Knus Krigsmaskinen!

Category: Communiques

  • Folkeaksjonen Demonstration in Oslo + Speech

    Folkeaksjonen Demonstration in Oslo + Speech

    On the misty Saturday morning, in front of the governement building in Olso, some of us from Knus Krigmaskinen! took part in the protest against the Chemring Nobel factory. Organized by Folkeaksjonen, with the help of 25 organizations, we stood up against the destruction of the forest.

    We held a speech, from which we wrote an excerpt below:

    Click to expand

    We are Knus Krigsmaskinen!

    Since April we are living in Hurummarka to defend this beautiful forest against the government and Chemring’s death plans. We inhabit a valley called Avgrunnsdalen located within the factory planning area, and we live in an abandoned cabin, several tree houses, and an old tower.

    As with many of the affected locals, we are angry at the government’s attempts to conceal their lies through a familiar play of sham democracy. The entire planning process around Chemring’s new factory has been shady from the start. The reports about the factory’s location and ecological impacts were ordered, financed, and internally conducted by Chemring itself. The Norwegian minister of climate and environment had to declare himself disqualified in all cases related to Chemring due to his close personal ties. And Asker kommune’s energy infrastructure expansion plans already now includes the new factory, as if it was officially decided.

    And when there is resistance, they try to silence it. As a latest proof of this, we were subjected to an excessive police operation under the guise of seeking dialogue. How often do you show up armed, 10-20 of you with 2 helicopters and hope for dialogue?

    Our struggle against this factory is not an isolated struggle; it is part of a global struggle against militarization and every one who profits on it. Even if this factory was to be built elsewhere, or built more “sustainably”, it would still kill and devastate where its bombs are dropped. As long as the system is built on the profits generated through production of weapons, there will be no end to wars. As long as the system is built on the exploitation of workers and ecosystems, there will be no social or ecological justice. As long as weapons manufacturers like Nammo or Kongsberg Gruppen sponsor our sportsclubs, there will be no peace.

    The Government remains the servant and gendarme of the war profiteers. Therefore, it is not enough to demand change from politicians. We can not dismantle the master’s house with the master’s tools. In order to end wars, genocides, and ecological havoc, we must take direct action against the structures that create and uphold them.

    In Avgrunnsdalen we established an AFS (Aktivt Forsvart Sone), which means that we inhabit parts of the forest to psychically prevent its destruction. We grow relationships based on mutual aid and solidarity with the locals. We build a community centered around a culture of resistance and nourish meaningful relations to a forest which does not matter in the capitalist system.

    The police operation two weeks ago made clear, that the pressure on us in increasing. We might be evicted any day. So we need you! Come and help us to defend Hurummarka! Let’s show them together that the forest wants to live. You can support us materially, or even better: join us in the forest and get a glance of what a life in resistance can be.

    Together we are Hurummarka defending itself!

    Love, rage and solidarity!
    Knus Krigsmaskinen!

  • Late October Events – Panel Debate with Archeologists

    The activists living in the Activt Forsvart Sone in Avgrunnsdalen have invited seksjon for arkeologi i askerhus fylkeskommune (The askerhus municipality archaeology dpt.) to a panel discussion on Tuesday, 27.10, at 17 o’clock at the occupied cabin.
    The theme will be “keeping each other safe”. Everyone is invited to listen to and participate in the debate at Rødbyveien 43.

    “Anyone is welcome here, except for police of course! Their last visit has been a rather unpleasant experience”, writes the group.
    By this they are referring to 4 helicopter deployments from the police in the past week, the latest and biggest one happening on Thursday. According to the police, work cars of askerhus fylkekommune had been damaged.

    “What we have stated here and previously is that we consider it legitimate to oppose any company working for Chemring and the government to build the weapons factory. We haven’t slashed any tires, but we do not condemn the ways in which other people choose to express their opposition to the weapons factory. Thousands of people are rightly angry that a British company is going to manufacture military explosives for the U.S. and Israel, destroy Hurummarka, pollute the Oslo Fjord, turn the peninsula into a bombing target—and that all of this is being carried out in a democratic skim process.”

