The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Religious Society of Friends (Quaker)-founded organization working for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world. AFSC was founded in 1917 as a combined effort by American members of the Religious Society of Friends to assist civilian victims of World War I. It continued to engage in relief action in Europe and the Soviet Union after the Armistice of 1918. By the mid-1920s, AFSC focused on improving racial relations, immigration policy, and labor conditions in the U.S., as well as exploring ways to prevent the outbreak of another conflict before and after World War II. As the Cold War developed, the organization began to employ more professionals rather than Quaker volunteers. Over time, it broadened its appeal and began to respond more forcefully to racial injustice, international peacebuilding, migration and refugee issues, women's issues, and the demands of sexual minorities for equal treatment. Currently, the organization's three priorities include work on peacebuilding, a focus on just economies, and humane responses to the global migration crisis.
Quakers traditionally oppose violence in all of its forms and therefore many refuse to serve in the military, even when drafted. AFSC's original mission arose from the need to provide conscientious objectors (COs) with a constructive alternative to military service. In 1947, AFSC, along with its British counterpart, the Friends Service Council (now known as Quaker Peace and Social Witness), received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of all Quakers worldwide.[1]
Established in 1917 by Friends from different branches of American Quakerism, AFSC is connected to the Religious Society of Friends through its official Corporation, which is established in the organization's bylaws: "The members of the Corporation shall be those persons, being members of the Religious Society of Friends, as may from time to time be appointed to membership in accordance with the provisions of these Bylaws." The members are a combination of "Yearly Meeting appointees" and "at-large members." The bylaws further state: "Appointment of Members by Yearly Meetings. Each Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends in the United States of America shall be entitled Bylaws of the American Friends Service Committee to appoint such number of persons as may be fixed by the Friends Relations Committee of the Corporation to serve as members of the Corporation," and "Appointment of Members-at-Large. The Standing Nominating Committee shall provide nominations of the persons who are to be members of the Corporation for the ensuing year...taking AFSC’s policies regarding diversity and inclusion into consideration."[2]
History
In April 1917, just days after the United States enteredWorld War I by declaring war on Germany and its allies, a group of Quakers met in Philadelphia to discuss the impending military draft and its impact on members of peace churches such as Quakers, Mennonites, Brethren, and the Amish. They developed ideas for alternative services that could be performed directly in the battle zones of northern France.[3]
A historic AFSC logo
The group also formulated plans for interacting with the United States Army, which had been inconsistent in its treatment of pacifist churches were legally exempt from the draft, individual state draft boards interpreted the law in various ways. Many Quakers and other COs were ordered to report to army camps for military service. Some COs, unaware of the significance of reporting for duty, were surprised to learn that this was interpreted by the military as a willingness to fight. One of AFSC's first tasks was to identify COs, locate the camps where they were held, and visit them to provide spiritual guidance and moral support. In areas where the pacifist churches were more wildly recognized, such as Pennsylvania, several of draft boards were willing to assign COs to AFSC for alternative service.[4]
In addition to organizing alternative service programs for COs, AFSC collected relief in the form of food, clothing, and other supplies for displaced persons in France. Quakers were encouraged to donate old and make new garments; grow fruits and vegetables, can them, and send them to AFSC headquarters in Philadelphia. The AFSC then shipped these materials to France for distribution. Young men and women were sent to work in France alongside British Quakers, providing relief and medical care to refugees, repairing and rebuilding homes, assisting farmers in replanting fields damaged by the war, and founding a maternity hospital.[5]
After World War I ended in 1918, AFSC expanded its work to Russia, Serbia, and Poland, assisting orphans and victims of famine and disease. In Germany and Austria, they established kitchens to feed hungry children.[5] Eventually, AFSC was chartered by President Herbert Hoover to provide United States-sponsored relief to Germans.[6]
In the 1920s, the American Friends Service Committee branched out to more domestic work in the United States. The Interracial Section was formed to improve race relations and civil rights. AFSC advocated for more inclusive immigration laws and opposed racial quotas. The organization also supported striking mine workers and helped unemployed individuals develop new skills, such as crafting furniture and other goods.[7]
During the 1930s and through World War II, AFSC helped refugees escape Nazi Germany, focusing on those who were not being assisted by other organizations, primarily non-religious Jews and Jews married to non-Jews.[8] AFSC also provided relief for children on both sides of the Spanish Civil War[9] and supported refugees in Vichy France.[10] Simultaneously, AFSC operated several Civilian Public Service camps for a new generation of COs. When Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from the West Coast to inland concentration camps, AFSC led efforts to help college students transfer to schools in the Midwest and East Coast to avoid internment, and assisted Japanese Americans in resettling in various cities during and after the war.[11] Following the war, AFSC engaged in relief and reconstruction work in Europe, Japan, India, and China.
