Update:
The Mutual Aid HEAT 2026 has been canceled
Dear Participants,
It is with a heavy heart that we must unfortunately cancel Mutual Aid HEAT for 2026. Due to several developments in our workflow over the past few days and weeks, we do not feel able to organize an event that meets our standards.
First of all, we’d like to apologize to everyone affected by this decision. We’re sorry for all those who are involved in this project with us in various roles and who have already invested a great deal of time and effort. We’re especially sorry for everyone who registered and purchased a ticket. We realize that many of you adjusted your vacation and annual plans to coincide with the dates of our event, that many of you have already booked train tickets, and that the ticket prices were a challenge for some (these will, of course, be refunded; more details will follow via email). You believed in us when so much was still unclear, took a risk, and in the end, we were unable to deliver what we promised.
At the same time, we are deeply grateful for your trust and faith in us, in the project, and above all in the idea of crisis preparedness based on solidarity. We would also like to thank all those who have supported our work with their words, actions, and financial contributions.
Canceling the event is an incredibly difficult decision for us, given that we’ve poured an incredible amount of love, sweat, and passion into this project from the end of last year until now. For some of us, this project has been our sole focus for months, as a way to put our beliefs in a world built on solidarity into action amid the ongoing collapse. This makes it all the more painful now—in the face of a collapse that continues to escalate both globally and nationally—to withdraw our alternative vision to fascism, fear, and the fragmentation of society. The world seems to need initiatives like this more than ever right now.
Our format has been quite complex from the very beginning, primarily due to the combination of several days of training followed by a scenario designed to put what we’ve learned into practice. With this event, we tried something truly new—not a traditional educational camp with a series of workshops, nor an action camp culminating in a large protest, but rather, over the course of several months, we developed and coordinated the content across all four training tracks in close collaboration with a large number of trainers. At the same time, this content had to be woven into the scenario so that these two phases of the training would interlock. This complexity was evident not only in the work processes and the number of meetings and coordination sessions, but also in the composition of our team. There is a core team of about 7 people, as well as an extended team with 13 role-players and about 20–30 trainers and others in various roles.
Now, two months before the start, there are still some major areas that need work in our preparations. These areas span the training content, the integration of that content into the scenarios, and the on-site logistics. Recent developments have included several absences and health issues, both within the core team and among key trainers. In light of this, we do not believe we will be able to resolve these major challenges by the time of the event.
Unfortunately, for various reasons, we also failed in our work process to create the atmosphere of solidarity, reliability, and trust that we hope to see in any groups that may emerge from HEAT—and that we especially wanted to foster for the participants during HEAT itself. We will reflect on this in the coming weeks and consider what this means for us and, hopefully, for a future event in 2027. To foster an atmosphere of solidarity, reliability, and trust for participants, we want to lead by example and need time to work through the conflicts and strengthen our cohesion as a team.
Before we organize an event that not only simulates chaos but actually descends into chaos itself—and one that lacks the basic prerequisites for a functioning camp—we have therefore decided to pull the plug. We will be notifying all ticket holders in the coming days so that refunds can be processed.
However, this cancellation does not extinguish our belief in preparing for collapse through solidarity. Many members of our team would like to hold Mutual Aid HEAT in 2027 instead, building on a more stable foundation based on the lessons learned this year, with more time and better integration of all work processes. We believe this will allow us to put together a significantly better event than the one planned for this year.
For now, though, we need some time to come to terms with this decision and process our grief, shame, and guilt. We’ll be in touch with updates in 2027.
With lots of love,
the Mutual Aid HEAT Team
Mutual Aid HEAT
During this week-long event, we’ll practice providing mutual aid in stressful situations; we’ll organize ourselves as individuals who want to get actively involved so that we can act effectively together and remain capable of doing so; and we’ll gain our first practical experiences through four hands-on training tracks.
We are planning an event for those who take the threat of collapse and authoritarianism as seriously as we do; who know that we must prepare now—not just in a few years—for climate disasters, authoritarian takeovers, systemic breakdowns, and reduced state support; and who know that preparing for a future marked by increasing disasters means investing time and resources in those preparations now.
September 20–27, 2026, Alte Hölle, Brandenburg
Arrival on Sunday afternoon, starting with a group plenary session; training sessions and scenarios begin on Monday morning; departure on Sunday at noon.
Five days of training + two days of scenario-based exercises
Five days of training with small-scale scenarios set in a fictional world, followed by two days of applying what was learned in a large-scale scenario, and then reflecting on the experience together.
Four practical training tracks
Participants can choose from four different tracks: Communication, Collective Self-Protection, Supply and Logistics, and Medical and Emotional Support.
150–200 participants
We want this event to lead to concrete organizational outcomes, which is why it is not an “open” event. Instead, we will reach out to potential participants in the run-up to the camp and organize a selection process.
Ticket price: €300–€400
Since we will likely have limited access to institutional funding, we will need to charge participation fees. However, we will do everything we can to ensure that no one is prevented from participating due to financial constraints.
WHY
Times of Crisis
It doesn’t take much imagination to realize that disasters are becoming increasingly common around us. From the so-called refugee crisis of 2015 to the COVID-19 pandemic, the floods in the Ahr Valley, the wildfires in Brandenburg, Greece, and Spain, and the catastrophic flooding in Valencia. At the same time, we are witnessing increasing fascist tendencies and militarization in Europe, making it ever more difficult for civil society to remain capable of taking action. What these crises have in common, however, is that more and more people are organizing to become and remain capable of acting in solidarity.
However, solidarity-based structures don’t just mean looking out for one another—that is, building mutual aid groups. They also mean driving political activism, challenging existing structures of power and domination, and organizing. Queer people, people with immigrant backgrounds, and many others are particularly at risk of being actively attacked or neglected by others. We make this interplay tangible and teachable so that we can remain capable of acting in solidarity and as activists in the long term.
Sign up now and learn to act with us
The 4 training tracks
Participants sign up for only one of these training tracks and are on-site for the entire duration—we want to stay focused and go into depth.
The scenario
In this hands-on workshop, set in a fictional world, you’ll have a unique opportunity to step away from your daily routine and experience training and activism in a whole new way! This workshop offers you the chance to try out different actions, process your emotions, and be supported by others—all within a safe space. Don’t we all know the feeling of being in a training session, learning something new, and then, as soon as we’re supposed to apply it, finding that we can’t recall what we learned?
Standard HEAT training sessions always stem from a scene, incorporate short role-playing exercises, and allow you to apply theoretical knowledge in short intervals. We will create a world in which you, as participants, are actively involved from the very beginning. Recurring characters and scenarios that build on one another make it tangible what it means to be an active participant in a storyline. Because your decisions and your behavior—along with those of your group—don’t end after every scene, we foster a sense of community where awareness can grow: to support one another through the crisis in the long term, to organize, and to remain united beyond mere theory.