Events

The experience of the peaceful "Wende" in 1989 awakened in many people the hope that a Germany without a military could be possible. This hope led people from various civil initiatives in Halle together to found the Friedenskreis in 1990. The Friedenskreis Halle e.V. is an group of people of differing world views, religions, nationalities and political affiliations. We see peace not as a state of being or as a distant goal, and not simply as the absence of war. Peace is for us a means to a common, just and non-violent life together in diversity, where the personal development and liberty of the individual is made possible. The conception of this life together is always a new experience. This is why we try to explore, find and pass on new ways of doing so, while never forgetting to question the same. We are consequently involved in education, peace-associated activities and in projects for civil conflict resolution on both the domestic and international levels. Our work is made possible by paid and voluntary staff and carried through donations and public subsidies. Our current programme and projects

• Seminars and educational programmes in the areas of communication, conflict resolution, mediation, dealing with violence and learning how to speak out
• Consulting for initiatives and projects
• Lectures and seminars on current peace-associated themes
• Civil conflict resolution through the development of an educational and encounter centre in Jajce, Bosnia.
• Work camps, youth encounters and volunteer work in the countries of the Balkans.
• Counselling on military service and conscientious objection
• Cooperation in activities and campaigns against militarisation
• Coordination of the initiative "Zivilcourage: Bündnis für Gewaltlosigkeit, Demokratie und Toleranz in Halle"

The Open School 21 offers students in and around Hamburg (Germany) a broad program for global education. It aims to raise their awareness of global correlations and realities. At the same time concrete options for action are created for and together with students that enable them to make a self-determined contribution to a sustainable development and more global justice. In the Open School there is the experience that one can make an important contribution to justice, environmental protection, peacekeeping as well as poverty reduction by oneself and that success in these areas is possible.

Open School 21 offers about 40 different workshops, project days, city walks and harbor tours on request. Topics of the Open School are globalization, human rights, poverty reduction, world agricultural trade, climatic change, flight and migration, fair trade, sustainable
consumption, child labor, colonial history as well as living conditions and environments in different countries.

The program of The Open School 21 is directed to school students from every grade and school form. The activities take place at the harbor, in different parts of the city, in the education center “Werkstatt 3” or in one’s own school.

The events are held by self-employed experts with abroad and migration experiences that come from the field of development cooperation, arts and science. For teachers, the Open School 21 offers consultation for global education, support for day-projects as well as materials for preparation and follow-up of events.

Arche noVa is an aid organisation that sets up humanitarian aid projects (Syrien, Irak, Libanon, Ukraine), development cooperation projects (Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippinen, Uganda, Äthiopien, Somalia, Mali, Kenia) as well as development education in the form of school projects on topics such as ‘water’, ‘world trade and globalisation’, ‘(international) conflicts’ and ‘humanitarian aid’.

The Human Rights Center (MRZ) mainly focuses on the collection, editing and archiving of legal materials in order to make them available to legal professionals. The MRZ is the first institution of its kind in the Federal Republic of Germany. It works in close cooperation with the European Council and the departments of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Justice that are responsible for human rights. It also collaborates with other institutions focusing on human rights in Germany and in other countries represented in the European Council.

Another major objective of the Center is to establish a specialized library for the use of Center's researchers and students from Berlin and Potsdam, as well as outside researchers and government representatives. In addition, the MRZ publishes scientific papers treating human rights issues from the perspectives of international law, European Community Law and national law.

In favour of a culture of understanding: What exactly is racism? How did it arise? How does it work? What can I do against it? What is my identity as a person of colour? What is a white identity in the battle against racism? We are searching for and giving answers to these questions. Our members are people of colour, black and white people from various countries in Asia, Africa and Europe.

To this end, we are offering individual counselling and training such as

• black consciousness training
• black empowerment training
• anti-racism training
• racism awareness training
• hip hop training
• seminars on intercultural competence

Additionally, our members are working on topics such as black and white identity, models of conflict resolution, development of ways of living based on equal rights in an environment of globalisation as well as interculturality and anti-racism activities.