Copenhagen hippie town Christiania under pressure

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Copenhagen hippie town Christiania under pressure

By Rasmus Nord Jorgensen

Reuters

Thursday, August 31, 2006; 8:21 AM

 

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -- " Do you want hash? " the young man

asks passers-by on Pusher Street, once a thriving open-air

drug market in the heart of Christiania and now an example

of how times are changing in this famous Danish " free town. "

 

For decades, Christiania clung to the principles of its

hippie founders, who started the settlement as a squat in a

deserted barracks in Copenhagen in 1971. It grew into a

tourist hotspot, largely thanks to an easy trade in soft drugs.

 

The waterfront district feels like an oasis: rose bushes and

wild hedges twist between the haphazardly built homes,

workshops, cafes and workmen's huts.

 

People sip beer or smoke joints on benches, while dogs

sunbathe on the worn cobblestones.

 

The community, which does not recognize Danish law, governs

itself by consensus on everything from finances to disputes

between neighbors. Despite drugs being illegal, marijuana

was for decades sold openly at stalls lining Pusher Street.

 

That changed when police started a wave of raids two years

ago and now the stalls are gone.

 

" There is only a small group of dealers left, but it is the

toughest and most hard-bitten who remain, " said long-time

Christiania resident and documentary film-maker Nils Vest.

 

More fundamental changes are in the works for the area of

prime real estate in one of the world's most expensive cities.

 

The center-right coalition government wants to construct new

buildings, remove houses from old ramparts, restore historic

buildings and introduce normal ownership rules in the area,

requiring residents to pay rent.

 

" Our goal . . . is to transform Christiania so it becomes

part of the Danish society and conforms to the rules and

regulations of the rest of the society, " said Christian

Wedell-Neergaard, a Conservative party coalition member.

 

In the true spirit of the " free town, " Christiania's around

800 residents are discussing the plans with the government.

 

" There are still problematic and unconditional things which

we have to deal with but there are also positive things, and

we are optimistic, " said lawyer Knud Folschack, chief

negotiator for Christiania's residents.

 

NOT ALL ROSY

 

Built some 300 years ago to strengthen Copenhagen's defenses

during a period of constant war with nearby Sweden,

Christiania covers some 86 acres between a moat and sea inlet.

 

After a small group of hippies first occupied it in the

1970s, they were joined by hundreds more and pledged to

build a new society of tolerance, democracy and

environmental awareness. The Danish state, with a tradition

of tolerance and a distaste for confrontation, never

forcibly evicted them.

 

It's a " true anarchistic village democracy where every

resident can take part in the decision-making, " says Vest.

" There are no cars, except for the garbage truck. I know all

my neighbors. There is no vandalism and hardly any burglaries. "

 

It hasn't always been so idyllic in the " free town " where

residents include middle class citizens, welfare recipients,

drugs users and criminals, according to a government report.

 

The community was invaded in the late 1970s by hard drug

dealers controlled by violent motorcycle gangs but in 1980

it fought back, throwing the dealers out and offering

junkies withdrawal treatment.

 

In 2004, the Danish parliament ordered an end to 30 years of

open marijuana trade. Scores of riot police entered

Christiania to enforce the ban.

 

Now, the force patrolling the area has been reduced to 13

officers. Police say the operation has been hugely successful.

 

" Dealers came from Sweden, Norway and Finland to buy

cannabis in large quantities, because it was cheaper here

and the chance of getting caught doing the deal was very

small, " said narcotics police chief Steffen Steffensen.

 

Critics say the trade spilled into the rest of Denmark's

capital. Since Pusher Street was closed down, there has been

an increase in gang violence in Copenhagen.

 

" In Christiania there were certain unwritten rules. They

didn't sell to the very young, they didn't accept stolen

goods as payment, they didn't sell hard drugs like heroin,

and that has been exchanged for an unknown situation, " said

drug researcher Michael Jourdan.

 

It is that spirit of uniqueness and self-sufficiency

residents want to preserve as they go head-to-head with the

government over its plans to change Christiania, where until

now residents only paid a kind of community tax for services

like electricity and water.

 

Lawyer Folschack says a foundation will be set up to

administer housing and business properties under the new

rules, but details still have to be worked out -- through

consensus of course.

 

" In my opinion, Christiania will remain as a social and

housing experiment, " he said.

 

 

If George Bush said that the Earth was flat, the headline would read, " Views

Differ on Shape of the Earth "