In the Gaza Strip, the Egyptian Army had established eight improvised refugee camps containing at least 200,000 people, mostly living in tents. Of these, 56% had come from Gaza District, and 42% from Lydda District. AFSC's responsibilities included food distribution, public health, and education. The program was managed by 50 volunteers, many from pacifist or CO backgrounds, and eventually employed over 1,000 Palestinians. One of the initial tasks was registering the refugees by their village of origin and establishing a rationing system, including a baby milk program. The goal was to provide each person with 2000 calories per day.[15] Following this, AFSC established clinics for distributing medicines, conducted malaria control efforts, and organized water distribution.
By March 30, 1949, rudimentary schools had been established for 16,000 children.[16] However, due to the absence of political progress on repatriation and limited resources, AFSC decided not to commit to a long-term aid program. In April 1950, they transferred their entire program to the newly created the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).[17]
During the Vietnam War, AFSC collaborated with U.S. scholars of China to organize conferences that sought to raise awareness about the U.S.'s non-recognition of the People's Republic of China.[18] In 1966, AFSC developed programs to aid children and provided medical supplies and artificial limbs to civilians in both North and South Vietnam. When U.S. State Department approval to send medical supplies to North Vietnam was denied, the committee routed goods through Canada. AFSC also supported draft counseling for young American men throughout the conflict.[19]
In 1955, AFSC published Speak Truth to Power: A Quaker Search for an Alternative to Violence, authored by a group including Stephen G. Cary, A. J. Muste, Robert Pickus, and Bayard Rustin.[20] Focused on the Cold War, the 71-page pamphlet aimed to demonstrate "the effectiveness of love in human relations"[21] and became a significant statement of Christian pacifism, receiving widespread commentary in both secular and religious press.
In fiscal year 2022, AFSC had revenues of US$40.9million and expenses of US$37.8million.[22] AFSC had net assets of US$166million.[23]
Programs and projects
Today AFSC programs address a wide range of issues, countries, and communities. AFSC describes the programs as united by "the unfaltering belief in the essential worth of every human being, non-violence as the way to resolve conflict, and the power of love to overcome oppression, discrimination, and violence".[24]
AFSC employs more than 350 staff working in dozens of programs throughout the United States and works in thirteen other nations.[25] AFSC has divided the organization's programs between eight geographic regions, each of which runs programs related to peace, immigrant rights, restorative justice, economic justice, and climate justice.[26] AFSC's international programs often work in conjunction with Quaker Peace and Social Witness (formerly the British Friends Service Council) and other partners.
AFSC carries out many programs around the world. The organization's 2010 annual report[27] describes work in several African countries, Haiti, Indonesia, and the United States. Recently AFSC opened a traveling art exhibit called Windows & Mirrors, examining the impact of the war in Afghanistan on civilians.[28]
In 2004, AFSC started the project Eyes Wide Open in Chicago. Eyes Wide Open is an exhibition on the human cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The exhibit featured boots in a military array representing US deaths in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and shoes representing Iraqi and Afghan civilians. It was exhibited in 48 states and the District of Columbia, drawing national coverage[29][30]
Current strategic focus
The American Friends Service Committee's strategic plan for 2020-2030 lists three interconnected strategic goals.[31]
Just and Sustainable Peace - working for a future free of militarism and violence. Building conditions for peace, protecting civic space, and upholding human rights and dignity around the world. In the U.S., working to end reliance on criminalization and incarceration.
Just Economies - supporting initiatives and advocacy for access to food, housing, health care, and education and challenging inequality and corporate abuse of human rights.
Just Responses to Forced Displacement and Migration - offering legal services, training, human rights monitoring, and humanitarian relief and supporting migrant-led organizing and advocacy.
