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FESTIVAL PASS
Resistance is as much a part of everyday life as a good jumper. All the better if it sparkles and puts you in a good mood, because a good mood helps enormously in the revolution.
‘Class war’ on your cap, “161” on your socks, ‘hässig’ on your shirt – as long as it sparkles!
Some assistance, tools, transfer foil, inspiration, rhinestones and a heat press are available. You'll need to bring a little patience, a reasonably steady hand or tolerance for frustration, ideas for what you want to make, the textiles you want to decorate and, depending on your ambitions, an hour or more.
This is a creative space where we share DIY-style ideas and skills and decorate clothes together. Space and materials are limited. The studio is designed for people who work independently. (Children are also welcome, accompanied by an adult and from an age where they are unlikely to swallow tools or rhinestones.)
About the technique: Hotfix rhinestones have a layer of glue on the back that is heated by a heat press and bonds with the fabric.
Not all fabrics are equally suitable – tricot has proven to work well, for example on T-shirts and sweatshirts, but woven fabrics also work. It's a bit of trial and error!
Komm ins Festivalzentrum, um zu diskutieren und zu verweilen! Jeden Abend gibt es Barbetrieb und manchmal auch etwas Kleines zu Essen. An unserem Kiosk kannst du dir diverses Rote Kulturtage-Merchandise ergattern und dir ein Programmheft abholen. Eine “Dokumentationsecke” lädt dich dazu ein, deine Erfahrungen im Rahmen der Roten Kulturtage festzuhalten.
Auch ein Ausstellungsräume ist im Festivalzentrum beim Mikro entstanden: So stellen sich alle teilnehmenden Organisationen in unterschiedlicher Art und Weise im Rahmen einer Installation vor. An einer Hörstation vom Radio Lora kannst du der Arbeiter*innenbewegung aus den 80er und 90er-Jahren nachspüren.
Language: English
D-V-D’s screening of films serves as a means for BIPOC* voices to be heard in films and to present the marginalized approaches in film art that use decolonial visual culture to challenge and dismantle colonial perspectives and, through dialogue, make hidden voices, knowledge and visions of the future visible.
The films bring BIPOC* stories and perspectives to the fore, creating space for narratives that are often overlooked or dismissed. Through decolonial elements, the films explore themes such as racial inequality in capitalist societies. By combining science fiction and social criticism, these films challenge viewers to question social norms while giving a voice to those who have been silenced.
The films will be shown in the evening:
Sarah Maldoror's ‘Sambizanga’ (1972 I 1h 42m)
The first film produced in Angola, directed by Sarah Maldoror, was made with the help of people who were part of the African anti-colonial resistance movements and aims to display the key role of women in anti-colonial strugles that led to the independence of Angola from Portugal.
Djibril Diop Mambéty's ‘Hyènes’ (1992 I 1h 50m)
The African speculative fiction by Djibril Diop Mambéty, freely based on a play by Dürrenmatt ‘Der Besuch der alten Dame’, shows the arrival of the exiled Linguère Ramatou back in Colobane. Now one of the richest women in the world, she returns home looking for justice. A playful and clever way to show how wealth and power work together and what is needed in a society for your voice to be heard.
39 Min.
Language: French
Subtitles: German
Filmreihe:
UMARELLIS
Umarell: italienischer Rentner, der Bauarbeiten beobachtet
Vor der Vorführung gibt es einen Input von Bernadette Kolonko (Filmemacherin, Autorin und künstlerische Forscherin). Im Anschluss wird zu einer offenen Diskussionsrunde eingeladen.
En attendant les robots (Natan Castay, Belgien, 2023, 39 Min) begleitet Otto, einen
sogenannten „Turker!, der nach dem Verlust seines studentischen Jobs während der
Lockdowns Mikroaufgaben auf Amazon Mechanical Turk erledigt – etwa Gesichter auf
Google Street View verpixelt oder Satellitenbilder analysiert. Er verlässt nie sein kleines
Dachzimmer und der einzige Kontakt den er pflegt ist der mit anderen Klickarbeiter:innen über den Bildschirm.
