Bund für Soziale Verteidigung (BSV)

Qui sommes-nous

The Federation for Social Defence (BSV) is a peace organization founded in 1989, committed to non-violent politics and constructive conflict management. Its goal is to create a society that can avoid wars and other violence. Conflicts should be resolved on a non-violent, non-military, civilian basis. The task of the BSV is the development and dissemination of concepts of non-violent defence and intervention with the aim of abolishing the German army.
Concepts:
• Civil conflict management
• Civil resistance and non-violent action
• Social Defence
• Civil Peacekeeping

What do we do?
Our work is based on three areas in which we pursue our goals by means of various methods and strategies. This happens on many levels of society - from schools to international politics. One focus of our work is the publication of analyses and background papers on current conflicts. We hold regular conferences and technical discussions on specific topics.
• International non-violent intervention refers to our international projects. For many years we have been supporting various projects and civil rights organizations, including in Belarus and Ukraine. These include: cooperation with partner organizations; assistance in actions, strategies for action or procurement of financial resources; political consulting, process support and moderation
• Pacifism, military criticism and non-violent alternatives focussing on the spread of alternatives to the military as well as campaigning against armaments and war. We use a variety of strategies: development and presentation of alternative concepts to military and armaments; participation in campaigns and actions of the peace movement; initiation of the campaign "Civil Peacekeeping"; advocacy work with politicians and institutions
• The goal of peace building in Germany is to pass on to young people the concept of civil conflict transformation in the context of school and extracurricular education. The focus here is on: work in schools (dispute resolution, anti-mobbing); training for teachers; materials for extracurricular youth work; We offer learning media (comics, videos) and a business game.
We also work with publications and events on adult education issues. The BSV provides expert speakers for lectures, seminars and trainings on the topics mentioned.

Outi Arajärvi is one of the co-chairmen of the board of the Bund für Soziale Defence (BSV).

We can hold consultations and lectures, provide up-to-date specialist information and contacts for constructive conflict management. One of our priorities is the conception, organization and execution of all types of nonviolent training, education and seminars, often in conjunction with different trainers.