Let Voters Decide on Apartheid-Free Community

OPEN LETTER TO BURLINGTON CITY COUNCIL

Dear Burlington City Council & Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak,

Democrats on the City Council blocked the AFC pledge advisory question from going to voters two years in a row, despite thousands of Burlington residents signing petitions to put the pledge on the ballot. In April 2025, the Council unanimously approved a resolution for protecting free speech on Palestine, and it is time to rectify the fact that our free speech rights have been repeatedly denied. There should be a democratic vote on adopting the pledge.

THE APARTHEID-FREE COMMUNITY PLEDGE:
WE AFFIRM our commitment to freedom, justice, and equality for the Palestinian people and all people; and
WE OPPOSE all forms of racism, bigotry, discrimination, and oppression; and
WE DECLARE ourselves an Apartheid-free community and to that end,
WE PLEDGE to join others in working to end all support to Israel’s Apartheid regime, settler colonialism, and military occupation.

We, the undersigned, SUPPORT the Apartheid-Free Community (AFC) pledge, and DEMAND that the Burlington City Council place the AFC advisory referendum question on the town meeting day 2026 ballot.