Schanzenfest 2026
Kick-off against the Olympic disaster
Know Your Enemies
This year, the Schanzenfest is taking place in May, immediately before the referendum against the Olympic Games in Hamburg. The festival sees itself as an autonomous kick-off and as an expression of our resistance and our readiness to fight for the accessibility of urban spaces and against Olympic monstrosities and security architectures.
We call on everyone to take part in the referendum and vote against the planned bid for the Olympic Games in Hamburg 2036-2044. If only because we do not want to make things any easier for the multi-million propaganda machine.
At the same time, however – and above all – we wish to make it clear that the outcome of the referendum is of no consequence to us whatsoever. The Senate does not abide by results anyway. Instead, resources are wasted by holding repeated votes until the result eventually suits them.
In general, we consider it problematic when majority decisions are made that primarily affect poorer and marginalised sections of the population.
In the run-up to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, for which Hamburg also wanted to bid, around 20,000 homeless people, sex workers and drug users were forcibly evicted from the inner city and transported by bus to other regions, to maintain a facade of respectability.
Our resistance does not end with the referendum; it is a call to action for ongoing national and international solidarity to challenge the Olympic narrative.
At the heart of the Olympic ideal lies a colossal marketing machine that leaves behind construction ruins and neighbourhoods ravaged by gentrification across the globe. We will fight with every means at our disposal to prevent this artificial disaster from striking us next. We will not become a footnote in the Olympic narrative of unmet planning targets, soaring costs, environmental destruction, skyrocketing rents, displacement and repression. Instead, we are setting out in the Schanzenviertel and other affected neighbourhoods to rewrite the story.
The Olympic disaster scenario fuels climate change and stands for the squandering of resources, massive corruption and the redistribution of public funds from the bottom to the top. In this process, the rich get richer, whilst everyone else gets poorer and is seemingly destined to foot the bill and bear the brunt of the consequences of this development. When we fight the Olympics, we are fighting conditions that we also encounter in our everyday lives. In these struggles, we in Hamburg can draw on a wealth of experience from street protests and hard-won projects.
The pro-Olympics campaign, driven by politicians and business leaders, has chosen, of all places, the greened-up former World War II bunker ‚Flakturm IV‘ at Heiligengeistfeld for the launch event of its bid for the 2036-44 Olympics. A hundred years after the fascist Olympic Games of 1936 in Berlin, this location reveals a particular understanding of remembrance culture on the part of the Hamburg Olympic campaign.
National Socialism is reduced to a silhouette and a secondary anecdote in a Germany that presents itself, through sport, as a peaceful and cosmopolitan nation. At a time when fascists are pushing their way into government in several countries, violence against FLINTA people, anti-Semitism and racism are on the rise, and the AfD describes Nazi crimes as a mere blip in German history, this is no minor mistake, but a fundamental one. We cannot even begin to imagine what further blunders and tastelessness we might expect if the bid is successful. Anti-Olympic activists, anti-racist St. Pauli fans and supporters of other clubs have thankfully protested against the event on the Heiligengeistfeld and spontaneously hoisted a ‚NOlympia‘ banner.
The Olympic Games do not represent amateur sport or the interests of sports clubs, but everything that fans reject about modern football:
investors, corruption and a marketing approach that overwhelms everything and disregards all rules. We regard the way in which the city has already, during the bid process, promised gifts in the form of new stadiums or extensions for local football clubs HSV and FC St. Pauli as a crude attempt at bribery designed to secure approval and quell social discontent.
The reality is a far cry from an idyllic Olympic Village. And we will not welcome this to Hamburg. In all Olympic planning, the inner Western districts are particularly affected by the consequences. Under these plans, St. Pauli and the Schanzenviertel are being transformed into security zones, compared to which the hosting of the 2017 G20 summit was a walk in the park.
There is no need for ICE officers from the US, as was the case at the Winter Olympics in Milan. Racist checks and increasing displacement already characterise everyday life in St. Pauli. In the context of hosting the Olympic Games, impositions and repression will increase.
