#StopWar
The brutal war in Palestine and the war crimes associated with it must be stopped immediately! As the antimilitarist alliance „Rheinmetall Entwaffnen“, we have developed a current state of discussion as a basis for our cooperation, which we would like to make transparent. For our practice in Germany, this means in particular
– We are fighting to end arms deliveries from Germany to Israel. German arms companies earn millions in profits from the suffering of the Palestinians. For example, rocket-propelled grenades and ammunition were used in the war in Gaza, being delivered from Germany to Israel at the end of 2023.
Disarm Kiel – sink the war industry!
Disarm Rheinmetall – Call for antimilitarist action camp: September 3 to 8, 2024 in Kiel, Northern Germany
Resistance against the new normality of armament, thousands of deaths, flight and displacement is the order of the day. Together with many hundreds of activists, we will gather from 3rd to 8th September for an action camp in Kiel – one of the armament and military hotspots in Germany. There, together with international friends and comrades, we will discuss strategies for our common struggle and carry out direct actions against the military and the arms industry.
War regimes, exploitation and oppression
Our world is in danger of sinking into war and Germany is part of this globally escalating war regime. War technology and weapons produced in Kiel spread unspeakable suffering. The mass killings on the war fronts in Ukraine, the tens of thousands of deaths and displacement in Gaza, the suffering in Kurdistan are just a few examples of the consequences of the global armament of the capitalist patriarchal system. And even where no „hot“ war is being fought, everything is being done to bring it about through unprecedented militarisation, flanked by growing nationalism and the profit interests of huge corporations.
This dynamic shows itself also very clear in Germany: the 100 billion euro rearmament package of the government is being financed by social cuts; protests against war are being answered by arming the police and restricting freedom of assembly.
Although sexualised violence is also embedded in the non-warlike normal state of capitalist societies, it is particularly clear in war zones how sexualised violence against women and other oppressed genders is used as a weapon and becomes a cruel part of everyday life. The subjugation of women is seen as a symbol of victory over the enemy. We condemn this patriarchal violence and at the same time its hypocritical instrumentalisation by Western states.
Changing the world together
Together with various groups and movements, we will fight for a just, ecological and feminist world, network internationally and disrupt the war industry in concrete ways. In doing so, we, the anti-militarist alliance „Disarm Rheinmetall“, will build on struggles here and worldwide. We stand on the side of all the oppressed and want to overcome the divisions between societies, genders, religions and regions. Only together can we create a different world.
War starts here – let’s stop it here
Kiel is the perfect place for our endeavour: There are only a few places in Germany where there are so many sites of the German army, navy and defence industry. At the same time, Kiel is a place of resistance, with an impressive revolutionary history such as the sailors‘ uprising of 1918. And also today there are numerous local resistance movements and allies.
Let’s organise a camp together against war, armament and the border regime! For solidarity and a common practice of resistance against the global war regime. See you in Kiel from 3 to 8 September.
More information (unfortunately only in german) can be found here:
https://rheinmetallentwaffnen.noblogs.org
On the occasion of the escalation in the Middle East
As the anti-militarist alliance „Rheinmetall Entwaffnen“(1) we want to speak out on the handling in the FRG of the current escalation of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. For decades there has been an asymmetrical war between Israel and the Palestinian population in Gaza and the occupied territories, which is an expression of an unresolved political conflict. A war in which massacres of the civilian population are perpetrated again and again. We condemn these crimes – and the war in which millions of people are cut off from access to water, electricity and food. A war in which hundreds of thousands are once again displaced. A war in which more protagonists than Israel and Hamas are involved. Germany is also involved by supplying weapons of war. Media and politics are currently trying to prevent any visible dissent to the Israeli warfare.
We are confronted by the media with horrific images of sexualized violence by Hamas against women. Images that exist in every war. In every country where war is waged, the subjugation of women is seen as a symbol of victory over the enemy. We condemn this sexualized violence against women as the epitome of patriarchal violence. Rape and sexualized violence in war are only possible because they are tolerated and used worldwide as an expression of patriarchal violence. Whether in Israel, Palestine, Kurdistan or elsewhere. We also condemn the instrumentalization of these images, which are deliberately used in the media to justify Israel’s attacks on the population of Gaza.
With the declaration of unrestricted solidarity of German politicians towards the Israeli state, the FRG also contributes to the dehumanization of the entire Palestinian population. Palestinians are portrayed by the state of Israel as terrorists, „human animals“ or as anti-Semitic. Germany sides with the Israeli state, which has announced that it will continue to intensify the murderous repression that has been taking place for decades in the open-air prison of Gaza.
The FRG, meanwhile, declares any expression of solidarity with the Palestinian people to be a hostile act and treats it as such. This goes so far that even a rally of Jewish Voice for Just Peace in the Middle East was banned and the Palestinian author Adania Shibli will not be awarded her literature prize at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Anti-war rallies and pro-Palestinian demonstrations are defamed in the media as anti-Semitic hate demonstrations and covered with repression. Organizations such as the prisoner support organization Samidoun are to be banned. Without any legal basis, the police prohibit the display of Palestinian flags and symbols.
We do not accept when any criticism of the policies of the Israeli state is equated with anti-Semitism. We oppose racist agitation and stand with progressive forces in Israel and Palestine against war and occupation.
Rheinmetall Entwaffnen, October 15th, 2023
(1) Literally translates as „Disarm Rheinmetall“. Rheinmetall is Germany’s biggest producer and exporter of arms.