Christiania lies near the heart of Copenhagen, within the property of an old military barracks in Badmandstraedes-kaserne. It sprawls over a considerable few square miles, encompassing a large inlet, an islet of several square miles, and a vast array of self-built houses that lie nestled within a natural setting that could easily make one forget that they are standing in the center of one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Northern Europe. The community keeps alive an equally vast array of projects, businesses, clubs, and facilities, including several day cares, bakeries, bath houses, and various cafes and bars. It is known for hosting some of the best venues in Denmark.

Christiania is famous for being one of the biggest and most enduring squatter�s movements in the world. It represents the liberal side of Europe � where the human right to enjoy a decent lifestyle outside the 9-5 system is considered a practical option rather than a defeatist cop-out. Although most Europeans are at least as hard-working and respectable as the average American raised on a Protestant work ethic, there is also a steadfast idea that every individual deserves a decent standard of living, whether or not they are capable of or desire to live within the general society.

Since its inception 30 years ago, Christiania�s permissive environment has become a sort of haven for nearby Greenlanders and other travelers, artists, misfits, musicians, and freedom-thinking people from all across the globe. In recent years the Danish government has severely restricted immigration (many expatriates from nearby countries have emigrated to Denmark because of its socially liberal economic safety nets) and with 30 or more people applying for every room that opens up within Christiania, competition is high. Apart from the fate of overcrowding that eventually befalls any really good situation, though, other, perhaps less controllable, forces are threatening to drastically disturb the peace and functional community that has made Christiania such an impressive �social experiment�.

With a new right-wing government in Parliament and an increasing trend towards Americanization (cheerleaders � there were even calls for Anarchist cheerleaders at the demonstrations against the EU summit in December of 2002, 7-11�s on every second block - literally, and a token warship sent to Iraq despite widespread public opposition), Christiania�s citizens are now facing eviction, as their three-decade contract with the Danish government for use of the military�s land ended two weeks ago. Despite, or rather because of, the obvious success of Christiania - it is the number-one tourist attraction in Denmark - the new government is seeking to close it down, while retaining a small, token part of the area to attract investors who want to build private developments there. The term �live-work lofts� immediately sprang to my mind.

Although the threat of public outcry has kept Christiania from closure for many years, despite the flourishing hash trade it accommodates, the government in power at the moment seems, if the word on the street is any indication, to care less about what the public wants than the Danish might expect. The following interview gives, I think, a very good overview of the situation in Christiania and in Denmark. Pernille Pultz works at the Christiania office of information, as well as organizing widespread community events (a friend of hers that just visited San Francisco told me that she wants to ask Michael Stipe and Bono to play a �Save Christiania� [�Bevar Christiania in Danish] event there in September), and was fabulously helpful in sitting down with me and giving me the facts:

Roaddawgz: So, I think the Danish government must be very liberal here....

Pernille: Well, that�s sort of changed - there�s a new right-wing government in power that�s closing all sorts of organizations. It wanted to get rid of all the judges of �taste� in the Office of Human Rights and, basically, they didn�t want any organizations they paid money to to criticize them. Many people today think that for the last 1 1/2 to 2 years the critical debate in Danish socity has silenced. You know what I mean?


By going to war against Iraq they went against an old tradition in Danish politics of consensus, where you don�t go to war against other nations unless everybody in Parliament, more or less, agrees about it. It�s not a thing for a government that�s just over half of Parliament to decide.

RD: Denmark sent one warship, right?

P: Yeah, but still, it�s a signal of value, and moreover that we were a ridiculous laughingstock because there�s absolutely nothing we could do there. It�s just one thing in a long line of things that goes against a Danish tradition of fighting for the right to an alternative life; fighting against too much bureaucracy and....

RD: Would you say most Danish people were opposed to the war?

P: Most Danish people were against the war in Iraq.


RD: When I was here in the early 90�s it seemed like the Danish people were very well taken care of by their government - I think I got kind of an idealistic impression of what it was like, but it seemed to me that the Socialist system worked really well.

P: It does and it doesn�t - I think that still we�re one of the best countries in that respect - but we�re also doing a lot of coverup work I think. Poor people don�t live in the city - whenever there�s a commercial development project in the city the lower-income people are moved to flats in the country.

RD: So Christiania was started by low-income people and homeless people?

P: In the 1970�s there was a serious housing problem in Denmark. The military had left the area empty with only a few guards. As the people said, it was too much of a provocation. They started off - the people and workers living in the area - by breaking down a fence and going in - at first to make an area for their kids to play and later they moved in. So it was sort of a squatter�s movement.

RD: And they just sort of took it over and fixed it up to the point where it wouldn�t look good to kick them out?

P: ....And really after about half a year or a year Christiania actually gets an agrement with the state. So already, in 1972 (they went in in 1971) and since then, they�ve actually had an agreement with the state. So Christiania has not been illegal since �72. And people forget that.

RD: What do you think made that possible? Just the Danish government being very forward or ummmmm, advanced?

P: I would like to think that.