Was unmittelbar sichtbar wird: Diese Klickarbeit – unsicher, schlecht bezahlt, anonym –
ist eine Arbeit, die oftmals außerhalb klassischer Sozialverträge stattfindet, ohne Zugang
zu Stabilität, gewerkschaftlicher Vertretung oder gesicherter sozialer Absicherung. Diese
Klickarbeit ist unsicher, schlecht bezahlt und entkoppelt von jeder sozialen Absicherung –
sie findet jenseits klassischer Arbeitsverhältnisse statt. En attendant les robots legt so die
Schattenseiten der digitalen Ökonomie offen: Es wird sichtbar, wie Ausbeutung und
Vereinzelung sich in neuen technologischen Formen fortsetzen und wie der
algorithmische Kapitalismus zunehmend in immaterielle Sphären eindringt – in unsere
Denkweisen, Gefühle und Interaktion – und menschliche Subjektivität und soziale
Beziehungen damit gewissermaßen kolonialisiert.
Gemeinsam schauen wir Filme, die aufzeigen, wie eng die Prekarisierung von Arbeitsverhältnissen
und Migrationspolitik miteinander verflochten sind. Der Bogen spannt sich von der rassistischen
Arbeitspolitik in der Schweiz der 1970er Jahre bis hin zu heutigen Formen prekärer Beschäftigung
in Lieferdiensten, digitaler Plattformarbeit und informellen Ökonomien. Dabei wird deutlich, dass
Mechanismen von Ausgrenzung und Ausbeutung nicht verschwinden, sondern in veränderter
Form immer wieder neu hervortreten.
Im Anschluss an die Vorführungen möchten wir mit Gästen und Publikum nicht nur über die
Inhalte der Filme ins Gespräch kommen, sondern auch darüber, welche Rolle das Wo, Wann und
Wie des gemeinsamen Schauens spielt.
Film in Zusammenarbeit mit Let’s Doc!
Für Ort: Mail an reservationen@rote-kulturtage.ch
As an aperitif, we have prepared a synthesiser workshop for you. You can try it out for yourself and plug in to create your perfect sound amuse-bouche.
The menu won't disappoint you. From synthesised sounds to whet your appetite, we move on to freshly prepared dishes à la plancha, rounded off with a dessert set that's nothing to be ashamed of.
Open for all languages, please contact us for translations until 31.10.2025 at liebenarbeiten@gmail.com
Until 1988, the husband was legally the head of the family. The wife had to manage the household, and without her husband's permission, she wasn't allowed to pursue paid work or open her own bank account.
Since 2004, marital rape has been a criminal offense.
In 2014, joint custody came into effect.
Year after year, femicide cases in Switzerland continue to rise.
Even more than we ourselves, our mothers faced structural sexism. Even married women from privileged backgrounds couldn't freely choose a profession. Sexualized violence was part of everyday life for nearly all women.
How did our mothers live? How have their experiences been inscribed in our bodies, in our thinking and actions? We share anonymously and focus on exemplary and structural experiences. This way, we build a collective narrative space.
Trixa Arnold and Ilja Komarov have been creating musical theater projects together since 2007. Their work stands out for its explicitly accessible approach. They work from the conviction that the political also manifests itself in everyday life and its actions. Currently, they are working with oral histories and memories that they collect, condense, and stage around specific themes.
Funded by Stadt Zürich Kultur and the Fachstelle für Kultur Kanton Zürich.
An alleycat is a kind of scavenger hunt on a bicycle. Inspired by the everyday life of bicycle couriers, participants ride to various checkpoints with different challenges. The goal is to have fun on your bike and discover new places. Alleycats are for everyone – from beginners to professionals. Bring your bike and your helmet!
Deutsch
From 6 p.m. Backgammon and chess at Postsquat
From 7 p.m. Dinner
From 8 p.m. Three short presentations await us:
A brief history of workers' sports
The relevance, topicality and revolutionary perspective of video games and digital culture.
Roller derby: more than just a full-contact sport – an expression of queer-feminist practice, self-organisation and an attitude against discrimination. In this presentation, we will talk about the emergence and development of the roller derby scene, its connection to resistant subculture and the political potential of collective sport.