    However, knus krigsmaskinen! has blocked the archeologists from continuing their assessment by sitting around their holes. The combination of these different types of action has brought an stop to the explorations for now due to safety concerns.

    Knus Krigsmaskinen! considers their invitstion for dialogue part of creating a safe environment. They write: “To ensure a proceeding that is truely safe for everyone; including Oslofjord, workers in the factory, people living nearby, and those Chemring’s bombs will be dropped on; we have invited seksjon for arkeologi for a debate on ‘keeping each other safe’. Until then, we will not tolerate any work connected to the war factory in the forest, as it is not possible to have an open conversation after probes have already been taken.”

    Seksjon for arkeologi has not yet responded to the invitation.

    The date for the podium has been set with a week to spare to allow locals, supporters and archeologists to develop informed positions. For that knus krigsmaskinen! has prepared an extensive program:

    • Wednesday, 21.10., at 8pm: open mic to share thoughts about saftey, Chemring and the world. Poetry, laughter and children are welcome (lillr lørsdag)
    • Thursday, 22.10., at 8pm: informative evening about colonialisation of Sapmi
    • Saturday, 24.10., at 4pm: gathering to make plans to further defend Hurummarka against Chemring
    • Saturday, 24.10., 5pm: concert by Being a Monkey, Urokråke, Valerie, Rio/Ria

  • Press release from Avgrunnsdalen on the police operation 15.10

    The police arrived armed, accompanied by two helicopters, as if the threat were immense.
    It turned out to be a case of vandalism against Multiconsult’s vehicles.

    The police chose to portray us as dangerous, claiming they needed to carry weapons to feel safe. They said they came for dialogue, but how often do you show up armed, 10-20 of you with 2 helicopters and hope for dialogue? This rhetoric follows a familiar logic: any level of resource deployment or use of force is justified because the opposition is branded as “dangerous” or “extreme.” Such rhetoric is built on speculation about what “might happen” and how “dangerous” people might be. Asker Municipality has previously employed this same rhetoric regarding AFS, and now the police have followed suit.

    It also turned out that the police did not come for dialogue but to prepare for further planning and investigations for the construction of the death factory. This objective was barely communicated, and it is difficult to engage in a genuine dialogue when one party harbors a hidden agenda.

    Since we count Multiconsult and others who are paid by Chemring to prepare for the explosives factory as a target, it is clear that more active resistance has begun to take shape. You are not just doing your “job” by being paid by Chemring to facilitate this.
    Fortunately, we know better than to let the Police live out their power fantasies, which is why there were no arrests and the Police went home empty-handed with a hefty bill that will never see the light of day.

    We should also remember that they still have not publicly stated that construction will be carried out in Avgrunnsdalen or Hurum, so some people know more than they want to say. This reaction from the police is as expected; the police are playing an active role in facilitating the war machine.

    Come to Avgrunnsdalen now to show your resistance against Chemrings war factory!

    Knus Krigsmaskinen!

  • No justice, no peace! Some thoughts of Knus Krigsmaskinen! on “peace”

    Norway cares deeply about its image as a “peace nation”, and one of the clearest symbols of this is the Nobel Peace Prize, whose winners were announced on Friday, 9th of October, 2026.

    However, while speaking about peace out of one side of its mouth, the norwegian state allows companies like Nammo and Kongsberg Gruppen to profit from war and genocide. It also plans to build Europe’s largest military explosives factory in Hurummarka, and is funding the company behind this, Chemring Nobel, with almost 390 million kroners of public money throughout 2026 and 2027. Chemring Nobel produces explosives which are critical to the US, german and israeli military industry, including the genocide in Palestine, and in supporting them the norwegian state expands militarisation at all costs.

    How ironic that Chemring Nobel and the peace prize both lead back to the same Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, who created this prize to wash the blood off his hands.

    But what does peace even mean if norwegian companies produce crucial components for the bombs, fighter jets and missiles used on Gaza, Venezuela and Iran? If Norway as a nation state is built on the ongoing colonization of Sápmi? If the state owned Statkraft profits from the colonization of Indigenous territories in Latin America through hydropower development? If Equinor is operating and extracting in nearly 30 countries? 

