The following is the text read by Dan Seeger, clerk of the Friends Relations Committee in March, 2016 at AFSC's annual meeting of the Corporation as part of the report of the committee.

Note: Aiden Katri, an Israeli transgender woman, refused her military service on March 29^th and was sentenced to her first prison term in a men’s prison. Sahar Vardi, coordinator of AFSC’s Israel program, offers a reflection on the intersectionality of movements and the importance of refusing all forms of oppression. - Lucy

Imagine a 19 year old girl jailed in a men’s military prison for refusing to breach international law. Sounds absurd, doesn’t it?

As more states retaliate against BDS, we must stand against attempts to suppress protected speech and action.

Over the past month, there have been two significant victories for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which holds corporations and institutions accountable for their support for or complicity in Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.

Willie Colón, writer and editor with AFSC, has worked for newspapers, magazines, and nonprofits in New York, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania. He also teaches computer skills and conversational English to recent Latin American immigrants and volunteers with a Philadelphia nonprofit that uses media to bring together and amplify movements for social and economic justice. 

Art has the power to reach—and move—people beyond what traditional education and organizing can do. And today, a growing number of activists around the world are using art to challenge war and militarism in their communities.

On March 30, AFSC staff members Minerva Mendoza, Tabitha Mustafa, and Erin Polley joined media relations director Alexis Moore for “Cultural organizing: Art as a tool for social change,” a live-streamed discussion. Here’s a recap.

Pam and Ron Ferguson were invited to lead programmed worship at AFSC's Annual Corporation meeting on March 5, 2016.

Ron and Pam Ferguson are Quakers from Kansas and Idaho who spent 9 years with the Mennonite Central Committee in Southern Sudan working with refugees and in Uganda doing development and peace building.  For the last 17 years they've been released for ministry at Winchester Friends Meeting in Winchester, Indiana where they've been active in jail ministry, managing a food pantry and participating on the General Committee of Friends Committee on Na