The chap’ is an (almost) pay-as-you-can anarcho-radical-feminist project

~ The chapitoto team ~

In 2025, between Castres and Toulouse, a small team of us got fired up to launch this project, bigger than ourselves: a protest marquee. The reality was that renting marquees along the A69 motorway was always incredibly expensive (sometimes over 3,000 euro per marquee), that we were heavily reliant on professional companies unwilling to risk their equipment on a single deployment, and that we were pretty fed up with the setups dictated by the authorities.

We also figured that, given all the logistical support we’d received (dozens of toilets, awesome food stalls, marquees, sets of tables and benches, sound system…) and the great atmosphere within our group, it would be awesome to give it a go.

By the end of the Turbo Teuf (a local festival), we had a fair bit of money. Thanks to resourcefulness, self-referrals, subsidies from organisations involved in the A69 project, and the generous donation boxes/bar overflowing thanks to the event’s success and good attendance, the event team had to make some choices regarding profits.

There were three main options that seemed consistent with the donations received: postpone the event to another party and risk having to make a decision within a small, older group; contribute to the anti-republican fund, 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 energise people. The result of the endless debates was that some of the money would remain untouched because you never know, and the rest could be spent on equipment, including the marquee!

Some people looked for a marquee, then a group got together, and we made a few setups. Our utopia is an open, rotating, inclusive group, a chap’ 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 chap’ properly with an already well-established group is a bit overwhelming, we figure inclusion happens more through personal interactions or by organizing events.

To get the chap’ going, it has to align with our vision, be logistically sound, and have enough people to lend a hand on the day.

Politically speaking, the chap’ (chapiteau militant) is an anarcho-radical-feminist, anti-capitalist project, and all that jazz. We want it to be a tool for social struggles. So we’re keen to discuss with the organisers 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, and anti-racist stances.

Logistically, hosting a chap requires vehicle access, a flat area where we can set up the large marquee pegs, and a flat space of 31×35 meters. For costs, we cover insurance, supplies, and miscellaneous expenses with 500 euro per outing, plus travel expenses of 40 cents per kilometer from around 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, it’s best to contact us as soon as possible. We’ll confirm in a team meeting based on our availability, logistical constraints or ease of planning, and the event’s overall political alignment.

Machine translation