FLINTAQ-Cypher promotes up-and-coming FLINTAQ Rappers. Different FLINTAQ rappers perform one after another, presenting their original songs. Whether it is their very first time or they are already seasoned performers, we offer FLINTAQs an accessible stage. Some major artists got their start here: Olekanone & Nova, Débikatesse, Eto, …
*Brötchen statt Bosse
Zwischen Brötchen, Kaffee und Gesprächen wollen wir gemeinsam einen Raum schaffen für Austausch, Kritik und Zukunftsvisionen: Was bedeutet Arbeit heute? Was bedeutet Kultur, die von Arbeiter*innen ausgeht und welche Formen der Anerkennung findet sie in einer Konsumgesellschaft?
Wie können wir solidarische Strukturen aufbauen, die über den branchenüblichen Tellerrand hinausreichen?
Wir wollen zusammen essen, reden, uns zuhören. Über Arbeit und Alltag. Über Sprache, Schichtpläne, Sorgen und Stolz. Und auch darüber wie es anders sein könnte: solidarischer, ehrlicher, gemeinschaftlicher.
Für Essen und Trinken ist gesorgt, ihr dürft auch gern etwas mitbringen.
Wir freuen uns auf Gespräche, neue Verbindungen und vielleicht ein kleines Stück einer anderen Zukunft.
Language: German
Simultaneous / Whisper translations: English
We gather one last time at the festival centre. Together, we want to look back on the Red Culture Days. Events were documented continuously, allowing us to reflect and preserve some of the power of our culture and art. We look back and forward.
Language: Italian
Subtitles: English
Filmclub Populaire film screening: “Portuali” by Perla Sardella, 2024, 81 min, Italian with English subtitles.
The documentary film Portuali depicts the daily life of dockworkers and the world of the union from the inside, offering a snapshot of the activities of C.A.L.P., the Collective of Autonomous Port Workers of Genoa, between 2019 and 2023. A group of workers groups together to oppose their own union, denounce the passage of weapons-laden ships, and discuss the need for international solidarity networks. Their goal: no more deadly weapons in their docks, no complicity with wars they refuse to be part of. They fight for workplace safety, more rights, and for a form of unionism that also incorporates gender justice, environmental protection, and social struggles.
Portuali is a film that explores work and the world of unions from within, as well as the various facets of militant activism – laying the groundwork for a new narrative of class struggle. Director Perla Sardella builds the film around the collective dimension, using a cinematic language that invites listening and motivates action. The camera stays close to the faces in assemblies, the rituals of resistance, the cracks in the system. Archival footage meets the rhythm of the present – today's struggles stand in continuity with historic labor battles.
Portuali is a combative, deeply human film about self-organization, strikes, and solidarity – and about how workers don't just demand a fairer world, but actively help shape it.
Followed by a Q&A with director Perla Sardella.
30.10 – 9.11.2025 Zürich
Eleven days packed full of film, performance, theatre, music, literature, theory, sport and socialising.
All events will be free of charge.
In various venues of historical and contemporary relevance for the socialist left.
Run with and by different organisations, parties and trade unions.
A festival centre to get to know each other, receive all the important information, open every evening.
“Art breaks out of the palaces and ceases to be a cultural asset in the hands of a select few in order to plunge into ordinary neighbourhoods and be there for everyone. My drawings are made from this perspective and out of this obligation. Out of obligation to my class and my fellow human beings. These are the only shackles I bear and they are voluntarily chosen.” - José Maria Sanchez Casas
As long as we work for our bosses' wallets and states declare war on each other, classes will exist and the class struggle will continue. The diversity of the working class is reflected in its various struggles. Let us draw on this diversity and bring it all together under the motto: from the class for the class!
We are called upon to fight against fascist tendencies, ecological destruction and war. The working class and its organisations resist day in day out the attacks of capital and build on their experiences to develop a vision of a world free from exploitation and destruction. And culture can make a decisive contribution: it can strengthen solidarity and collectivity, nourish the common struggle and make the vision of a classless society more tangible.
Let us build on the culture created by our predecessors. Let us discuss together and experience the transformative power of art and culture. Whether at the festival centre, in the Volkshaus, on the sports field or in the streets: let us immerse ourselves together in the creative power of our class and strengthen ourselves for the challenges that lie ahead!
Join us to explore the paths of working-class culture in Zürich and around the world. Let us experience stories of solidarity and resistance together!
