On Saturday I found myself (as one does) in the “Freetown” of Christiana, an “alternative community” in Copenhagen in Denmark. An abandoned military barracks quite close to the centre of the city was inhabited by a large number of squatters in the early 1970s, and arfter decades of sometimes hostile, sometimes violent clashes between inhabitants and the authorities (often over drug use), the people of Christiana and the Danish authorities these days basically tolerate one another.
These days Christiana has become a major venue for such things as live music and other entertainment, and it contains an assortment of bars, cafes, art galleries, workshops selling a variety of craft goods, music related items, and a vast amount of cannabis also seems to be consumed in the area. Clearly the economy of Christiana is very largely funded by selling stuff to visiting people like me, but that is fine. (I am all in favour of people who want to sell stuff, and I am all for people being able to smoke or ingest anything they want). And like anywhere else, Christiana has a fair bit of municipal pride, with clearly demarcated signs indicating city limits.
(It is actually relatively difficult to document this post with pictures, as photography is discouraged in all of Christiana, and is prohibited entirely in the entertainingly named Pusherstreet, partly because of the questionable legality of some of the things being sold, and partly I suspect because this is a way of preventing Christiana from degenerating completely into a tourist circus, which is always a danger).
But clearly the local promoters of certain iconic pop-cultural properties believe that nearby walls are a good place to advertise.
But in a cultural or pop-cultural sense, there are certain issues that are clearly in dispute. For one thing, quite a few of the buildings in Christiana have satellite dishes on their roofs. Despite this, there are clearly theological issues about whether television is a good thing or a bad thing, and as someone who these days watches little television other than the occasional cricket or football match, I did find this graffiti and counter-graffiti amusing.
However. it was perhjaps most interesting to walk out of Christiana, and to look at the other side of that entry gate. Walking back into Copenhagen proper, I had my chance to Interesting though to see just which organisation the Freetown of Christiana most wants to be free of.
Fancy that.
Is English the preferred language?
Sounds awfully like Camden Market, but perhaps cleaner and without the nasty authoritarian Labour people …
There are places like this in Maine and Vermont…communes that were started in the 60s and never quite went away. Its amusing to laugh about ageing hippies but as far as concerned anyone who has stuck it out for 40 years is pretty impressive.
My understanding is that in spite of the thriving free market drug economy, that Christiana only stays afloat thanks to generous welfare subsidies to the residents from the government.
So really, it’s anarcho-libertarianism at its finest – hostile to the establishment, entertaining, and only able to thrive as long as it is well subsidized and the residents are in living in a drug induced dreamland.
Not that I’m criticizing. I have seen certain libertarian governance schemes that were less tenable.
The police have attempted to clear Christiania many times and it has seen its fair share of battles. Now they are in a compromise closing the booths on Pusher Street and prosecuting some of the enterprising young (actually probably old) businessmen that used to be housed there. The first big case just came up and I think he got off.
Recently they had a different kind of fight when Christiania met the Police for a football friendly. The previews on telly were quite hilarious.
The problem with Christiania is that as a bunch of aging lefty hippies they are just that a bunch of aging lefty hippies, who as mentioned receive lots of government aid. The great thing was that Sweden used to get really pissed off about Christiania. That Denmark was leading their citizens into drugaddiction because of it.
Right now Christiania has widespread support amongst the young. You see lots of Tshirts proclaming “Save Christiania”. In a way this is one of 2 things where the Danes are very libertarian. Smoking or Christiania. Don’t let any health nazis stop me smoking or close Christiania. For every thing else we are as a nation a bunch of raving marxists (even the governing liberal party)
Sorry to be an ignorang Yank but what does that exit sign mean? Am I just reading it wrong? Looks to me like it says “You are now entering the Ell”. Affraid “Ell” doesnt translate well to most (or at least some) of us on this side of the pond.
It says “You are now entering the EU”
Those Danes were sure lucky to have an ocean between themselves and Janet Reno’s tanks.
Oh wait, they aren’t religions fanatics, never mind.
Ah, ok, thanks, guess I need to crank up the resolution on my monitor. (-:
So is it Christiana, or Christiania? The latter is the old name for Olso, which could cause some confusion.
Looks like it is actually “Christiania” and I made a mistake. There does appear to be an official or semi-official website under that name, and that is what is on the sign, of course.
Except, if you google for Christiana Denmark you get more hits than if you google for Christiania Denmark, and many are about Christiana/Christiania. I actually did google this before posting, which is why I referred to “Christiana” throughout the article. Perhaps I am just one of many people to make the same error, or perhaps there is genuinely some ambiguity.
Christiania has for decades been a hot political controversy in Denmark, and just recently has the anti-liberal Fogh-government made steps for ‘normalizing’ the area.
Their logo (remade):
And my favorite Tee:
[Ryd lortet = Remove the shit]
I grew up in Christiania, and it is really no different than anywhere else. We all have our perceptions of normalcy, and our views and ideals are shaped only by what we experience. I was raised within the confines of the community, and now I am a journalist in the U.S. A counter-culture may be humerous to those who don’t venture to experience it, but to the surviving hippies it is just another way of life; their survival.
I grew up in Christiania, and it is really no different than anywhere else. We all have our perceptions of normalcy, and our views and ideals are shaped only by what we experience. I was raised within the confines of the community, and now I am a journalist in the U.S. A counter-culture may be humerous to those who don’t venture to experience it, but to the surviving hippies it is just another way of life; their survival.
I have never been to Christiana…only in my dreams. But I can say that I wish allof Christiana the best of luck as they fight the new ultra-conservative danish government that wants to close the whole place down.
The reason they want to close it down is because they do not consider it normal….in essence they want to “Normalize it”.
That is their plan L-205.
If Christiana (or Free-town,as I prefer to call it) falls, then that is just one more step …one more brick in the wall., towards an authoratarian,autocratic state. Long Live Freet-town!!!!