Federation for Social Defense

The Bund für Soziale Verteidigung (BSV) — rendered in English as the Federation for Social Defense and also known as the Association for Social Defense — is a German non-profit, non-governmental registered association (eingetragener Verein) founded in 1989 and based in Minden, Westphalia. It emerged from the German peace movement and describes itself as a pacifist specialist association working to develop alternatives to military force and violence. Its central concept, "social defense" (soziale Verteidigung), is defined by the organization as the defense of the institutions and values of civil society by nonviolent means — preserving life and the possibilities for social change while resisting oppression, exploitation, military violence and human-rights violations at home and abroad. The BSV was founded after a major conference on social defense (civilian-based defense) held in Minden in 1988, which drew around 1,000 participants. Founding figures included peace-movement personalities such as Petra K. Kelly and Prof. Dr. Theodor Ebert, alongside organizations including Versöhnungsbund, Pax Christi and Ohne Rüstung Leben. Its stated goals are to promote nonviolent concepts of conflict transformation in Germany and internationally and thereby to work toward overcoming war, militarism and armament up to their eventual total abolition. The means it uses are peace education in a broad sense (publications, conferences, teaching events), the organization of its own conflict-handling projects, and advocacy work aimed at promoting these alternatives to violence within German politics. Over the decades the BSV has pursued several landmark initiatives: the campaign "Bundesrepublik ohne Armee" ("Germany without an Army") after 1989, the Balkan Peace Team (1993–2001), the conception of the Civil Peace Service (Ziviler Friedensdienst) in the 1990s, and the internal social campaign "Wege aus der Gewalt" ("Ways out of Violence"). Its work is organized in three often overlapping categories: international nonviolent intervention; peace education and conflict management in Germany; and pacifism and antimilitarism. Current and recent projects include the peace-education project Think Peace, dissemination of the No Blame Approach against bullying in cooperation with the association Fairaend, and the project "LOVE-Storm – Together against Hate on the Net," an online training and action platform against hate speech and cyberbullying founded in 2016 by Björn Kunter. The BSV also supports civil-rights groups in Turkey and Belarus and is a co-sponsor of the campaign "Stop the cycle of violence in Turkey." Organizationally, the BSV is a registered association with a seven-member honorary board and a full-time managing director, Christine Schweitzer. The office is in Minden/Westphalia. It reports roughly 340 individual members and about 30–32 member organizations, with around 1,000–1,500 people supporting it regularly through donations. It belongs to national and international platforms and networks including War Resisters' International, Nonviolent Peaceforce, the German Platform for Peaceful Conflict Management, Kooperation für den Frieden and the Forum Civil Peace Service. It publishes newsletters, circulars, discussion and background papers, and occasionally books, and organizes conferences and specialist talks at least twice a year. Its work is carried by the board and five nationwide working groups, including an AG Gender and Peace and an AG Civil Peacekeeping.

