Our roots
The foundation of Phoenix e.V. goes back to the dedication of Austen Peter Brandt
His triple citizenship (German, English, Nigerian) and many journeys in Europe, Africa and Asia have allowed Austen Peter Brandt to experience different cultures, to learn various forms of intercultural togetherness and strategies against racism.
In 1979 he started taking part in Race Awareness Workshops in London organised by the Black British activist Sybil Phoenix. He received a systematic education in the pedagogy of Anti-Racism-Trainings. The German context did however not allow him to reflect on racism on a larger scale. This is why he decided to seek an education in England with the goal to find strategies against racism.
In 1986, the “Churches Committee for Migrants in Europe” asked him and three others to organise such trainings for the Federal Republic of Germany. The first training was carried out in that very year. The trainings revealed a reality which had beforehand been repressed in Germany: the interrelations between personal and societal racism.