About us

Goals and Commitments

Our convictions

S'BRENT stands for the conviction, that human rights are among the highest and most valuable goods of modern humanity and that their implementation - for all people equally – is one of our most important tasks! Where human rights are violated, action must be taken! Immediate and specific! This is not a question of charity, it is about human rights, that every human being is entitled to by virtue of being human. It’s about humanity! As Europeans, we see ourselves as having a special responsibility.

Our commitments

S'BRENT is committed to people who are being persecuted in their home country, are fleeing, have to live in inhumane conditions in refugee camps or are otherwise deprived of their human rights. Through personal contact and the resulting friendships, we let them feel our solidarity and try to give them new hope and courage through concrete help, care and understanding.

S’BRENT stands up for people and their human rights

S’BRENT stands up for people and their human rights, from the right to security to the right to education, from a life in dignity and freedom to the right to asylum. The right to education is of particular importance to us. We see education as an essential step towards liberation from oppression and towards building a self-determined, free life. As Nelson Mandela said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world!”. Along with open, compassionate communication, it is the key to peace! Therefore, in addition to educational offers, it is just as important to us to create spaces and opportunities for encounters, where people can exchange ideas, learn to understand each other, avoid misunderstandings and find ways of peaceful coexistence. We create educational opportunities for people who would otherwise not have access to them, especially for street children. We also support people fleeing at every stage of their escape journey and help them to find educational and study opportunities in their country of arrival. And we support indigenous peoples in their efforts to demarcate their lands and protect their culture.

How we pursue our goals

S'BRENT pursues its goals simultaneously in different ways, because ‘the implementation of human rights for all’ is associated with major challenges at various levels and many prerequisites must be created for this, such as

• a critical public that is serious about the topic
• an open, free, solidarity society without discrimination and
• good educational opportunities for all

Our topic: Human first

The beginning of S’BRENT

Anne Frank and the Amazon on fire - this is where the story of S'BRENT begins.

The burning Amazon

In April 2020 we would have performed a musical theatre piece about the life of Anne Frank. But Corona decided otherwise. Instead we tried to implement some of Anne's ideas.

Anne Frank

Anne Frank: "If God lets me live, I want to do something for humanity!" We knew from her diary and stories that she wanted to fight anti-Semitism, racism and discrimination and stand up for freedom, equality and peace.

Otto Frank

Otto Frank: “Anne wanted to do something for people. I will do everything in my power to fulfill my daughter's wish. We will fight against prejudice and discrimination and stand up for humanity.”

We wanted that too!
When we heard the stirring appeals of the indigenous activists Kay Sara and Vandria Borari about the Amazon and the fate of the indigenous peoples, we knew: Here we must act! But we want to let these two great warriors speak for themselves.

Kay Sara's stirring appeal from the Amazon: “This madness has to stop!”

Kay Sara, photo by Armin Smailovic, and the burning Amazon

On May 15, 2020, the indigenous actress and activist Kay Sara should have opened the ‘Wiener Festwochen’ with a speech in the Burgtheater. But Corona decided otherwise and Kay Sara sent a video from her village: "Today I should have stood on the stage of the Burgtheater and opened the Wiener Festwochen. I would have been the first indigenous woman ever to give a speech in this theatre, the largest and richest theater in the world. I would have come to you straight from our rehearsals in the Amazon, a European-Brazilian new production of Antigone. I would have played Antigone, the chorus would have been survivors of a Brazilian government massacre of landless. We would have performed this new "Antigone" on an occupied road through the Amazon - those forests that are on fire. It would not have been a play, but an action. Not an act of art, but an act of resistance: against this state power, that is destroying the Amazon.
But none of that happened. We are all scattered across the globe again and we only see each other on screens.

“This is a call to murder!”

