Freetown Christiania: Denmark’s Controversial Commune

The Christiania area within Denmark’s capital is a place both reviled and celebrated. It is a controversial community considered a successful social experiment by some, a lawless drug den by others. Christiania’s shift from military base to hedonistic commune can be seen as the ultimate flower power siege, but four decades on it’s certainly not all peace, and its future hangs in the balance.

Fashioned from city ramparts built by King Christian IV in 1617, and the military barracks of Bådsmandsstræde, Christiania (also called Freetown Christiania) is an autonomous 850-strong community. It began after the barracks were abandoned in 1971 and local residents broke-in to use the base as a playground for their children, complaining about the lack of affordable housing in Copenhagen. (The shed above was used for executions, with 46 civilians sentenced to death for crimes committed in Denmark during World War Two.)

On 26 September 1971, journalist Jacob Ludvigsen proclaimed Christiania “the land of the settlers”, adding: “The objective of Christiania is to create a self-governing society whereby each and every individual holds themselves responsible over the wellbeing of the entire community. Our society is to be economically self-sustaining and, as such, our aspiration is to be steadfast in our conviction that psychological and physical destitution can be averted.”

And thus a community was born, the spirit of which has become synonymous with the hippie movement, collectivism and anarchy – in contrast to its disciplined military past. The neighbourhood is governed by the Christiania Law of 1989, which transfers parts of its supervision from the municipality of Copenhagen to the state, which owns the former base.

Christiania’s relationship with the authorities is complicated and controversial. Residents govern themselves by concensus, but pay taxes for water, electricity and waste disposal. Acceptance of drug addicts and other social misfits has helped build Christiania’s identity, to the point where they are considered as important to the community as the “entrepreneurs” who run it.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Thrust into the middle of urban Philadephia is what looks like a great castle, a massive and haunting building. However, these walls weren’t built to keep Crusaders and robbers out, but to keep them in. This castle is a prison. The Eastern State Penitentiary, otherwise called ESP, is a previous American jail in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is situated at 2027 Fairmount Avenue between Corinthian Avenue and North 22nd Street in the Fairmount area of the city, and was operational from 1829 until 1971. The prison refined the progressive arrangement of isolated detainment initially spearheaded at the Walnut Street Jail which underlined standards of change instead of punishment. Infamous crooks, for example, Al Capone and bank thief Willie Sutton were held inside its imaginative wagon wheel plan. James Bruno (Big Joe) and a few male relatives were detained here somewhere in the range of 1936 and 1948 for the supposed killings ...

Largest Abandoned Machine in the World! This tremendous basin wheel excavator is accepted to be the greatest deserted machine on the planet. The pictures battle to demonstrate the sheer size of the coal-burrowing machine, which was nicknamed 'The Blue Miracle', is 370 feet long and 190 feet tall and was worked with 3,500 tons of steel. Every single one of its 20 containers could gather up 52 cubic feet of coal - identical to 10 baths. The beast machine went through 50 years uncovering lignite - a type of dark colored coal - in eastern Germany before it was at long last made excess in 2003. It worked at various diverse open-cast mines - the last being the Welzow Süd mine - trundling between them on primary streets, utilizing its goliath caterpillar tracks. Dutch picture taker Bas van der Poel, 35, captured it in a mechanical memorial park close Dresden, where it has sat throughout the previous 13 years. The Blue Miracl...

The Ministers Treehouse Crossville, Tenessee In the mid 1990s, exterior decorator Horace Burgess got some lush arrive on the edges of Crossville, Tennessee. One of the greater trees, alongside a soil street, got his attention. He chose to fabricate the world's biggest tree house in its branches. Be that as it may, Horace had a vocation and a family. Subsequent to putting in a few years on the venture, he came up short on wood and energy. "At that point I turned my life over to God," Horace reviewed. "Furthermore, the soul of God stated, 'In the event that you fabricate Me a tree house, I'll never give you a chance to come up short on material.'" God doesn't make lodging offers each day. Horace got himself appointed as a priest and returned to work. God indicated Horace what the tree house would seem as though ("It resembled a dream") yet didn't disclose to Horace how enormous it would be. "In the event that He had,...

Abandoned

Search This Blog