LA GOUVERNANCE DES PEUPLES ET DES CITOYENS
NON CELLE DES ETATS/NATIONS
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La communauté de Christiana
The story of Christiania is colour full, long, and filled with battles, victories and defeats. Many of the people who began the experiment do not live here anymore, but the dream of a life lived in freedom and the idea of a city ruled by its inhabitants continues.
Now 25 years later, people from near and far still feel attracted to the magical mixture of anarchy and love of the Freetown. It all began in 1970 when a group of citizens knocked down the fence at the corner of Prinsessegade and Refshalevej close to the Grey Hall. They wanted a playground for their kids and something green to look at.
The same year an exhibition took place at Charlottenborg called "Noget for Noget" (Give and Take), where all sorts of hippies, freaks and people into macrobiotics showed themselves off, sold their goods and exhibited their art, including theatre, pictures, and happenings. An alternative newspaper called Hovedbladet (Head Magazine) was published in connection with the exhibition.
One of the articles discussed the abandoned military barrack in Badsmandsstraedes kaserne and put forward thousands of possible ideas for their use, not least as homes for the numerous young people who were unable to find accommodation elsewhere. However, the squatters movement and the alternative forces "The New Society" summer camp in Thy also needed a place for them to be able to realize their dreams.
The article resulted in a massive immigration of people form all sections of society, who came to create an alternative life based on communal living and freedom. This was the birth of Christiania.
The Mauer Turns Political
The police made many attempts to remove people from the area, but had to give up since the area was too big and there were too many people.
Christiania thus became a political issue which eventually ended up in Parliament. Christiania agreed to pay for the use of water and electricity, and in return recife political acceptance as a "social experiment". The experiment was to continue until a competition of suggestions for the use of the area could be arranged. In the following year, 1973, the government changed, and with it the attitude towards Christiania. Now the plan was to clear the area and close it down.
The same year NATO had a summit in Copenhagen. For the occasion the theatre group Sogvognen staged a huge happening involving hundreds of participants. A "NATO-army" occupied the Danish Radio and other strategic points making it appear as if Denmark was occupied by NATO forces. For several hours the whole nation was in serious doubt as to whether the events were true or merely a gimmick.
In the meantime, Christiania was getting organized. Ten minor areas with self government were established, the highest authority being The Common Meeting in which all citizens could participate. While the garbage team worked out a system of garbagesorting, the blacksmith made heaters out of old oil barrels. At Loppen all kinds of music was played - from turkish folk music to amateur rock and jazz.
These first years Christiania was marked by, and became well known for its theatre and politial action. In 1974 twelwe lists of candidates were put up for the city council election. Technically, the candidates were working together and managed to get a woman from the Women´s List into the city council. She created quite a turmoil both in the council and in the media by turning up to the meetings breast-feeding her child. Was this at all acceptable?
Also in 1974, the first Christmas for the poor and lonely was arranged and Solvognen organized an army of Father Christmass' who generously handed out presents to both young and old from the city´s department stores. Naturally they were arrested but as a consequence, pictures of the Police beating up Father Christmass' hit the front pages of the papers worldwide.
Christmas for the poor and lonely remains a sacred tradition and every year approximately 1200 people are served a free Christmas dinner.
Close down threats and the Rainbow Warriors
By 1975 Christiania had become a political pawn between the State and the City council. Finally the Government decided that the area was to be cleared by April 1976.
By now, Christiania had organized lots of activities - a communal bath house, a nursery and a kindergarten, garbage collection and recycling, as well as communal shops and factories which were doing well. Solvognen put on "Elverhøj" in the Grey Hall parodying the popular and nationalistic play. This version of the play brought the Freetown a lot of attention. People were also mobilizing themselves for the coming confrontation with the State. A rainbow army was organized by dividing the people into work groups, each of which had their own colour characterizing the different tasks. Red for outgoing action, green for food and nutrition, blue for consciousness, raising etc.
Everyone in Denmark was invited to Christiania and almost 10.000 showed up. Some of the hottest Danish rock-groups at the time produced a record in aid of Christiania, which became extremely popular.
On last of April 1976, nothing happened. At the very last minute, the Parliament had decided to postpone closing down Christiania. Instead, most of April became a huge manifestation of alternative Denmark.