[A complete overview of Christiania�s history can be found at www.christiania.org. The history of the commune is wrought with struggles against governmental changes, conflicting policies, and media smear campaigns. A steadfast refusal of Christiania�s citizens to give up what had been built has allowed Christiania to negotiate its position with the government over the years. For other examples of squatters that have refused to be ousted from their chosen habitats, see Denmark�s Anarchist webpage. This site was set up as a counter-movement to the European Union summit in Copenhagen in 2002. Like much of Europe, Denmark has a strong history of organized anti-fascist and anti-capitalist movements. It seems that many Danish people were and still are opposed to being part of the European Union, which is commonly viewed as being little more than an extension of an emerging capitalist world order. (Most businesses would not accept euros)]


RD: [I rant on about how squatters are constantly evicted in the US and how the government makes things like this impossible - about the dot-com boom in San Francisco, where there�s an obvious and much-discussed homeless problem, and all these empty buildings sitting there now....]

P: But we�ve got homeless people. Quite a lot, actually, for a city this size.

But I think that in the �70�s it was maybe just a bit of a flash of forward thinking. Many think ... in many European countries in the 1970�s the terror organizations arose. It didn�t happen in Denmark. And one of the reasons for that could be that the politicians allowed the revolutionaries to take this area, so they had this to sort of play with and make this a social experiment.

Because what happened was, it was about 400 revolutionary-minded people and about 400 low-income people - the poor, some of them maybe a bit mentally ill - so that was a really good combination - they could take care of each other out there and the government could get rid of both of them, both groups.

RD: I think if people tried to do that in America they�d probably get rousted out by tear gas or bombs.

P: But some parts of the United States are very much more forward - for example, California has been very forward on many things for a while. And then there�s always a counter action. I mean, even though the United States is the country that pollutes the most and seems to do the least about it, but it was in the United States that the whole environmental and geo sciences started up.

RD: I guess extreme situations call for extreme responses.

But there does seem to be more opportunities for community living in Europe. People in America are very isolated and that�s what�s so amazing about this place - that you�re allowed to have a whole community of people living outside the system.

P: There are also powers in this society that are going towards what we call Americanization. so maybe it�s just because we�re still a bit....we�re still, actually....Christiania is a bit like an old village.

RD: How is Christiania run?

P: There�s a monthly economic meeting [income and budgets are posted in the weekly Christiania paper �Ugespejlet�] - Christiania is divided into 15 different areas which decide what�s going on in their area during their own monthly meetings. There is a big gathering for any big issues that affect the entire community. Everyone pays �rent� - although we use a different word than rent in Danish - on their businesses which goes into the common fund and pays for the water, electricity, institutions and insurance.

RD: How does one get a place in Christiania?

P: Well, it�s very difficult. Right now there are 30-50 people applying for every room that opens up. The area meets to choose the right applicant - usually it comes down to the neighbors having the final decision.

RD: How is the new government in Denmark affecting Christiania?

[I heard quite a few disparaging remarks about this new government. Many of the people I spoke to seemed to feel that they could no longer trust Parliament to represent their interests and expressed some concern over being dragged into the boiling pot of world economics and politics.]


P: The new government is very aggressive. They want to close Christiania and they go about it in the wrong way - they don�t tell the truth - they try to use the hash movement as a stone to whet.

[In the late �70�s the government also made what Christiania�s guide-zine refers to as a �witch hunt� against the hash dealers and growing number of junkies in Christiania - heroin had recently been introduced and the number of junkies in the area was growing. Christiania tried to work with the police to weed out the heroin dealers from the hash market, but instead the police made a huge raid on only the hash dealers. In response, Christianianites took the matter into their own hands and threw out the heroin dealers, offering the junkies treatment. There is still a strong �No Hard Drugs� policy in Christiania, which I find much more realistic than �No Drugs�.]

P: This has been an issue on and off for a while. They don�t seem to make a big effort to remove it. They come and then they leave. If they really want to do something they should come in for a week and see what happens, or they should try to go after bigger fish. They know that if they close this the dealers will just go elsewhere. It�s actually convenient for them. They know what�s going on, they know where it is, and they don�t have to go into dodgy places all over the city. But, of course, it�s a provocation.

RD: What is it that the government wants to do with Christiania?

P: Now the government is talking about giving 300 million kroner to refurbishment of the buildings and then they want to sell off the rights to entreupreneurs so they can build up new flats.

And that would be absolutely horrible.

RD: But do they have the power to do this?

P: Practically, they can do whatever they like. That�s the scary thing - they don�t seem to stop and think about what�s wrong or right and what the laws are. Afterwards they might apologize - sort of like Iraq, �We have to go in there because there might be chemical weapons� and then afterwards, �Oh, sorry, maybe they were never there.�

RD: Can you say anything to people in America about what they can learn from Christiania�s example?

Pernille: Intuitive intelligence.

Ummmm....I don�t know, that�s a hard question.

Roaddawgz: That�s a profound answer.



We will not be free until we feel we have the instrinsic capability to live as we see fit and not only survive, but thrive. We can not do this without community. We can only do this for ourselves. Will we evolve to over-reach our times or not? Will I?

'As long as ye harm none, Love is the Law, Love under Will.'