    If we open our eyes, we understand that peace is a concept invented and maintained by those in power only to preserve their power. Through the eyes of oppressed peoples, peace can not exist before there is justice. In the oppressor’s narrative, peace is when oppression is not confronted and everything is “in order”. Resistance, on the other hand, is framed as violent and extremist, although this rupture is neccessary for liberation.

    The Norwegian state’s attempt to uphold its image as a peace nation whilst actively contributing to and profiting from war, colonization, and genocide is nothing but a farce, meant to blind us from the reality that the war industry is soon Norway’s second biggest industry after oil and gas. Within this context, the Nobel Peace Prize becomes nothing more than a distraction and a symbol of Norwegian hypocrisy. 

    But even worse than a mere distraction, the peace prize itself becomes a tool of war and domination by giving legitimacy to powerful political figures. Just last year, a US-government-funded far-right coup leader won the peace prize and tried to pass it on to Trump. Awarding the peace prize to Machado gave her politics public legitimacy, which built the neccessary foundation on which the US could use F-35 fighter jets (partly norwegian made) during the coup.

    Behind the scenes we also see that the Oslo diplomats Terje Rød Larsen (also leader of International Peace Institute) and Mona Juul were part of the corrupt Epstein-class. Torbjørn Jagland, former Prime minister of Norway and chair of the Nobel Committee also kept a close relationship with Epstein for 8 years. The ethno-nationalist Asle Toje, deputy leader of the Norwegian Nobel committee, is a member of the Swedish far-right think tank Oikos which sponsored the nazi-founded Sweden Democrats with 5 million SEK anonymously and continues to fund the party. Toje also has been a supporter of the identitarian movement in Europe.

    The peace prize and the production of weapons or explosives are part of the same military-industrial complex and its agenda of global domination and control over people, land and resources. 

    Even if this year’s winner can be seen as a (more) legitimate holder of a peace prize, the institution of the Nobel Peace Prize itself must be understood as what it is: a distraction from what all states uphold and reinforce, namely violent borders, resource wars and genocides. Through this mechanism, the Nobel peace prize becomes a weapon in itself.

    Come to the forest now to fight for a more just world, one without war factories and the industries of genocide, which no (peace) state will ever dismantle itself.

    Knus Krigsmaskinen! Knus the peace prize!

  • Press release: Stikkvannskollen

    Today marks six months since we established the Active Defense Zone (AFS) in Hurummarka. We’re celebrating by occupying a new building: fhe abandoned fire tower on the highest peak in Hurummarka, Stikkvannskollen.

    The 99-year-old fire tower was used to monitor Hurummarka and large parts of Eastern Norway for forest fires. We feel compelled to take up a watch in the fire tower to protect Hurummarka from Chemring Nobel and the Ministry of Defense’s explosive plans, which will burn forests, people and the planet.

    More and more people are realizing that this may be the most important struggle to wage right now for justice and liberationg, because Chemring Nobel’s exclusive production of high explosives is fundamental to the imperialist wars waged by the U.S. and Israel. Chemring Nobel is a bottleneck in the war machine.
    That is why it is important for everyone with a beating heart to get involved in this case however you can – whether that means staying at the AFS or plastering Oslo with stickers…

    We are guarding Hurummarka from the fire tower until the plans for explosives are extinguished.

    Crush the war machine!

    An art piece titled “Sound of War” has also been installed in the tower. Old cannon shells have been transformed into bells that warn of war and fire approaching Hurummarka.

  • Demonstration at Røyken Town Hall

    Today, Thursday, September 10, Asker Municipality discussed its position regarding the expansion of the Chemring Nobel factory in Hurummarka.

    Outside the municipal offices in Røyken, around 40 people gathered to protest against this expansion plan. Together with Folkeaksjonen for Hurummarka (Grassroots Action for Hurummarka) and other local residents, the group “Knus Krigsmaskinen!” (Crush the War Machine!) made it clear once again: Chemring Nobel is already participating in colonial and genocidal wars, while simultaneously heavily polluting the area around the Oslo Fjord and poisoning and destroying vital ecosystems. Permitting this expansion would further exacerbate these problems and – contrary to most Norwegians’ self-image – reinforce Norway’s role in the global arms race.

