A-Infos (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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