and businesses have come together to end Israeli apartheid fills me with hope,” said Noor Nabulsi, Apartheid-Free Communications Specialist for AFSC. “These groups represent hundreds of thousands of people from many different places, faiths, and walks of life. What we share is a belief that collectively we can build on the history of anti-apartheid struggle to create a movement strong enough to win in the 21st century.”
Each community that signs the pledge commits to resisting apartheid and all forms of racism and discrimination, but this looks different in every community. It can include community education, political advocacy, divestment, protest, organizing ballot measures, or creative projects. For example, The United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church voted to divest from Israel bonds. And this Spring, five towns in Vermont voted to become apartheid-free.
Learn more at https://apartheid-free.org/
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The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) promotes a world free of violence, inequality, and oppression. Guided by the Quaker belief in the divine light within each person, we nurture the seeds of change and the respect for human life to fundamentally transform our societies and institutions. We work with people and partners worldwide, of all faiths and backgrounds, to meet urgent community needs, challenge injustice, and build peace.