The Bund für Soziale Verteidigung (BSV) grew out of the German peace movement and was founded in 1989, following a major conference on social defense (civilian-based defense) held in Minden in 1988 that was attended by about 1,000 people. Founding participants included peace-movement figures such as Petra K. Kelly and Prof. Dr. Theodor Ebert, as well as organizations including Versöhnungsbund, Pax Christi and Ohne Rüstung Leben. The association was established as a non-profit registered association (eingetragener Verein) with its office in Minden, Westphalia. Its founding purpose was to promote nonviolent concepts of conflict transformation both in Germany and internationally, and thereby to work toward overcoming war, militarism and armament up to their eventual total abolition. The means chosen were peace education in a broad sense — publications, conferences and teaching events — the organization of its own conflict-handling projects, and advocacy work to promote these alternatives to violence within German politics. Several milestones shaped the organization's development. After 1989 it ran the campaign "Bundesrepublik ohne Armee" ("Germany without an Army"). From 1993 to 2001 it was involved in the Balkan Peace Team. In the 1990s it contributed to the conception of the Civil Peace Service (Ziviler Friedensdienst). It also conducted the internal social campaign "Wege aus der Gewalt" ("Ways out of Violence"). Over time, the original focus on social defense was joined by the working areas of pacifism and military criticism, peace education, and nonviolent intervention. In the 2010s and 2020s the BSV's work included peace-education projects such as Think Peace, the dissemination of the No Blame Approach against bullying in cooperation with the association Fairaend, and the project "LOVE-Storm – Together against Hate on the Net." LOVE-Storm is an independent project based in Lüchow, founded in 2016 by Björn Kunter as a reaction to the wave of shitstorms and hate comments that spread on social networks during the 2015/2016 refugee crisis in Germany. It operates an online training and action platform offering trainings on dealing with hate speech and cyberbullying, combining activist and educational elements. In 2020 the platform trained over 1,500 people, most of them from the education sector. The BSV also engages with ongoing conflicts such as the war in Ukraine and the war in Syria, and is a co-sponsor of the campaign "Stop the cycle of violence in Turkey." It continuously supports civil-rights groups in Turkey and Belarus. It organizes conferences and specialist talks at least twice a year and publishes newsletters, circulars, discussion and background papers, and occasionally books. Its work is carried out by a seven-member honorary board, a full-time managing director (Christine Schweitzer), and five nationwide working groups, including an AG Gender and Peace and an AG Civil Peacekeeping. The association reports roughly 340 individual members and about 30–32 member organizations, with around 1,000–1,500 people supporting it regularly through donations. It is a member of several national and international platforms and networks, among them War Resisters' International, Nonviolent Peaceforce, the German Platform for Peaceful Conflict Management, Kooperation für den Frieden and the Forum Civil Peace Service.

• 2022

  BSV office begins offering a one-year Federal Volunteer Service (Bundesfreiwilligendienst) placement.

• 2020

  LOVE-Storm trains over 1,500 people, most from the education sector.

• 2016

  LOVE-Storm online training and action platform founded by Björn Kunter.

• 1993

  Balkan Peace Team begins (runs until 2001).

• 1990

  Conception of the Civil Peace Service (Ziviler Friedensdienst) in the 1990s.

• 1989

  Bund für Soziale Verteidigung founded as a non-profit registered association based in Minden.

• 1989

  Campaign "Bundesrepublik ohne Armee" ("Germany without an Army") launched after 1989.

• 1988

  Major conference on social defense (civilian-based defense) held in Minden with about 1,000 participants, leading to the founding of the BSV.

A pacifist specialist association of the German peace movement developing and advocating nonviolent alternatives to military force and violence.

• LOVE-Storm – Together against Hate on the Net

  An online training and action platform against hate speech and cyberbullying, founded in 2016 by Björn Kunter, based in Lüchow. Offers one-hour online trainings, half-day trainings, two-day multiplier trainings, a 10-day part-time qualification, and social-media team trainings, using online role-playing in chat simulations.

• Think Peace

  A peace-education project of the BSV.

• No Blame Approach

  An anti-bullying approach disseminated in cooperation with the association Fairaend.

• Wehrhaft ohne Waffen

  A network whose self-commitment begins: "I hereby declare that I will defend human rights and democracy nonviolently."

• Background and discussion papers

  Regular publications, e.g. No. 91 on protection approaches in times of authoritarian threat.

1. 1Bund für Soziale Verteidigung - Bund für Soziale Verteidigung e.V.soziale-verteidigung.de
2. 2Über uns - Bund für Soziale Verteidigung e.V.soziale-verteidigung.de
3. 3Gütekräftiges Handeln im Ruhrkampf 1923 bis 1925 - Bund für Soziale Verteidigung e.V.soziale-verteidigung.de
4. 4About the Federation of Social Defense - Bund für Soziale Verteidigung e.V.soziale-verteidigung.de
5. 5Association for Social Defense - Wikidatawikidata.org
6. 6Bund für Soziale Verteidigung - Wikipediade.wikipedia.org