Criticism
Throughout much of the group's history the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and other government agencies have monitored the work of this and many other similar organizations.[32][33][34]
Since the 1970s, criticism has also come from liberals within the Society of Friends, who charge that AFSC has drifted from its Quaker roots and has become indistinguishable from other political pressure groups. Quakers expressed concern with AFSC's abolition of their youth work camps during the 1960s and what some saw as a decline of Quaker participation in the organization.
In June 1979, a cover article in The New Republic attacked AFSC for abandoning the tradition of pacifism.[35] The criticisms became prominent after a gathering of Friends General Conference (FGC) in Richmond, Indiana, in the summer of 1979 when many Friends joined with prominent leaders, such as Kenneth Boulding, to call for a firmer Quaker orientation toward public issues.[36] After the FGC Gathering, a letter listing the points of criticism was signed by 130 Friends and sent to the AFSC Board. In 1988, the book Peace and Revolution[37] by conservative scholar Guenter Lewy repeated charges that AFSC had abandoned pacifism and religion.[35] In response to Lewy's book, Chuck Fager published Quaker Service at the Crossroads[36] in 1988.[38]
In 2010, Fager described that AFSC was "divorced" from Quakers' life as a faith community due to "an increasingly pronounced drift toward a lefty secularism" since the 1970s.[35] It was reported that the Committee in 1975 adopted "a formal decision to make the Middle East its major issue".[39][40]
Some Jewish supporters of Israeli government policies have accused AFSC of having an anti-Jewish bias.[41] In 1993, Jacob Neusner called the Committee "the most militant and aggressive of Christian anti-Israel groups".[42]
The AFSC's position on its website is that it "supports the use of boycott and divestment campaigns targeting only companies that support the occupation, settlements, militarism, or any other violations of international humanitarian or human rights law. Our position does not call for a full boycott of Israel or of companies because they are either Israeli or doing business in Israel. Our actions also never focus on individuals."[43]
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a global humanitarian aid, relief, and development nongovernmental organization. Founded in 1933 as the International Relief Association, at the request of Albert Einstein, and changing its name in 1942 after amalgamating with the similar Emergency Rescue Committee, the IRC provides emergency aid and long-term assistance to refugees and those displaced by war, persecution, or natural disaster. The IRC is currently working in about 40 countries and 26 U.S. cities where it resettles refugees and helps them become self-sufficient. It focuses mainly on health, education, economic wellbeing, power, and safety.
A Quaker Action Group (AQAG) was founded in Philadelphia during the summer of 1966 to "apply nonviolent direct action as a witness against the war in Vietnam".
Peace churches are Christian churches, groups or communities advocating Christian pacifism or Biblical nonresistance. The term historic peace churches refers specifically only to three church groups among pacifist churches:
The International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) is a non-governmental organization founded in 1914 in response to the horrors of war in Europe. Today IFOR counts 71 branches, groups and affiliates in 48 countries on all continents. IFOR members promote nonviolence, human rights and reconciliation through public education efforts, training programs and campaigns. The IFOR International Secretariat in Utrecht, Netherlands facilitates communication among IFOR members, links branches to capacity building resources, provides training in gender-sensitive nonviolence through the Women Peacemakers Program, and helps coordinate international campaigns, delegations and urgent actions. IFOR has ECOSOC status at the United Nations.
The testimony of peace is the action generally taken by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) for peace and against participation in war. Like other Quaker testimonies, it is not a "belief", but a description of committed actions, in this case to promote peace, and refrain from and actively oppose participation in war. Quakers' original refusal to bear arms has been broadened to embrace protests and demonstrations in opposition to government policies of war and confrontations with others who bear arms, whatever the reason, in the support of peace and active nonviolence. Due to this core testimony, the Religious Society of Friends is considered one of the traditional peace churches.
Charles Eugene Fager, known as Chuck Fager, is an American activist, author, editor, publisher and an outspoken and prominent member of the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers. He is known for his work in both the Civil Rights Movement and in the Peace movement. His written works include religious and political essays, humor, adult fiction, and juvenile fiction, and he is best known for his 1974 book Selma 1965: The March That Changed the South, his in-depth history of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights Movement, which led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.
The Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) is a Quaker organisation that works to communicate between all parts of Quakerism. FWCC's world headquarters is in London. It has General Consultative NGO status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations since 2002. FWCC shares responsibility for the Quaker UN Office in Geneva and New York City with the American Friends Service Committee and Britain Yearly Meeting.
Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW), previously known as the Friends Service Council, and then as Quaker Peace and Service, is one of the central committees of Britain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends – the national organisation of Quakers in Britain. It works to promote British Quakers' testimonies of equality, justice, peace, simplicity and truth. It works alongside both small local and large international pressure groups.
The Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO) was a United States nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people avoid or resist military conscription or seek discharge after voluntary enlistment. It was active in supporting conscientious objectors ("CO's"), war resisters, and draft evaders during the Vietnam War. Founded in Philadelphia in 1948 and dissolved in 2011, CCCO emphasized the needs of secular and activist COs, while other organizations supporting COs principally focused on religious objectors and/or legislative reform and government relations.
William Reed Huntington (1907–1990) was an American architect who represented the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) to the United Nations. He directed a program outlining the AFSC.
Jeff Halper is an Israeli-American anthropologist, author, lecturer, and political activist who has lived in Israel since 1973. He is the Director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and a co-founder of The One Democratic State Campaign (ODSC). He is a Jewish Israeli.
A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world peace. Some of the methods used to achieve these goals include advocacy of pacifism, nonviolent resistance, diplomacy, boycotts, peace camps, ethical consumerism, supporting anti-war political candidates, supporting legislation to remove profits from government contracts to the military–industrial complex, banning guns, creating tools for open government and transparency, direct democracy, supporting whistleblowers who expose war crimes or conspiracies to create wars, demonstrations, and political lobbying. The political cooperative is an example of an organization which seeks to merge all peace-movement and green organizations; they may have diverse goals, but have the common ideal of peace and humane sustainability. A concern of some peace activists is the challenge of attaining peace when those against peace often use violence as their means of communication and empowerment.
Irwin Martin Abrams was a long-time professor of history at Antioch College, a pioneer in the field of peace research, and a global authority on the Nobel Peace Prize. His book, The Nobel Peace Prize and the Laureates, first published in 1988 and subsequently updated and revised, is regarded as the authoritative reference work on the subject. His other books included Words of Peace, which brought together selections from the acceptance speeches of Nobel Peace Prize laureates, and five volumes of Nobel Lectures in Peace.
On Sunday, April 18, 2010, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) initiated an event titled "The Chicago Hearing: Does U.S. Policy on Israel and Palestine Uphold Our Values?", modeled after a meeting of a United States Congressional fact-finding committee.
The Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC) is a charity that acts on the peace and social justice concerns of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Canada.
Clarence Evan Pickett (1884-1965) was an American religious leader, notable 20th century Quaker, and head of a non-governmental, humanitarian relief agency.
Esther Biddle Rhoads was an American educator and Quaker relief worker. She was a teacher at the Friends Girls School in Tokyo from 1917 to 1940, and returned to Japan after World War II to rebuild the school as its principal; she was also tutor of Prince Akihito from 1950 to 1960.
Lucy Biddle Lewis was an American Quaker suffragist and peace activist, one of the American delegates to the International Congress of Women meeting at The Hague in 1915, and in Zürich in 1919. She was American national chair of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). She helped to create the Swarthmore College Peace Collection, which includes the papers of many notable pacificists, including those of Jane Addams.
↑ Gallagher, Nancy (2007) ‘’Quakers in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Dilemmas of NGO Humanitarian Activism’’ The American University in Cairo Press. ISBN977-416-105-X p. 51
↑ Minami, Kazushi (2024). People's Diplomacy: How Americans and Chinese Transformed US-China Relations during the Cold War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. p.23. ISBN9781501774157.
1 2 Chuck Fager, ed., Quaker Service at the Crossroads: American Friends, The American Friends Service Committee, and Peace and Revolution, Kimo Press, 1988.
Austin, Allan W. (2012). Quaker Brotherhood: Interracial Activism and the American Friends Service Committee, 1917–1950. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Barnes, Gregory A. (2016). A Centennial History of the American Friends Service Committee. Philadelphia: FriendsPress.
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Nobel Prize in Peace (1947)
