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| Entrance to Christiania |
Christiania is a large commune and
a free community located within Christianshavn, or Christian Town, where people
live like hippies. This area was ordered by King Christian IV in the early
1500s to house the shipbuilders. Just like the people of Denmark,
Christianshavn is beautiful. In the 17
th and 18
th
centuries, the town was a port that consisted of military barracks, where all
of the buildings were warehouses. As the economy crashed, it became a slum. The
town attracted many “artsy” types and was recovered. Those old warehouses are
now brightly colored, up-market condos. The hippies have since taken over, and
Christiania is all about freedom. Christiania is Copenhagen’s second most
popular tourist attraction. It is still deeply rooted in its original concept
of personal freedom. There are no commercial advertisements; they are illegal. Marijuana
is tolerated, but no hard drugs or weapons are allowed.
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| Christiania's Common Laws |
While the information I have gathered is somewhat inconsistent, the
inhabitants of Christiania own the land, and therefore do not pay taxes to
anyone, don't need building permits, and often build their own homes. They
plant their own gardens, and are known for growing and selling weed. Most of the articles and tourist information
I have read state that the open places to buy marijuana are no longer standing.
There is zero tolerance towards cannabis by the government, but my friend has
noted the contrary. Maybe they’re not easily visible on the streets, but if as
an outsider she knew about them, then they must not be that hidden. When the police
come, the people just scatter.
When researching I saw many
idyllic pictures, but I realized that not everything about Christiania is
ideal. It looks like such a beautiful, peaceful place to live. I would
totally like to live in the carefree, passive world that Christiania promotes.
However, after some more digging, I found photos that didn’t show the glorified
version of Christiania I was used to. Some of the homes are literally just
huts, with no running water or central air. They look like they have been
thrown together almost haphazardly.
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| House in Christiania |
There is also a pretty violent subculture. While
I doubt that she witnessed this firsthand, my friend told me that if a tourist
breaks one of the rules, they will “beat the shit out of him” and remove the
person from the community. They are especially sensitive to people having
phones and cameras out. Again,
they will “literally beat the shit out of you even
if you're a tourist and they just see that you have a camera.” If it need be repeated twice, I would suggest not breaking the rules! Weed
is illegal (though accepted), so they don’t want pictures taken of the more
respectable people that go there to buy it. Harder drugs, on the other hand,
are prohibited.
While doing some research, I came across
an article from 2004 that states that the Free City of Christiania, “a 32-year-old experiment in communal urban living,” was to be sold
and turned into a city like any other. One can assume that this didn’t happen,
since my friend was just there this past summer and relayed a lot of this
information which points to the contrary. The inhabitants are supposed
to pay taxes to the state, but according to a friend of mine, they don’t pay
taxes to anyone. Although my friend did spend time with a local, I thought perhaps
that there have been some changes that she was not aware of? After consulting
some other sources, it seems that “Freetown Christiania” has won its independence
after a government ruling.
Apparently, in 2011,
residents erected fences with signs that stated, “Christiania is closed until
further notice.” This was to prevent the Danish government’s attempt to
“normalize” the community. After battling for decades, Christiania has
won the legal right to run its own affairs in 2011.
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| Mural in Christiania |
Until I began reading user comments
on YouTube, travel blogs, etc., I wasn’t really aware of the advantages of
undertaking an ethnographic project in our technological age. In Herodotus’
day, there was no technology like we have today. I was able to gather a fair
amount of information through word of mouth, but once the Internet was
available to us, a quick Google search can bring up all the information you
could want. The difference, though, is that reading something online is not the
same as experiencing a place yourself, or having someone you know and trust
relay information to you.
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