From Vallées en lutte
March 17, 2026
We are a small team who have embarked on a project for a militant tent at almost free price after realizing the logistical and financial difficulties of depending on professionals for tent rental for militant events, so we want to offer a militant alternative!
In 2025, between Castres and Toulouse, a small team of us got fired up to launch this project, bigger than ourselves: a militant big top. The observation was that renting big tops along the A69 motorway was always very expensive (sometimes over €3,000 per tent), that we were heavily dependent on professional companies who didn't want to risk their equipment on a deployment, and that we were pretty fed up with setups dictated by the authorities.
We also thought that, given all the logistical support we had received (dozens of toilets, cool canteens, tents, sets of tables and benches, sound...) and the good atmosphere in our group, it would be cool to get involved in this.
At the end of the Turbo Teuf, we had a fair bit of money. Thanks to resourcefulness, car discounts, subsidies from organizations involved in the A69 event, and the pay-what-you-want/bar cash boxes overflowing thanks to the generosity and good attendance of the event. The event team had to make some choices regarding profits.
There were three main options that seemed consistent with the donations that had been made: postpone it to another party and risk having to decide within a small, older group; contribute to the anti-rep funds, where it's impossible to know how much will be needed; or spend the money on activism-related items connected to the event that would energize people. The result of the endless debates was that some of the money would just sit there because you never know, and the rest could have been spent on equipment, including the chastity belt!
People were looking for a chapter, then a group got together and we made some videos. Our ideal is an open, rotating, inclusive group, a chapter that can be shared with friends, etc. In reality, so far, it's mostly people who already know each other well. And since the sheer amount of security stuff and the time it took us to learn how to set up the chapter properly, even with a group that's already quite active, is a bit overwhelming, we figure inclusion happens more through interactions between individuals or via video edits at events.
To bring in the chap, it has to match our desires, be logistically coherent, and have enough people to help out on the day.
Politically speaking, the chap' is an anarcho-radical-feminist, anti-capitalist project, and all that jazz. We want it to be useful in the struggles. And so we're keen to discuss with the organizers of the event we're going to (depending on everyone's availability) to see if it aligns with our values, particularly our anti-authoritarian, feminist, anti-racist, etc.
Logistically, hosting a chap' requires vehicle access, a flat area where we can set up the large clamps, and a flat space of 31x35 meters. For costs, we cover insurance, purchases, and incidental expenses with €500 per outing, plus travel costs of 40 cents per kilometer from approximately Toulouse. After that, it's pay-what-you-want; for example, to help out when we get parking tickets, pay for storage space if we can't find something free (help!), to get electrical/lighting equipment, or to help friends who need to get their trailer license.
Regarding bookings, it's never too late to contact us; it's a nice perk to be able to say "yes" three days before the event if you're in a bind. However, the most sensible thing to do is to contact us as soon as possible. We'll confirm in a chapter meeting based on our availability, logistical constraints or ease of access, and the event's overall political coherence.
Contact us via Signal at @chapitoto.03 or by email at chapitoto@systemli.org if you have any questions or requests. For summer 2026, we have an initial series of validations scheduled for early March.
Acabisous,
The Chapitoto team :)
Comments
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travolta (not verified) Thu, 03/26/2026 - 11:07
I didnt understand anything, maybe they rent big tent how much money people can give, but only big germany has many anarchists, small countries dont need big tent, there are not so many anarchists....except if some group make international meeting of anarchists but such gatherings are rare. there are already squats in europe where they organize concerts, so, all in all, I dont see who need big tent.
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