I answered my own question. .emacs does not take precedence over my desktop manager.
Solution: use Super key, as follows. (global-set-key (kbd "C-s-<right>") 'org-demote-subtree) (global-set-key (kbd "C-s-<left>") 'org-promote-subtree) (global-set-key (kbd "C-s-<up>") 'org-move-subtree-up) (global-set-key (kbd "C-s-<down>") 'org-move-subtree-down)