The following organizations/groups are participating:
Media partners:
The question of how to finance the Red Culture Days has been with us ever since we considered founding a festival of working-class culture. On the one hand, we firmly believe that cultural work must be remunerated and that a workers' culture festival should not generate further precarity in the industry. On the other hand, we interface with political and revolutionary work, which cannot and should not be financed by institutional donors.
We therefore ultimately decided to take a pragmatic approach: we will finance our structures with union funds, with the support of foundations and through crowdfunding. If programme items require funding, we decide on a case-by-case basis and in consultation with those responsible for the event whether we have the financial resources to do so and whether and how the event can (nevertheless) be held. Some projects that require more certainty in planning and that we consider an indispensable part of the programme will be prioritised and listed as expenditure items in the budget. We will make this budget available as soon as the expenses can be quantified more clearly.
All Red Culture Days events will be free of charge. We will collect donations during the events and, in some cases, recommend entry prices. We will collect this money and, after the Red Culture Days, hold a fund distribution meeting to allocate the ‘surplus’ money to the individual artists/cultural workers.
“Radio will never replace newspapers.” – “Why not?” – “Can you light a fire with a radio?”(Eisbrecher 1980)
Until the 1930s, Switzerland had a thriving working-class culture: countless workers' associations, film groups, choirs, music clubs and theatres reflected the political realities of the working class and were born from its organisations, such as trade unions and the Communist Party. In the second half of the 20th century, daring cultural experiments emerged from a left-wing movement that served to revive the culture described above and to break new ground in creating autonomous and youth-inspired cultural and social spaces.
Today, many places that originally belonged to the labour movement and the socialist left have disappeared or been commercialised. There are only a few places and moments left where workers' art and culture are practised in the context of political struggle and the socialist vision.
History demonstrates the potential of culture to fuel and consolidate class consciousness arising from concrete political and economic struggles. Cultural work has always been consciously cultivated and used by the socialist left. We are convinced that strategic engagement with cultural issues is essential for the long-term organisation of the working class.
‘We’ are a group of young people who see ourselves as part of the labour movement and the socialist left, and are active in various trade unions, revolutionary organisations and social movements. Many of us have a background as artists or cultural workers.
Cultural work is still being performed in the socialist left today. However, we lack collective discussions about what our culture is, which artistic and cultural forms can contribute to the emancipation of the class and to what extent working-class culture, as opposed to bourgeois culture, can be a field of class struggle.
That is why we have launched the Red Culture Days: we are attempting to create a mosaic of existing socialist culture and invite discussion about it. We therefore intend to pay particular attention to cultural work carried out by organised forces. In the hope of forging a tool for political struggle together.
At the Rote Kulturtage, we want to create a space of solidarity. There is no place for discrimination or abusive behaviour. If such behaviour does occur, our awareness structures always focus on the person affected and their needs.
Awarenessteam: At events with large numbers of people, there is an awareness person who provides support when people need help and intervenes when people experience discrimination. They are identified by an orange glow lanyard. In addition, the festival hotline
(077 998 45 13) is operated during the events. A member of the festival team is present at every event.
Accessibility: More information on this can be found in the individual programme items on our website. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us by email at E-Mail.
Wheelchair accessibility: The event is wheelchair accessible.
Limited wheelchair accessibility: If you would like to attend the event in a wheelchair, please contact us in advance at E-Mail.
Intense lighting: Strobe lights or similar intense lighting effects will be used during the event.
Intense sound: This event may be loud.
Seating: Only limited seating is available at this event.
Sanitary Facilities: There are no sanitary facilities available at this event.
Awareness concepts are often criticised, and rightly so, for shifting responsibility for behaviour exclusively onto the individual, for lacking a focus on material support for marginalised and discriminated persons (or groups of persons), or for reducing class conflict to the mere level of discrimination. Nevertheless, we are convinced that such awareness concepts are necessary precisely because of our class standpoint. The working class is not a homogeneous mass. There are many internal contradictions and also discriminatory behaviour within the class. However, it is important to find a way to fight together and form a common class consciousness. This can be supported by an awareness concept. What the awareness concept specifically achieves is the establishment of materially based structures that combat systematic oppression and discrimination.
If you have any additions, criticism or requests regarding accessibility or the awareness concept, please feel free to contact us by E-Mail at any time.
Kollektiv für rote Kulturtage
8004 Zurich
Switzerland