The National Museum of Denmark published a book on the alternative community in Christiania, and architects and town planners spoke enthusiastically of the ideas of the Freetown.
The trial against the state
At this point in time Christiania brought charges against the State. The competition that had been planned in 1973 had still not taken place. As the Parliament had decided that the inhabitants of Christiania could stay until then, the Christianites felt that the decision to clear the area in 1976 was a breach of faith.
It was expected that the trial would postpone the closure of Christiania. In 1977, the Christiania exhibition "Kærlighed og kaos" (Love and Chaos) opened at Charlottenborg, and a huge working festival was put into action. The Freetown was cleaned and repaired from top to bottom. Some of the people from Christiania produced the record "Vores Musik" (Our Music), which included some rare examples of local poets.
In 1978, the case was lost in the Supreme Court, and Christiania had to mobilize itself yet again. A plan to get hundreds of thousands of people to defend Christiania was launched, and again the Freetown put up candidates for the City elections. The agenda included a demand for Christiania to be preserved on its own terms and conditions - for the good of everyone. The Christiania List managed to get a representative onto the council, a man who during the following years became well known for his tough speeches against jerry builders and bulldozer slumclearance.
The Parliament now decided that a plan for the area should be produced and that the place had to be "normalized", although they did not give any clues as to how.
New threats to the community
In Copenhagen the Police virtually made a witch hunt against the junkies and the hash dealers of the city. At the same time heroin was introduced to Denmark. In Christiania, this became evident both through a rapid growth of hash dealing, and in an increasing number of junkies.
The community tried to cooperate with the Police in cleaning the hash market for junk, but we were betrayed by the Head of Police who instead made a mega-raid on the hash dealers.
Christiania now had to take action itself and so organized withdrawal programmes for the junkies, and took action against the drug dealers. This peaked in early 79/80, when a blockade against junk was activated. The junkies were offered withdrawal treatment and the dealers thrown out.
Even though these were very black years, another side of blackness was in full bloom. "Rockmaskinen" (The Rock Machine) in Fredens Ark (the Ark of Peace) became in 1978 the home of the growing punk scene in Copenhagen.
Around the Freetown, lots of cabarets and shows were playing. In Operaen, Månefiskeren, Rockmaskinen and Bøssehuset (the Gay House), the local culture was in full bloom. And in 1981, a group of actors took a trip to Modena, Italy, to show their art, at an invitation of the council.
In 1982 the Goverment hired a private city development firm to make a future plan for the area. While the Christianites built up, rearranged, grew gardens, and gave birth to a lot of kids, the development firm produced a report which suggested that Christiania was developed as an experimental city within wide frames of self-government.
Conservative smear campaign
The same year the Government changed from social-democratic to conservative liberal. And in Sweden. a violent smear campaign was launched. The Freetown was accused of being the drug center of the North Europe, and the root of all evil.
The answer to this was "Elsk Sverige" (Love Sweden). Christiania took off to Sweden and "conquered" Stockholm, Gøteborg and Malmø by cabaret, exhibitions and huge processions through the cities. The next many years Christiania was "forgotten", but this brought peace and possibility for the community to build up new collective workshops and work more with visions for the future.
Concerts in support for the Indians in Big Mountain, USA, and the Aassiviq conference in Greenland were held in the Grey Hall. It became a way of showing the bonds to other ethnic groups, and throughout the years, a lot of international contacts were established.
In 1987, the Government published an action plan concerning the "legalization of Christiania", and established a management group, whose work was to effect a dialogue between Christiania and the different organs of the State.
The answer to this was a report, "Viola, from Christiania", stating that the community was able to maintain the buildings and support its institutions on condition of a certain reduction of taxes. The different shops and workshops would instead give their surplus to Christiania, which would then distribute the means to the common institutions.
Normalization and legalization
The authorities kept on pushing for legalization - especially of the bars and restaurants, and even though the people working there tried to get a common agreement and liquor license through the Police, it all ended up in a huge police action, where all the places were closed in the beginning of 1989.
Following this incident, some of the bars obtained licenses from their local area, followed by official licenses from the authorities.
The same year a law concerning the use of the Christiania area passed through Parliament, together with a plan for the area, produced by the Environmental Ministry. It was supposed to provide the legal base for a "normalization" of Christiania.