    In its statement today, Asker Municipality chose not to shoulder its responsibility to oppose this obviously harmful project. Instead, they are advising the state to push through the expansion plans, thereby becoming complicit in genocide and ecocide.

    They are already working toward this complicity by using every possible means to demolish the house in Avgrunnsdalen. Although Akershus County Municipality recommended this week that “usable buildings should not be demolished,” Asker Municipality appears ready to spend 1.2 million [kroner] to tear down a house inhabited by activists. This is clearly a political decision that the municipality attempted to slip through under the guise of a building permit matter. Further details on this can be found below.

    Today has shown that “Knus Krigsmaskinen!” stands shoulder to shoulder with Folkeaksjonen and other local groups, and together we will crush the war machine!

    Crush the War Machine!

    More information:

    New findings on all fronts and something fishy going on in the Hurum area

    Several things don’t add up regarding the demolition of the house in Avgrunnsdalen. The demolition job in Avgrunnsdalen was commissioned for 1.2 million – six days before the permit was actually issued – through a process that appears to have been pre-approved. It was scheduled to take place as quickly as possible right after the holidays, with private security hired in case there was “some unpleasant attention surrounding this” (according to Petter von Malchus at Aktiv Veidrift AS).

    Spending 1.2 million to demolish a house occupied by activists is a political decision that the municipality tried to sneak through as a routine building matter. In April, the Municipal Director stated:

    “Given the political nature of the case, the Municipal Director believes the correct approach is to limit the response to outlining the alternatives” (regarding how to deal with us).

    In his latest letter to the County Governor, he states:

    “In the Municipal Director’s assessment, this is therefore a demolition case that touches upon an ongoing public debate, but not a demolition case that in itself entails such fundamental or political considerations that the decision should have been made by an elected body.”

    So, this is a demolition case that suddenly arose after the house had stood empty for two years – occurring just months after we occupied the house, and in an area where an explosives factory is planned for the future. Akershus County Municipality, however, holds the view that “in general, we recommend that usable buildings not be demolished, from a resource perspective.”

    New archaeological findings subject to automatic preservation
    On May 4, 2026, Akershus County Municipality wrote to Chemring Nobel – with copies to Forsvarsbygg (the Norwegian Defence Estates Agency) and Asker Municipality – stating that the archaeological survey of the planned site for the new explosives factory had identified three sites dating back to the Early Stone Age. There may be more, yet we find no statement from Asker Municipality regarding these discoveries.

    According to Chemring Nobel itself, soil investigations using a tracked drilling rig began at the site on September 4, 2026, even though there is no documentation confirming whether the survey of the rest of the area has been completed.

    Many processes have been set in motion to create the impression that the factory’s location has not yet been decided. But we shouldn’t be surprised when the process suddenly kicks into high gear overnight. The war economy has no time to lose; it cares nothing for lives, nature, or a future, livable world.

    We continue the fight against Multiconsult, Norconsult, the State, Chemring, and Asker Municipality.

    Smash the war machine!

  • “Smash the War Machine!” calls for a demonstration at Røyken Town Hall

    On Thursday, September 10, at 6:00 PM, Asker Municipality will discuss and formulate its consultation response regarding the plans by Chemring and the Ministry of Defence to build Europe’s largest explosives factory in Hurummarka. This meeting could have a significant impact on the state’s decision on the matter. We wish to make our position clear: If the politicians in Asker Municipality speak in favor of Chemring’s new factory, they inevitably make themselves complicit in genocide and imperialist wars (1), as well as in the further destruction of vital forest areas and the pollution of the already dying Oslo Fjord (2).

    Together with local residents and other anti-militarists, we invite everyone to join a demonstration outside Røyken Town Hall on Thursday, September 10, starting at 5:00 PM. By distributing leaflets and displaying banners, we stand united to show our opposition to this factory.

    Smash the War Machine!

