The Paul K. Feyerabend Foundation was forced to transform itself into the Association Paul K. Feyerabend (APKF)
Dear colleagues and friends of the Paul K. Feyerabend Foundation,
we need to share some unexpected and rather incongruous news that shook us in 2025: the Paul K. Feyerabend Foundation was forced to dissolve. The reason is simple and irrevocable: our long-standing bank decided unilaterally to close all the foundation’s accounts… and it did so at very short notice and without providing any justification. Furthermore, no other Swiss bank was willing to open new accounts for us (all Swiss banks are in contact and act in solidarity).
Information gathered from legal sources enabled the foundation’s board to understand the probable reasons for the bank’s decision: the political sensitivity of the 2024 Paul K. Feyerabend Awards to the martyrs of solidarity in Gaza was compounded by the banks’ desire to avoid the administrative procedures involved in sending relatively small sums to communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America. That’s all… and seemingly it was also enough! Even the Swiss Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations, which has been ‘supervising’ the foundation for 20 years and which we contacted immediately, replied that the banks are sovereign and there is nothing that can be done.
All this fits the restrictions on democratic freedoms that are currently taking place all over the world, accompanied by pressure towards regimenting thought and militarizing economies. Even some judges at the International Criminal Court, some Swiss academics and an eminent United Nations figure like Francesca Albanese are facing terrifying economic sanctions. Like the Paul K. Feyerabend Foundation, hundreds of organisations and individuals are being targeted by ‘economic weapons’ in the USA, Europe and Switzerland (see the exposé: “Pay, obey or be de-banked” https://youtu.be/r28AxyJoSPM and https://substack.com/home/post/p-169142118).
Fortunately, the board of the foundation had been in contact for some time with other Swiss foundations, much larger than ours and broadly sharing the same objectives. We quickly transferred our assets to one of them and, with its help, it was possible to complete all the initiatives in progress and even offer a final 2025 grant to an exemplary solidarity initiative in Ecuador.
Although the foundation was forced to dissolve, its board did not give up. It thus decided to create the Paul K. Feyerabend Association (APKF), which retains the name and purpose of the foundation and continues to benefit from its experience (80 initiatives and 38 awards in 20 years of activity) and network of nominators (more than 200 people in 70 countries). The most striking difference between the association and the foundation lies in certain statutory limitations of the association, which arise if the association wishes to send money to beneficiaries in the Global South. To do so, it must join forces with larger foundations or other humanitarian organizations in Switzerland or Europe.
Despite this constraint and other different modalities, the APKF will pick up where the Paul K. Feyerabend Foundation was forced to stop. It will continue its work in favour of community solidarity wherever possible, including in the countries of the Global South. One fact that has greatly comforted us is that the Paul K. Feyerabend Association has already been recognised by the authorities of the Canton of Vaud as a public utility organisation in Switzerland.
During 2026, the APKF will move forward, rebuild a small capital base and resume its community solidarity activities. The APKF bureau is grateful for all the colleagues, friends and Nominators who keep in solidarity in this difficult moment and invites all Nominators to communicate informally before end of May 2026 about meaningful possible initiatives and potential awards. We are confident the Nominators remember the kind of proposed initiatives and Awards that were and remain desirable. In case of doubt, our web site is functioning and is being updated.
We ask at his time for informal submissions as we wish to proceed slowly until we’ll have reconstituted our capital. The bureau will reply to all Nominators who submit collaboration ideas that appear possible and desirable. Thank you in advance!
The founding APKF General Assembly, 13 October 2025.
