At 14:00 CET Widerstand in Haiderland – Masse ohne Macht? opened the discourse programme on Sunday. Recent elections in Austria have shown, that Frederik Bakers documentary film is more relevant than ever before. Ten years after the „Donnerstagsdemos“, which were a reaction on the coalition government of the FPÖ and ÖVP, “Widerstand in Haiderland” sums up the statements in mass media, the demonstrations and furthermore deals with Jörg Haiders funeral in Carinthia.

In the following panel discussion Civil Society Austria Béatrice Achaleke, Robert Foltin, Rahel Sophia Süß and Wolfgang Rehm talked about the impact of such initiatives and protest movements in Austria. Furthermore they spoke about their future role and broached the issue of the increasing repression of NGOs in connection with keywords like surveillance society. An interview with Béatrice Achaleke is available here.

At 20:00 CET that topic extended into global dimensions. Under the motto „It’s all about the movement! Global action in a world in crisis” Anjali Kamat, Iara Lee and Wenonah Hauter discussed the possibilities of a more effective cooperation between big NGOs, samller initiatives and social movements regarding their different strengths and weaknesses.

At 23:00 CET the music programme started in the Dom im Berg. The diverse Soundscapes A/V Event lasted for several hours and focused on the conscious experience and perception of music. Video installations and projections from Incredible Bob joined in for very special DJ sets: Moodswinger, Piece of Shh…, Wo0 and Felony Flats.

Photos of the fourth festival-day are available here.

On the third day of this year’s Elevate Festival representatives of about 20 initiatives and organisations like Attac, Global 2000 and Spektral convened in the Forum Stadtpark. Under the motto Get Active! visitors were able to gather information about the possibilities of getting active on a personal level. Many people used this opportunity to get in contact with the activists and organisations.

The next topic For Environment and Health made clear how important those initiatives are in our everyday live. In recent years, two inspiring protest movements have grown in Graz and its vicinity. Both fight against ecological destructive and health-endangering power plant projects. Without resistance the health of thousands of people and the implementation of sensible climate and environmental politics, which emphasizes really renewable energy sources, are at risk.

At 15:00 CET Klaus Schönberger and Ove Sutter looked back at more then 150 years of creative forms of protest. Afterwards Clemens Apprich was talking about present and future possibilities of social networks in the World Wide Web. An audio download of the talks and presentations is available here.

In the following panel discussion Ways out of the crisis Fritz Pichelmann, Michaela Moser and others were talking about alternative ways to overcome the worst post-war economic crisis. They showed that there indeed are models to consolidate budgets and simultaneously start the urgent change towards a more just and sustainable society. An audio download of the discussion is available here.

The Austrian premiere of the documentary film Cultures of Resistance rounded off yesterday’s discourse programme and showed how different art forms still can be weapons of piece. Afterwards director Iara Lee was answering questions from the audience.

From 20:15 to 23:00 CET the literature programme offered performances of elffriede.interdisziplinäre.aufzeichnensysteme, Jörg Piringer, Lisa Spalt, Otto von Schirach and others.

At 22:00 CET DJ Dizzi & Dorian Pearce und Dub Coretette were opening the music programme, which took place in Dom im Berg and the Uhrturm-Kasematte. Artists like Robert Hood, Actress, Altered Natives and many more were following.

Photos of the third festival day are available here.