Berit Bliesemann de Guevara is Professor of International Politics at Aberystwyth University. She leads the international research network Creating Safer Space, which has worked with organisations and nonviolently self-protecting communities in 13 countries to better understand and support unarmed responses to armed violence.
Faced with civilians suffering harm from armed violence, people and states tend to respond in one of two ways: call on armed protectors or do nothing. But there is a third – effective but severely under-valued response: unarmed civilian protection. Insights from self-protecting communities in conflict areas around the world show that civilians are protecting themselves and others through proactive nonviolent strategies.
This talk explains how unarmed civilian protection works, which role community organisation and cohesion plays in it, and how we can use it in our own local contexts to create safer space for life and transformation.
Join us to listen to Berit’s powerful talk on the 28th February.
TEDxAberystwyth 