The plan divided Christiania in two. One part, the more country-like, is supposed to be cleared of inhabitants. The other part, the more city-like, is supposed to be regulated and to continue the experiment in a legal framework.
During the Summer of 1989, Strictly Underground s cultural activities took off, and Den Grå Hal (The Grey Hall) became the venue for the new Danish Hip-Hop scene of music, dance and graffiti.
"Vote 4 Truckers", a Christiania Rap band, released the video/single "Christiania fingrene væk" ("Hands off Christiania").
In connection with the administration of the new law, the Ministry of Defence which "owns" Christiania, put together a Secretariat, which in 1990 published a report - "Mål og Midler" (Aims and Means), pointing out how they imagined managing the normalization and the legalization.
Over 90 inhabitants of Christiania made objections to the plan. These objections were mostly against the partition of Christiania, but also against the removal of houses, as stated in the plan.
As an answer to the new threats, the manifestation "Kærlighedserklæringen" ("Declaration of Love") took place in 1990. All the citizens of Copenhagen were invited to see with their own eyes what kind of lifestyle the Christianites are fighting for, and what everyday life is like in this part of the city.
The film maker Nils Vest released the film "Christiania - du har mit hjerte" ("Christiania - you have my heart"), a very personal document on life in the Freetown.
Dialogue with the authorities
In 1990, a paper was released informing the people of Denmark about the reality of Christiania: "Nitten", which was suposed to show another Christiania, contrary to the image the bourgeois papers had been trying to push through out the eighties - an image of a quarter in decay and life with violence and criminality. Christiania´s own picture is that of an ecological oriented city, based on a modest economy and extensive self government.
The Ministry of Defense wanted to obtain an agreement on the use and maintenance of the buildings and areas, and the Freetown established a group of people elected in the areas to discuss the suggestion.
Christiania celebrates its 20th birthday, while an agreement between the authorities and Christiania is being finalized. Much energy is spent on long and heated discussions at both Common and Sea meetings, and an agreement is made to be renegotiated every year.
In response to the first quarterly report, the Ministry of Defence demanded that the maintenance of the buildings was given a higher priority. Apparently. it had been overlooked that Christiania had established a Technical Maintenance Office to speed up the maintenance work. The office offers advice, as well as carrying out major repairs. The more than a century-old water system is repaired, resulting in major reductions on water usage and expenses.
Christiania publishes "Den Grønne Plan" ("The Green Plan") as a visionary alternative to the local plan. It shows a town maintaining an ecological balance with nature by recycling water and garbage, using renewable energy sources and creating new housing in houseboats on the canal, and youth accommodation made from turf and soil.
In 1992 the rent is increased to 800 kroner but the Copenhagen council will only give 545 kr. in housing benefit to the unemployed. As a consequence, there are heavy negotiations starting from Christiania s budget and public institutions. The council demands that the consume of the workshops and bars is measured which Christiania accepts, and the council finally accepts the rent increase They know very well, how the unemployed in the Freetown are the cheapest around.
The cultural life is blooming. The Opera has russian rock on the programme, the Youth-club has techno, the Rock Machine has experimental theatre and there is cabaret and theatre in the Gay House. Thousands visit the Strictly Underground concerts in the Grey Hall and there are football championships in the Meadow of Peace. Curious tourists from all over the world study the Christiania Bike, or explore the area.
Outside the fence the Christiania Girl Guard present themselves as "Conservative Women for the Union" in an attempt to scare the voters to say NO to the European Union. As you know they succeeded - at least first time around....
Police occupation
In September 1992, the Copenhagen Police start a campaign aiming to clear out the hash in Christiania. The special Christiania Patrol consists of 70 policemen, who keep the area under surveillance day and night in a violent 8 month long campaign. The sale of hash shows no reduction worth mentioning, but more than once the Police create highly dangerous situations with "cudgel soup" and tear gas, which results in big trouble and barricades in Prinsessegade. The persistence of the civil Police hits many innocent people especially. Body searches of schoolchildren and unsuspecting tourists - even the local Priest was body searched several times. So Christiania puts all energy into a week of action: "Uge 12 mod vold" ("Week 12 Against violence"). Entertainment, street theatre, small groups of people wearing uniform-like dresses with the word IDIOTI written on the back instead of POLITI (Police), video-documentation, a group working for legal justice, co-operation with lawyers and Amnesty International all this in order to stop the Police violence.
