Page - 55 - in Siting Futurity - The “Feel Good” Tactical Radicalism of Contemporary Culture in and around Vienna

55 (re)forming Vienna’s culture of resistance ticipation in all decision-making and communal respect.27 As an event, the Arena brought people from very different walks of life but with shared social ideals and goals together in the same space and gave them visibility. The graffiti-like logo served as a brand and created momentum that is still available to be tapped into: [I]t would be easy to dismiss the entire movement as the na- ïve dream of a well-fed generation without much immedi- ate responsibility. But this would be to do it an injustice. The Arena occupation and its offshoots proved to be of lasting significance for the schnitzel-stuffed city that begot them. The occupiers lost their battle: the Auslands-abattoir was demolished. But they won the war, with Chancellor Bruno Kreisky later admitting that the city did indeed need an alter- native cultural centre and a permanent venue for other than traditional entertainment; the neighbouring Inlands-abattoir was set aside for just that purpose, which it retains to this day. The Rosa Lila Villa still provides support and advice for gays and lesbians; the Ernst Kirchweger Haus still welcomes mi- grants and refugees; the WUK (Werkstätten- und Kulturhaus) still operates as a community cultural centre […] Not least, you’re now allowed to sit on the grass in the Burggarten. So maybe it’s true: If you believe you can make a differ- ence, and you believe it hard enough, sometimes you really can. (V. Buckley 2012) As we see in the next chapters, this “feel good” spirit of empha- sizing small victories and turning places not only into symbolic sites but also into institutions like the Arena that provide for marginal groups that would otherwise fall through the cracks of the city’s cumbersome bureaucratic apparatus, continues to be alive and well. These institutions draw on, and at the same time 27 The misogyny of the “Rockers,” a motorcycle gang that was part of the initial occupation, led to conflicts with the rest of the community and their expulsion (Mesner 2012, 61).