Erfurt (Germany), June 21: six German army trucks on fire
[Note of Sans Nom: Yesterday, Monday June 23, a dispatch from the German Press Agency (dpa) announced – to the delight of young and old alike – that six German army trucks had gone up in smoke over the weekend in Erfurt (Thuringia region). The trucks were parked in the north of the city, in the parking lot of a maintenance and repair workshop.
This incident comes at a time when the German government is considering compulsory military service, introducing a Veterans’ Day (June 15), boosting the preparation and militarization of the public, and above all spending immeasurable sums for war: the creation of a special €500 billion investment fund earmarked for so-called “security” investments, and an increase in its annual defense budget from €63 billion in 2025 (2% of GDP) to €160 billion by 2030 (3.5% of GDP).
In short, the Erfurt attack was a reminder that not everyone in Germany is prepared to accept this militaristic race to the abyss, whether in Hamburg on June 15, when the director of the Vincorion arms company received an incendiary visit to his home, in Berlin on June 10 when the microchip company Micro Resist Technology was sabotaged, in Berlin on June 17 when thirty-six vans belonging to war collaborators Telekom and Amazon went up in smoke, or on June 6 in Soltau (Lower Saxony) when five army trucks had already been burned: an attack claimed the following day on de. indymedia, which is translated below].
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Fire against the Federal Army! – Arson attack on army vehicles in Soltau (Lower Saxony, Germany)
War and genocide are the most brutal means used in the struggle for control of resources, territories and people. They always go hand in hand with the claim to justify the mass annihilation of human life, forced displacement, collective trauma and unbridled destruction.
This claim lies at the heart of the logic of war and increasing militarization, which is concretely demonstrated by Germany’s active participation in various wars – not least as one of the world’s largest arms exporters.
This claim underpins the German “reason of state” which supports the genocide in Gaza and the inhumane policy of the Israeli state against the Palestinian population.
It is also unmasked in “Operation Prosperity Guardian” – when NATO bombs Western trade routes open in Yemen.
Or in the murderous proxy war in Sudan where, largely forgotten by the Western world, tens of thousands of people die and millions more are forced to flee.
Last but not least, we find it here in the propaganda for “fitness for war” that has reigned since Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. We are experiencing an impressive revival of Cold War rhetoric.
This propaganda is leading to enormous military rearmament in a very quick amount of time, as well as militarization and the army’s takeover of the most diverse civil and social structures. Sooner or later, it will lead to the return of (compulsory) military service.
Fire against liberal coldness!
The prerequisite for a social climate in which all these horrors can be accepted as inevitable and without alternative, is the dehumanization of people forced to suffer war, genocide and forced displacement.
This is no mere psychological mechanism to keep one’s sanity in the face of all these appalling things. The depreciation and dehumanization of a large part of the world’s population reveals the continuity of a colonial way of thinking and acting. Through war and submission, it has engendered the hegemonic position of the so-called “Western world” and bourgeois society. War and submission remain the means of ensuring this hegemonic position.
Ignorance of the murder and domination of populations is widespread in all strata of German society. We are witnessing a variant of “reason” that allows human lives considered “other” to be devalued with chilling coldness and without empathy, and to be distanced from one’s own existence. This is how we maintain the status quo of a society where corpses are trampled underfoot to guarantee our own prosperity. Military brutality in full swing!
Fire in solidarity!
These flames are for those who fight against their dehumanization and for their survival. These flames are also for those who doubt, who don’t sit still in the face of the situation, who don’t collaborate, who don’t obey and who refuse to function. For all those who want to dream and fight for another world of solidarity, without states, borders or armies.
These flames are for Maja, on hunger strike since June 5 in a Budapest jail, accused of practicing consistent anti-fascism – your determination and attitude of solidarity are a driving force and a source of inspiration for us! You’re not alone!
These flames are for Daniela Klette, imprisoned and currently on trial for her revolutionary path, attitude and praxis – your story is part of our shared future!
These flames are for those who, free from state control and prosecution, continue to walk our shared path – Love and strength!
We’re in the thick of it, we’re in the heart of the beast.
And it’s up to all of us to constantly re-decide what role we want to play in this bloody cycle.
We’ve decided to contribute to the heart attack.
Over the next few years, the federal army will be omnipresent in our lives, and will once again become an essential player in the authoritarian and patriarchal shaping of society. Let’s attack it at every level!
On the night of June 5-6, we set fire to five army trucks on the site of a garage in Carl-Benz-Strasse, Soltau.
Translated by Act for freedom now!