    (1) Through supplies to American companies such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, Chemring Nobel (along with other Norwegian companies like Nammo and Kongsberg) actively supports Israel’s settler-colonial project, as well as the US war against Iran, which is currently intensifying.

    (2) With its existing plant in Sætre, Chemring Nobel is already polluting the Oslo Fjord beyond statutory discharge limits (https://www.nrk.no/dokumentar/renseanlegget-blir-ikke-ferdig-i-tide.-na-vil-chemring-nobel-slippe-ut-mer-nitrogen-i-fjorden-1.18009350). The planned expansion of Chemring’s production capacity in Hurummarka will only increase pollution levels and lead to irreversible damage to the fjord.

  • Avgrunnsdalen statement concerning conflicts around the upcoming fundraiser for Knus Krigsmaskinen! at Blitz

    We have been sitting together to discuss conflicts around a fundraiser that is being organized for us for the end of this month at Blitz. In the middle of possible eviction threats, it has been challenging to do so, but still we managed to find some points we find important to communicate, in order to prevent misunderstandings:

    1. We want to clarify that neither Knuskrigsmaskinen, nor Seduction, nor Blitz as such are organizing the event. The event is organized by some individuals and we appreciate their support.
    2. We stand in solidarity with sex workers and oppose any paternalisms or other discrimination against them. We are against wage work which is based on classism, and all the different forms of systemic and coercive violences that come with it, like concurrence, alienation, objectification, health damages etc. Therefore, we are of course also against sex wage work, just as we are against academic wage work, construction site wage work, office wage work and any other of them. This does obviously not mean that we are against individual workers, on the contrary, we are in solidarity with their struggles.
    3. People have been contacting us with accusative assumptions towards Seduction, suspecting them of controlling what workers can say publicly, “importing people” from Eastern Europe and suspecting Seduction of human trafficking. Of course we took this very seriously and talked with many people, including a person of Seduction, and all those accusations are just plain wrong. We strongly urge the people who made these accusations to reflect on what it means to spread such rumors without any evidence!, and to be more careful with this in the future. Based on these unverified accusations, people even planned a demonstration in front of the fundraiser event.

      Here’s some words on the group from our comrades at Blitz as well as from the organizers of the fundraiser:

      “Seduction is a strippers collective, founded by a trusted activist and sex worker, that Blitz has worked with before. Seduction consists of all-gender striptease performers, and was founded in order to organize and facilitate community support and fair working conditions for the work they provide.” “Seduction as an entity does not actually make any profit off of their bookings. Seductions goal as a group is to create safer and better working conditions for the dancers organized there. All money made through bookings stays with the sex workers who did a booking and only a small percentage is taken to cover expenses of the group (such as website hosting etc). Its main target is to enable them to work independently and self-organized. No one is making money off of the sex workers, it enables them to work for themselves better and safer. This might settle concerns about collaborating with a “commercial” group. Seduction understands itself as a sex work activist group. Of course the individuals organized there do work and want to get paid decent.”
    4. We share pain and rage against all forms of sexism, oppressive objectification, exploitations, dehumanizing consumption culture and alike, in all areas of life. And we support all empowerment, self-determination, liberation attempts and widenings of agencies, no matter what people do, where they stand and what kind of work they do or not, as long as it happens inside an attitude of ‘we’re not free until all are free’.
    5. As there were concerns about whether the fundraiser would be safe enough for young people, we want to share Blitz’ guidelines for events: They include a strict ban on hard drugs, including high percentage alcohol. The event is BYOB, so there are no sales of alcohol in the house. There are continuous ‘trivsel’ (awareness) shifts during the night that make sure that any untolerated behaviour will be either consensually settled or removed from the event. Blitz has zero tolerance for sexism, racism, ableism, queerphobia, transphobia, hate against sex workers or other marginalised groups. This includes any kind of harassment, if they’re notified or notice any of these behaviours, the person responsible will be removed from the house immediately.
      We guess this should clarify concerns.
      For the topic of age restrictions, we imagine that people no matter the age will and can decide for themselves whether they want to see gogo dance or not.
    6. The last point is an important “byproduct” of our last week’s discussions. To avoid misunderstandings: This part is not only about Seduction but about all the different artists contributing to the fundraiser.

