What is Cafe Lotta?
Café Lotta aims to be a freely accessible, open and self-determined space. At this place bar evenings, cinema evenings, common meals, discussion rounds, information events on political topics and sometimes concerts take place. Most of the time there are drinks and warm food based on donation. This is what we call Küche für alle (KüfA).
The space is run by a collective. This means that Cafe Lotta does not have a boss or a manager, but everyone who is part of it can have an equal say in what we do in the space – and what we don’t do.
Our values are very important to us. We stand for a world in which all people can live self-determined – but in solidarity with each other. We want to build a counter-world in Cafe Lotta. In this way we can implement our values in a small way and on some days we can experience together how a peaceful and communal living together might look like. The world outside is full of exclusion, discrimination and hate – Cafe Lotta is supposed to offer refuge and rest from it – but also to show a perspective against it.
We see ourselves as anti-racist and anti-fascist – this does not only mean that we are against the FPÖ or Nazis, but also that we support people affected by racism, build friendships among each other and think about our own racist thought patterns (and change them!).
We see ourselves as queerfeminist – that means we don’t believe that men are in any way better than women, lesbians, interpersons, non-binary or agender people, transpersons or queers*! On the contrary, we think it’s wrong that patriarchy creates so many advantages for the male gender. That’s why at Cafe Lotta we want everyone to do equal amounts of housework (cleaning, cooking…) and care work (looking out for each other, taking care of each other) and no one to be excluded or made fun of because of their gender.
We believe that capitalism is a bad economic system in which many people suffer and live in poverty. The fact that a few own almost everything seems unfair to us. We want a world where no one has to worry about basic things like food, housing, clothing, education, and so on. As much as we are convinced that this system can only change through a fundamental change (for example a revolution), it is clear to us that this will not happen tomorrow. That’s why we’ve set up a few rules so that people with less money aren’t excluded from our place: There are no fixed prices at Cafe Lotta – everyone should decide for themselves how much he or she* can pay. Those who have more should help finance those who have less or nothing – a redistribution on a small scale, so to speak. In addition, there is no obligation to consume at Cafe Lotta, which means that you don’t have to buy anything here and you can bring your own food.
And if people need money for something, there is always the possibility to collect donations together with us. The place lives from the fact that we all organise it together. Help is always welcome.
If you want to get involved in the collective or have ideas, you are welcome to come to the open plenary (always on the first Wednesday of the month).
At our events (and beyond) we want to deal constructively with incidents of discrimination and assault.
That means: We want to resolve conflicts in the interest of the affected persons and according to our values – with the goal of establishing justice and learning from it together.
Therefore, there are awareness structures based on concepts such as „Power of Definition“ and „Transformative Justice“. There are contact person(s) at each event who are sober and who people with a problem can turn to. You can find more info on the notice boards (for example, at the toilet downstairs). If you remember something after the event (e.g. someone was rude to you or you didn’t like something) please contact socialcontact_cafelotta@riseup.net or talk to people from the collective personally.
We are aware that we are not a discrimination-free space, as we all reproduce discrimination towards each other again and again (even if unconsciously). However, we want to reflect each other and take responsibility.
How do we finance ourselves? Café Lotta is mainly financed by donations. To cover all our expenses like rent, running costs, basic things, we need per month a little bit more than 1200€ per month. Most of these costs are covered by donations for drinks and food at events. Possibilities to support the space financially are individual donations or sponsorships in the form of monthly standing orders, these are best for us to plan! With many small amounts, a lot of money can be raised quickly!
As always we are facing financial problems. If you, your crew or your friends have a few euros to spare, or if you have inherited, found something, or if you don’t know what to do with all your money, then put it into the Lotta!
You can get more information about the collective and the space at any time at the bar. Also feel free to check out our homepage linksvominn.noblogs.org or our social media (instagram and facebook)
Café Lotta Kollektiv