Let us collectively refuse the war regime! Let’s be active together at the camp of Rheinmetall Entwaffnen in Cologne at the end of August!
The war and armament mania of the rulers is escalating! Let us resolutely break this war consensus with our anti-militarist struggle! Come to Cologne from August 26 to 31 in the armaments metropolitan region of Rhine-Ruhr to experience alternatives to warlike normality at our camp in times like these, to have education and strategic discussions with international friends and comrades and, of course, to carry out direct actions against the driving forces behind war capability.
The EU and Germany in the Great Power Delusion
Looking to the USA shows the direction in which imperial, militaristic policy of the Western bloc is developing. While racist, sexist and generally misanthropically oppressive policies are in full swing internally, expansion plans, state interests and threats of military force are openly carried out. However, this complete dissolution of the boundaries of capitalist and patriarchal rule, which is based primarily on military force, is becoming apparent worldwide. Decisions about war and peace in the sense of the ruling system as deals between the great powers USA, Russia and China, as they are currently being made, cause outrage among EU warmongers, who feel ignored in the process. The new way of distributing tasks in the NATO camp strengthens completely illusory ideas of a prolongation of the Ukraine war and promotes the will to militaristic transformation of society.
The EU states, above all Germany and France, are taking the situation as an opportunity to pursue their own great power fantasies even more determinedly. Here, the war industry, Rheinmetall in the front row, once again shows itself as the next ally. Because they can not only look forward to a fifteenfold increase in the share price since 2022. Their profit is ensured by huge sums that the European states want to spend on the war.
A package of 800 billion euros is intended to strengthen the ability to wage war at the EU level. To this end, the German government, which is not yet in office, decides to make unlimited financial measures possible for the rearmament and military transformation of infrastructure and society. The entire population is to be mobilized for war purposes and to do its part, if necessary by force in the form of military and compulsory service. Deadly wars that have been going on for years, such as in Ukraine and Syria, to genocides such as in Palestine and Sudan, continue to be fueled unchecked and, with their everyday violence among civilians, produce more and more suffering, injuries, rapes, traumatized and dead, as well as uninhabitable, completely destroyed regions.
But resistance is stirring! Instead of being ready for war, let’s take to the streets, in actions, in the workplace and in educational institutions: Let’s be brave against war!
While the Bundestag is trying to outdo each other in terms of rearmament and social cuts, resistance to this policy is stirring on the streets. Hundreds of thousands of people protested against the right-wing development of the state and society. Tens of thousands took to the streets in solidarity with the Kurdish liberation struggle. Despite ongoing repression and defamation, protests against the genocide in Gaza and the cruel war in Palestine continue.
The CALP trade union from Genoa, with its strikes and refusal to load armaments, shows us how active anti-militarism and solidarity can become practical. Organized workers are striking against the dismantling and war-ready conversion of industry, but also the militarization of public transport and the care sector. At this time, the urgent question arises: Do we accept that we are all made fit for war, that we only get cannons instead of butter, that our fellow human beings and neighbors are deported, that achievements of the feminist struggle are being dismantled piece by piece and that capitalist rule is becoming more and more authoritarian? Or will we, as a broad, internationalist and anti-militarist movement, manage to show a perspective against this militarization?
Let’s sabotage the construction of the war economy together! Let us commit desertion and betrayal together in response to the war mobilization! Let’s fight together against the war regime! In Cologne and the Ruhr area, not only the large corporations of the armaments industry such as Rheinmetall and Thyssen-Krupp have their origins and headquarters, but also the anti-militarist movement can fall back on a history here, be it the Edelweiss Pirates, who opposed the war of German fascism in Cologne with sabotage and the refusal of military service, or the struggles against the remilitarization of the Federal Republic in the 50s, in which the anti-militarist Philipp Müller was shot dead by the police.
Come to our camp from August 26th to 31st in Cologne! Let’s use the camp to exchange ideas, gain common experiences and network internationally. There will be exciting lectures, workshops and activities. We will take to the streets together, make our resistance visible and actively intervene.