The Alt Shift is organized by the cultural association Shift Slow based in Vienna. Shift Slow stands for a colourful and just transition to eco social futures. With Shift Slow are on a collective investigation: how to create celebratory spaces for conviviality and co-creation for the degrowth movement and beyond?
Alt Shift advocates for eco-social transformation, addressing the root causes of environmental and social problems, including the unequal distribution of power and resources, the exploitation of nature and people, and the dominant values that justify them. We reject capitalism as a system that inherently leads to imperialism and racism. Alt Shift promotes de-alienation, aiming to recover our sense of identity, agency and belonging in an oppressive, exploitative, and marginalizing society, through reconnecting with our history, culture, spirituality, and community.
Economic growth is no longer seen as necessary for improving human living standards and is recognized as causing widespread socio-ecological damage. We support degrowth as a political and economic project that rejects the dominant pursuit of perpetual economic growth that fails to acknowledge planetary boundaries, prioritizing the well-being of all life over profit.
Our approach is intersectional, recognizing the interrelatedness and interdependence of all life and, thus, all resistance to forms of oppression. We are pluriversal, and thus we value diverse forms of knowledge and interdisciplinary approaches, seeking to create a more just, resilient, and sustainable world.
Alt Shift is a collective that condemns oppression in all its manifestations, including colonialism, imperialism, white supremacy, racism, sexism, homophobia, misogyny, ableism, capitalism, and any other form of discrimination based on gender, origin, spoken language, age, sexual orientation, class, ethnicity, religion, profession, geographical providence, or ability. We denounce contemporary settler colonial dynamics, ethnic cleansing, genocide and the violence that results from such. As seen recently in Palestine & Israel, Sudan, Tigray, West Papua, Hawaii, Kurdistan, Western Sahara, Chiapas, Myanmar, Syria, Ukraine, Libya, Somalia, all the CFA Franc using nations and amongst Indigenous Peoples, First Nations, Aboriginal Peoples and Campesines throughout the world. We support liberation struggles against intervention or influence from global superpowers, as well as resistance to colonial rule.
These social and ecological fights are all interconnected and interdependent. We acknowledge that in challenging oppressive systems, we stand on the shoulders of many preceding struggles for liberation and do not fight in isolation. We advocate for radical social change and justice, aligning ourselves with decolonial, anti-racist, anti-patriarchal, anti-fascist, anti-ableist, anti-speciesist, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, anti-colonial, anti-war, trans-feminist, queer, and ecological movements and show up in solidarity.
We recognize that in this effort of critically engaging with the world around us, tensions can arise within our team and the festival space we hope to create. We encourage self-organized engagement whenever a rejection of planned content, structures, or dynamics at Alt Shift emerge. Our aim is to create a safer space, welcoming constructive criticism and fostering dialogue. We aim to create diverse and inclusive communities, knowing this requires openness and a willingness to listen to different worldviews, philosophies and ways of being.
Furthermore, we acknowledge that many in our organizing team hold intersecting privileges, such as whiteness, male-identifying, middle-class status, cis-ness, abled bodies, tertiary education, and European backgrounds. We strive to actively reflect on these privileges and deconstruct toxic behaviours that may arise from them.
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