75 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
75 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
DANISH HIPPIE COLONY THRIVES AS "PARADISE FOR LOSERS"
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By Lars Foyen
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CHRISTIANIA, Denmark, Nov 24 (Reuter) - Behind the graffiti-sprayed walls
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of an evacuated military compound, a Danish hippie colony continues to live out
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a 1960s dream of anarchy, love and marijuana.
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Christiania, a picturesque 18th century citadel comprising 35 hectares (86
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acres) of prime waterfront real estate in central Copenhagen, was occupied by
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hippie squatters in 1971 who declared it an autonomous "free town."
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About 700 adults and 250 children still live in the controversial compound
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which ordinary Danes see as either a worthy social experiment or a provocative
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anachronism.
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"Christiania is as close to anarchy as you will ever get," explained Wanda
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Liszt, a spokesman of the Christianites, as the free town's inhabitants call
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themselves.
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"Our only laws are: "no hard drugs', "no guns', "no violence' and "no
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cars'."
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Some 500,000 people visit Christiania each year, many coming to buy
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marijuana on the infamous "Pusher Street" where soft drugs are openly displayed,
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or for the area's restaurants, night spots, rock concerts and theatres.
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"Social security clients...the young with no jobs, the homeless -- they all
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come here to enjoy the peaceful green setting and the magical mixture of village
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and urban life," says a Christiania guide leaflet.
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"They cannot find these things where they live, in dark apartments and
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dreary institutions where nobody has time to talk and a person enjoying a beer
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on a park bench is frowned upon," it says.
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"Christiania is a paradise for losers."
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A visitor to Christiania is struck by the heaps of junk and rubbish, the
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smell of firewood used to heat the old stone barracks, building facades in need
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of a coat of paint and seemingly passive people.
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"Laws. No thanks," someone has scrawled on a wall.
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"Who's to decide how clean Christiania should be. Should the inhabitants
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set the standards or should you. We don't go poking around your backyard," says
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Peter Soerensen, another Christianite spokesman.
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Half of Christiania's inhabitants live on the Danish state's generous
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social security cheques but there is a dynamic side to the community.
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It has its own day-care centres for children, a cinema, an opera, various
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workshops, a bathhouse, a hairdresser, riding stables, shops, art galleries and
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even a post office.
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"Christianites also receive mail," said Liszt with a grin. "Usually from
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the authorities.
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"Christiania is like the old Montmartre (bohemian) quarter in Paris with
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its ragtag mixture of people. Although you won't find artists like
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Toulouse-Lautrec here, you will find the odd pickpocket and whore," Liszt said.
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A row of new private houses, some quite fashionable, which residents built
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along a scenic waterfront, tell another story.
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"You'll find all kinds here, hippies, drug dealers, and even people with
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rather bourgeois lifestyles, leaving their kids at the day-care centre, working
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nine to five and watching television in the evening," Soerensen said.
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Christiania does not believe in representational democracy through majority
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decisions. It is ruled through open meetings at local house, area and community
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levels where, in principle, all must agree for a decision to be carried out.
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The community's relations with the Danish state and the Defence Ministry,
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which owns the area, have always been stormy.
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But Denmark, with a tradition for tolerance and shunning confrontation, has
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never sent in police or troops to throw the squatters out. Plans to somehow
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evict them faded as Christiania became an accomplished fact.
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In the late 1970s, a motorcycle gang moved in and began using Christiania
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as headquarters for the hard drug trade and turned it into a red-light district.
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The Christianites kicked out the gang and the hard drugs trade in 1980.
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The 1990s have seen the start of peaceful co-existence between the Freetown
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and the Defence Ministry which agreed to let the anarchists stay if they paid
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utility bills, taxes and Value Added Tax, maintained the buildings and abided by
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drug laws.
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Defence Ministry section chief Soeren Stensbo said Christiania was,
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perhaps, not such a bad deal for society.
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"It would cost a lot more to house these people in city apartments and
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social institutions, and to provide municipal day-care for their children," he
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said.
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But many Christianites have mixed feelings about "normalisation," its
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effects on autonomy and on the marijuana trade which police want to stamp out.
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"Why not normalise the rest of society instead, let it enjoy our kind of
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self-government. Why can't we be allowed to enjoy a leisurely marijuana joint in
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the sun without being harassed by police," said Soerensen.
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REUTER
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