Kay Sara in the role of Antigone, photo by Armin Smailovic

"My European friends asked me how I was doing. I am fine. I am in the Amazon with my people, in the far north of Brazil. I belong to the 3rd Clan of the Tariano people, the Clan of Thunder. We Tariano are called 'Indians'. But I insist that we be called 'Indigenous'. Because 'indigenous' means 'native'. I became an actress, so that I could tell you about us, the indigenous people.
Our misfortune began, when the Spaniards and Portuguese came to our country. First came the soldiers, then the clergy, and with the Europeans came the diseases. Millions died. Millions more died at the hands of the soldiers and the clergy. Some left the forests to work in the fields. But at the end of the work they killed them in order not to pay them. Today there are only a few of us left. I am one of the last of the Tariano. And a few weeks ago the next disease came to us: Corona! You may have heard, that Manaus, the capital of the Amazon, is suffering particularly badly from the disease. It's no longer time for proper funerals. People lie in mass graves, tractors fill them up. Others lie in the streets, unburied!" The whites use the chaos to penetrate even deeper into the forests. The fires are no longer extinguished. Also by whom? Anyone who falls into the hands of the lumberjacks is murdered. And what did Bolsonaro do? What he always does: he shakes the hands of his supporters and mocks the dead. He has tasked his staff to 'notify' tribal peoples, that a disease has broken out. This is a call to murder us. Bolsonaro wants to end the indigenous genocide, that has been going on for 500 years!” The President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, is quoted as saying: "It's a shame, that the Brazilian cavalry wasn't as effective as the Americans who exterminated their Indians!" (Dec 23, 2018).

"We will perish if we don't act!”

Kay Sara

"A few years ago, the tributaries of the Amazon dried up for the first time since human recollection. In ten years, the Amazon ecosystem will tip. The heart of this planet will stop beating. That's what our scientists say and that's what your scientists say. The thing is so simple: There is no gain in this world, there is only life. And that's why it's good that I'm not on the stage of the Burgtheater.

Because it's not about art anymore,
it's not about theater anymore.
Our tragedy is happening here and now
in the world, before our eyes.

This madness has to stop. Let's resist together, let's be humans. Because when lawlessness becomes law, resistance becomes a duty! Each in their own way and place, united by our differences and our love of life, that unites us all.» Source

The rousing appeal of the indigenous activist Vandria Borari from the Amazon

Vandria Borari - source

Also Vandria of the Borari people in the Brazilian state of Para drew attention to the dramatic situation of the Amazon Indians and the destruction of their homeland. She is the first law graduate of her people. When asked what is special about Native American culture, she says: “We are part of the forest. We believe that we are part of nature and if we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves.” The indigenous peoples are the best guardians of the rainforest. With their enormous biological knowledge and their sustainable management, they preserve us the forests of the Amazon.
But the forests are on fire, the gold miners are killing us, the soybean fields are being expanded by slash-and-burn and logging. Toxic, banned agrochemicals are used, which poison the water bodies and the animals living in them, destroy the small farmers' plantations and lead to massive health impairments such as respiratory diseases and even deformities. The pesticides used also decimate the native bees, which are vital for the reproduction of the rainforest.
And the murders of the indigenous population in Para have also increased sharply.

The indigenous lawyer Vandria Borari in Konstanz and members of ProAmazonia Konstanz - source1, source2

After her moving speech, the visibly affected audience thought ahead and founded ProAmazonia Konstanz association for climate protection and human rights and a Climate partnership between Konstanz and the Borari region.

Betina Ignacio, in the rainforest, Vandria Borari, aid packages for the Borari

Our friend, the German-Brazilian Betina Ignacio, co-founder and former chairwoman of the association, not only sent us impressive pictures from the Amazon, but, most important, established contact with Vandria Borari.

Our first film: S'BRENT

This call for help from the rain forest had also reached us. And that's how our first film 'S'BRENT' was created, with which we wanted to draw attention to the dramatic situation of the indigenous peoples in the burning Amazon and to support the ProAmazonia campaign for Corona aid packages, as survival aid for the Borari. On site, Vandria ensures, that the packages reach the most vulnerable families, thereby enabling them to isolate themselves. Their only chance of survival!

This appeal from the Amazon affects us all! It's about our lives, about us!

Kay Sara and Vandria Borari - source1, source2

Kay Sara's and Vandria's message is loud and clear: We must act! Most importantly, it is relevant to all of us: The Amazon rainforest, also called “the green lungs of the earth”, is incredibly important and precious to the world. According to estimates, the Amazon alone produces around 20% of the world's oxygen and is the world's largest CO2 store. It provides the whole region with precipitation. It cools the atmosphere and also the areas around the equator. It plays a large part in stabilizing the global climate. Not to mention the countless animal and plant species and the habitat of 34 million people who live there. We need it to survive!
'S'BRENT - Together for climate protection and human rights' was founded by young people in the summer of 2020 and friends from more than 10 countries have joined. Our work quickly expanded to include projects in Moria, India, Afghanistan and for refugees.