CCTV surveillance, drones and helicopter deployments, security zones with restrictions on residents and area bans for people living in the ‚wrong‘ neighbourhood or without a fixed address will not last just a few days, as was the case for the G20 summit. Still, they will dominate life in the city for weeks on end. No problem for villa owners and potential Olympic supporters in idyllic suburbs, but a massive one for all those directly affected who live in inner-city districts and aren’t swimming in the cream of society.
What Hamburg lacks are not oversized sports facilities and infrastructure for major events, but sports facilities for schools and amateur sport. In 2025, the Hamburg Senate had approved a budget of approximately 9 million euros for the 2036-44 bid. On the same day, further planned cuts to neighbourhood projects for children, young people and families were announced. Facilities are facing closure due to a lack of funds for staff, fees and rent. Supporting organisations speak of an emergency and insufficient support. Even the Court of Auditors criticised blanket cutbacks, as Hamburg actually has enough money in its budget. The question is, what is it being spent on?
Our response: Games piss off, refugees welcome! Funds already squandered on the Olympic bid would be better spent on supporting sea rescue, affordable housing, education or neighbourhood projects.
Hamburg’s First Mayor, Peter Tschentscher, has other ideas and responds by saying it’s all about international attention. Let’s be honest: we can take the piss out of ourselves. But the Olympics, of course, fit the Senate’s usual approach like a glove: the main thing is that it’s loud, big and expensive. The result is often oversized and rubbish. Just like with the white elephant Elbtower, the Hamburg brand takes precedence.
Nolympia in Hamburg – No Schanze for the Games
But when it comes to international attention, we take it in our stride and step into the ring. Hamburg has a reputation to defend following the G20 summit. Images from the Elbphilharmonie and the street protests involving up to 80,000 people were seen around the world. We may not have millions or sponsors, but despite gentrification, we still have defiant neighbours, plenty of friends, and we’ve been as big-mouthed as the Senate in the Schanzenviertel and St. Pauli for a long time now.
More Information: https://schanzenfest.noblogs.org
Contact: antifaschanzenfest@nadir.org
__________________________________________
Schanzenfest 2025
You can find all info about this year’s Schanzenfest here. We hope that many residents will participate, organising non-commercial flea market stalls and other contributions. As always, the Schanzenfest is not a ready-made event, but a platform for anyone who wants to organise their own actions and contributions. There will be live music, sound systems, info stalls and speeches regarding various topics. The Schanzenfest will take place from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. in Bartelsstraße, Schanzenstraße, Ludwigstraße and Sternstraße.
Diversity, emancipatory and social movements are currently under massive attack, and social issues such as the socio-ecological consequences of climate change are being pushed off the agenda in favour of regulating supposed practical constraints. Right-wing populist notions regarding society are increasingly shaping government policy.
Social spending is being cut and redirected towards militarisation, necessary environmental protection is being subordinated to economic interests, equality programmes are being abolished, and external borders are being closed. We will not be discouraged and will remain on the streets to shift the discourse’s terrain with the Schanzenfest, giving space to precisely those issues that are currently under attack. The motto is: ‘Against the shitty climate. For more mischief and revolt.
Solidarity greetings to refugees, people without papers or forced to live in illegality, to criminalised sea rescuers, those affected by the so-called Budapest Complex against Antifa and all other emancipatory structures affected by state or social repression. No deportations, no extraditions and an end to all repression against anti-fascists! Free Maja – free them all!
As every year, money will once again be collected not only for the organisation of the festival itself, but also to support the anti-fascist movement and social protests and movements. The stalls at the Schanzenviertelfest are expected to contribute a solidarity donation for this purpose.
Some areas will be cordoned off for emergency routes, neighbourhood initiatives and shared infrastructure, such as the main concert stage and technical equipment. These areas must be kept clear and respected. Please move your vehicles out of the festival area in time before the Schanzenfest.
The Schanzenfest is still not approved by the authorities and non-commercial. Professional, commercial or disrespectful stalls are not welcome. Remember that there are other people around and adjust your volume accordingly.
At the festival, we want to respond to any assaults or incidents collectively and determinedly, but at the same time consider the safety of participants without passports or traumatised people. Solidarity and respect should be a given, and racist, anti-Semitic, sexist, homophobic, transphobic or any other kind of unacceptable behaviour shall not be tolerated. With this in mind, we wish everyone an exciting Schanzenfest and a sunny day!