WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE GERMAN BERLIN - news journal UPDATE - (en) Germany, Die, Platform: Against their wars, against their peace: Report and evaluation from the Rheinmetall Disarmament Camp 2026 (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

At the beginning of September, the anti-militarist alliance Rheinmetall Entwaffnen (RME) held its protest camp in Cologne. Although not part of the alliance ourselves, we also participated in the protest camp this year. With this text, we want to report on the camp and our participation, and attempt a brief evaluation.

The camp
As in 2025, the alliance pitched its tents on Cologne's green belt again this year. After several days of setup with numerous helping hands, the camp was officially opened on Tuesday of the protest week. Besides the large circus tent, the park area was filled with kitchen tents, event tents, a children's tent, a first-aid tent, a press tent, the sleeping area, and information booths from numerous organizations. The level of self-organization among the more than 1,000 camp participants, with daily plenary sessions and a shift system for all kinds of tasks, was impressively high. The breadth of the camp participants is also noteworthy. Organizations, groups, and individuals from all parts of Germany and many neighboring countries were represented, comrades of all ages-although youth clearly dominated-and various political currents within the antimilitarist and revolutionary movement in Germany-although there was a clear numerical preponderance of Leninist organizations. The camp was thus largely able to live up to its own claim of being a cross-spectrum meeting place for an antimilitarist movement.
The downside was probably predictable and indeed came to pass: Although the camp had chosen a central and lively location in Cologne's greenbelt and although there were attempts to establish a connection with the neighborhood, it regularly attracted the interest of passersby, but in our estimation, it practically failed to establish any real contact with them. To achieve this, other formats will be needed in the future.
The content program
A central component of this year's protest camp was once again a comprehensive program of substantive events. Every day featured lectures, panel discussions, and workshops, usually five taking place simultaneously in the various event tents. A wide range of organizations and individuals presented, covering an equally broad spectrum of topics related to the overarching issue of resistance against militarization and war. These included, among many other topics, the connection between war and gender oppression, youth organizing, the militarization of healthcare, and the situation in West Asia. While not always consistent, analyses were frequently presented that, encouragingly, aligned with our assessments of the current political situation or from which we gleaned compelling insights. Particularly gratifying was the inclusion of several events addressing grassroots organizing in neighborhoods, education, and workplaces. These included a lecture by the Cologne-based trade union Kalk Solidarisch, discussions on the current perspectives of the school strike movement, and an event organized by antimilitarist trade unionists. At the same time, we must acknowledge that the question of grassroots organizing, given the urgent need to extend the struggle against militarization and war to broad sections of our class, clearly did not receive enough attention at the camp. On the other hand, we were largely impressed by the culture of discussion. All the events we attended were followed by lively and often controversial discussions, in which the debates were generally conducted with appropriate vigor but on equal footing. The camp thus truly succeeded in being, as intended, a space for exchange within the antimilitarist movement.
The actions
In addition to the substantive events, street actions were also part of the week of protest. On the first day of the camp, September 1st, a demonstration for Anti-War Day took place through Cologne-Ehrenfeld. During the week, there was, among other things, a blockade of a Bundeswehr barracks, theatrical performances, and spontaneous nighttime demonstrations and paint attacks against those involved in militarization. The large closing demonstration took place on Saturday. It initially covered a good portion of its planned route, but was then stopped and attacked by the police, and a portion of the march was kettled for several hours before the police lifted the kettle and the route could be completed with a spontaneous demonstration.
Throughout the week of protests, numerous acts of resistance took place, despite the massive police presence in the city. At the same time, we must acknowledge that these actions had little impact on reaching broader segments of our class, and in some cases, were not even designed to do so. While some actions did involve engaging in dialogue with students, neighbors, or workers, we believe that these isolated efforts cannot achieve the necessary impact to truly win over broader sections of the class to the struggle against militarization and war. This requires forms of continuous grassroots organizing within the spheres of proletarian daily life-especially in neighborhoods, education, and workplaces.
Our involvement
Although we have participated in individual protest camps over the past few years, our involvement in this year's RME camp represented a new step for the platform. For the first time, we, as a federation, together with affiliated organizations and initiatives within the platformist movement, publicly called for participation in the protest camp and coordinated our attendance across various cities. We maintained a highly visible presence at the camp throughout the week with our own stand and were available at our information and book table. This opportunity was eagerly seized by camp participants, resulting in many productive conversations at our stand. Our preliminary program, available in print for the first time, generated particularly strong interest. The stand also served as a meeting place for comrades from different cities to get to know each other better and rest. Each evening, we reflected on the day's events together, which proved to be very valuable.
Our stand was connected to the "Social Struggle Construction Site," a tent jointly organized and run by various anti-authoritarian, feminist, and anti-colonial groups from Cologne. Among other things, they held their own events there. It also provided a space for people to connect and exchange ideas.
Besides making our own positions visible through our booth, the focus of our participation in the camp was on attending various events within the program. In the subsequent discussions, we endeavored to engage in conversation with other attendees and to present our positions on the issues at hand. We would like to expand on this at future opportunities, as we consider its role as a space for substantive exchange to be a core value of the RME Camp.
Furthermore, we participated together and visibly in the two demonstrations of the protest week. We also distributed flyers with an abridged version of our call to action. At the final demonstration, we formed the rear of the feminist bloc, which was joined by approximately 150 people. As an organization, we see a need for further discussion, both regarding how we acted on that day and regarding the extent to which we ourselves can and want to participate in the actions that otherwise take place during the protest week.
Conclusion
Overall, we look back on an eventful and instructive week of protest. We take away many substantive insights from the events and discussions at the camp, moments of defiance on the streets, and moving cultural moments like the concert on Wednesday evening, where we danced Halay hand in hand with several hundred people under the tent roof. It was evident that a growing anti-militarist movement is forming here, one that wants to confront militarization and war not with resignation or a truce, but with determined resistance, and is already beginning to do so. This gives us hope in the face of the approaching storms.
As an organization, we have taken new steps that have highlighted our increased strengths but also revealed remaining weaknesses and gaps. These need to be addressed and filled.
Ultimately, we draw inspiration primarily for our own practical work in concrete grassroots organizing in our various cities. Here - in the neighborhoods, schools, universities, and workplaces - we want to work with even more energy in the coming months to anchor the struggle against militarization and war within our class. Always with the perspective that fighting against the wars of the ruling class means also fighting against their peace. And that only social revolution and libertarian communism truly offer a way out.
No capitalism without war!
No peace without revolution!
In neighborhoods, education and workplaces: Build grassroots counter-power!

https://www.dieplattform.org/2026/10/06/gegen-ihre-kriege-gegen-ihren-frieden-bericht-und-auswertung-vom-rheinmetall-entwaffnen-camp-2026/#more-4247
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca