1 - 2001
Overcoming Violence
"Steps Against Violence"
Empowering people to stand up against violence
The north German city of Brunswick was the first German community to join the ecumenical "Peace to the City" network, which is a very central part of the Decade to Overcome Violence. In the following article, an action group introduces itself and the practical work it is doing in Brunswick and the surrounding area to overcome violence.
The project "Steps Against Violence" is the result of an ecumenical learning process which began in an informal settlement called "Canaan" near Durban, South Africa in 1988, and since 1993 has gone on to confront racism and violence among pupils in German schools and youth groups.
Under the leadership of Rev. K.J. Burckhardt, a group of German and South African theologians, together with teachers from Kassel and Brunswick, Germany, designed the programme. It was then tested with secondary school pupils (6th - 12th grade), and has since been carried out with great success amongst some 15,000 pupils in more than 40 schools in Hesse, Saxony and Lower Saxony, Germany.
The project is especially designed to highlight structural causes of violence, to address the growing problem of racism in Germany, and to give youth the opportunity to examine the alternatives of fight or flight as personal responses to violence. This is achieved by using the story of South Africa as a metaphor for a successful struggle, in the fight against apartheid and its causes. Rev. K. J. Burckhardt served a Lutheran congregation of the ELCSA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Africa) in Reservoir Hills and Newlands East/West near Durban, KwaZulu-Natal in 1983-1993.
The programme teaches the ethical foundations of active non-violence and challenges pupils to look for ways to break the cycle of violence in their own school surroundings. Out of concern for the transparency of the process and establishing or strengthening links of co-operation between communities, churches and schools, it is run by an interdisciplinary group, bringing to gether representatives of the pupils themselves, parent groups, municipal youth organisations and workers, and local churches. Sessions are led by Rev. Burckhardt together with volunteers from these organisations.
The project aims to empower youth to resist violence in their schools and to help pupils and teachers to deal with conflict positively and creatively. In any one school, all classes take part in the programme, which lasts 6 hours per class. Classes have the option of enlisting in accompanying small projects or work groups in which they display their own ways of resolving conflicts and other findings in dealing with violence (video projects, role playing, exhibits, music, dance etc). These elements form the core of a special evaluation programme at the end of the week which is organised and conducted by the pupils, teachers, parent representatives and project co-workers for the entire school.
"Steps Against Violence" is the first project in Brunswicks violence prevention programme for schools. It is followed-up by training courses such as Anti-Violence Training (AVT), Athletes for Non-Violence (Sport statt Gewalt), parent workshops, and a Conflict Resolution Programme, offered by professional trainers in non-violent action.
The Brunswick programme is run by a Working Group on Violence Prevention, consisting of representatives of about 35 city institutions and NGOs (social workers, teachers, church workers and local activists). It is supported by the City Forum on Violence Prevention, which also supports the WCC Programme "Peace to the City". Due to the grass-roots activities of the Working Group and the City Forum, Brunswick is the first German city to join this international network.
This text is reproduced and edited from a self-description by the action group "Steps Against Violence (Schritte gegen Tritte)".