      In the course of our process, we realized that we don’t want to promote the profiles of entities or people whose goal it is to earn money by selling goods or services, neither those of political parties, NGOs or any other private or state institutions.

      We are happy about being in solidarity with and being supported by individuals that share our struggle and support the cause we stand for. We don’t care which groups those individuals are part of, as long as they stand in solidarity with the anticapitalist, antimilitarist struggle we are fighting, joining us in our wish for freedom and autonomy for everybody on this planet, in connection and care with the nature and landscapes we are part of. In terms of groups, we only directly want to ally with other struggles similar to ours.

      We believe that people who really want to support us do so without wanting anything back (like advertisement, publicity, fame), that is without exchange logic or seeking own advantages. We want to be more careful around this in the future and communicate this better, so that our instagram profile does not turn into a platform for promoting artists, but instead focuses on informing people on our struggle, as well as other (noncommercial) struggles and our mutual solidarity.

      We decided for this fundraiser to just leave it up to the organizers to promote the event as they want because we don’t want to do doublestandards, compared to past collaborations. We want to take more care of those things from autumn on though, and take time to formulate some guidelines for our much appreciated supporters.

    We are grateful to have a lot of different artists – tattoo, gogo dance, music art – share their art to raise funds for Avgrunnsdalen. We are grateful for all individuals supporting us since months with car rides, food supplies, water and all kinds of other help.
    Let’s keep protecting this forest and prevent this war factory from being built! We’re stronger together!

    Love&Rage from the forest

  • RUPTURE PRESS: Why Smash the War Machine (“Knus Krigsmaskinen!”) must also mean Smash Colonialism

    The fight against the war machine is also a fight against all states and their colonization of the world. Read our reflections on the solidarity between the Actively Defended Zone (AFS) Hurummarka and Sámi resistance. You can find the whole statement here https://www.rupturepress.org/blog/why-smash-the-war-machine-must-also-mean-smash-colonialism

    The state wants us out of the way, but our resistance only shines brighter, our words and intentions only become clearer.

    Knus Krigsmaskinen!
    ČSV!

  • Knus Krigsmaskinen! and the local resistance stand together against Chemring’s new explosives factory in Hurummarka

    On Friday, 17th of July, the fire department visited us together with an electrical inspector. Due to the successful cooperation between us from Knus Krigsmaskinen and the fire department, the municipality was excluded from the visit. As expected, our house was declared fire safe, which shows again that we do not need any authority to take care of us and that all claims of worrying for our safety are a only a pretext for the municipality to increase pressure on us before they try to demolish the house.

    Today also made one thing very clear: That we in Avgrunnsdalen stand together with the local resistance against Chemring’s war factory. We may have different ways of doing things, but this diversity of tactics is what makes us strong and resilient. Together with Folkeaksjonen for Hurummarka and individual locals we despise the municipality’s wish to demolish our house in Avgrunnsdalen. This blatant attempt to silence the growing resistance in Hurummarka and to distract from the political content of our occupation is yet another example of Asker Kommunes lack of integrity.

    Instead the Kommune administration has fast tracked the permitting process for demolition and contracted Stener Sørensen AS of Drammen for the job. They now work together in the service of building this factory whose products we know are essential for the perpetuation of genocidal and imperial wars. We promise their work will not go according to plan.

    Companies like Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman, currently supplied by Chemring Nobel, profit off the US’s latest attacks on Iran. Chemring and their politicians like to deny this reality by referring to Norway’s high export regulation standards. But while Norwegian export practices do not usually license export to military supplies for Israel, export to the US is treated as export to allies, even though the products end up in the missiles fired on Gaza. Ny Tid, Electronic Intifada and BDS Norge have made this chain transparent.

    All publicly available information on Chemring’s war economy is collected at stopchemring.com.

    If the municipality and the state want to demolish, we must build up. We invite everyone to join us next week, from 20th-26th of July for our building days. You can sleep here, eat and cook together with us, and be part of making Avgrunnsdalen impossible to evict.

    When one can profit on war, how can there ever be peace in a capitalist world?

    Knus Krigsmaskinen!