Through out 1993 an extensive dialogue takes place between Christianites, the local people of Christianshavn, lawyers, Amnesty International, the Government´s Commission of Justice, the media - even the managers of the Police, but the special Christiania Patrol keeps an iron hold on the Freetown. At the same time Public Record Office feels a need to register the history of Christiania and asks for historical material for a special Christiania archive.
The Technical Maintenance Office carries out a comprehensive registration of the buildings. Antropopip performs "Animals wearing clothes" in the Grey Hall. The Street Theatre of Christiania gets economical support from both Christiania and the European Union to continue the resistance against the European Union through out the country. The Free Hash Movement celebrates the 1'st of May with a huge Smoke-In in Fælledparken in Copenhagen. Loppen celebrates its twentieth anniversary as a lively renewer in the area of music.
The annual negotiations with the Ministry of Defence result in an agreement about Christiania paying a contribution to the local authorities matching the tax on real estate.
The Freetown becomes a subject of study for an official institute of research. The research workers conclude, that the authorities can learn a lot from Christiania, and that the experiences can be used many places all over the world.
By the end of the year, 8 month of Police action culminates in raids and violent arrests at the normally so idyllic Christmas market. After a crisis meeting between the people of Christiania and the Minister of Justice, Erling Olsen, the Christmas peace is secured, as the Christiania patrol is dissolved.
The tone is rough at a meeting spring 1994 with the Minister of Defence And the Minister of Justice, who threaten to clear the area if the citizens do not get a grip on the hash-market. Christiania regrets that the Parliament does not have a grip on the Danish policy on drugs.
Amnesty International and Danish nurses prove a massive use of illegal Police violence, and after a video documentation and comprehensive debate the so called "leg-lock" is prohibited.
Parliament handles the Danish policy on drugs without any sign of new thinking. In March 1994 this results in the world s first "hash-demonstration", when the work in Pusherstreet is stopped in protest against the mistaken policy on drugs. For five days no hash is sold in Christiania, and actions are taken making smoke-ins and collecting signatures, supportive demonstrations against hard drugs in Copenhagen and the campain "Plant a Seed".
The world press and the Minister of Justice visit Christiania in order to study the phenomenon. After this demonstration the Police give up patrolling in Christiania for a long time.
Toward the distant goals of the future
At the UN´s Social Summit, Christiania participates in the NGO Conference at Holmen, while activists from all over the world visit, study and stay in the Freetown.
In 1995 the number of children has grown so high that parents and activists start constructing the fourth institution for children in the area. The ecological house for children, with sunlight collector and humus-toilet, it is the first new building in Christiania for a public purpose. The lack of collective funds prevent its coming into use before the summer of 1996.
A lot of energy is used on "Pay Your Rent" campaigns, debates on the Frame agreement and relations with the authorities. "Styringsrådet" ("The Management council" -a group requested by the Ministry of Defence consisting of "neutral" individuals) introduces a "Forum of Debate" between the Police and the Christianites, but as the representatives of the Police are only from the Police management and not ordinary Policemen, Christiania refuses the idea. Afterwards the "Styringsråd" feels that it has done all it could and dissolves itself by the end of 1995
By the beginning of 1995 the Ministry of Defence declares that the Christianites are to be looked upon as ideal citizens concerning the payments of official dues. The culture lives on strongly with the new Christiania bands URD and Babajay, who both release CDs. In the Grey Hall, at the Dragonclub, at the Opera, in open air on Dyssen and at the Meadow of Peace the jungle- and techno-ravers gather in their thousands - young people from all over Europe. Meanwhile the Strictly Underground makes concerts with the hottest bands such as Alanis Morissette, Blur, Bob Dylan, Green Day, Rage Against The Machine.
The residents of the Ark of Peace repairs a sponge-damage in the million kroner category.
At the moment of writing in June 1996. the Ministry of Defence and Christiania try to make a long lasting "Plan of Development" as a compromise between the Local Plan of 1989 and the Green Plan of Christiania. Only time will tell if it is possible to realize the visions of the self governmental green Freetown in line with the Ministery´s own thoughts about development.
At the same time Christiania´s 25th anniversary is being prepared - an enormous party on the days around the 26th September 1996 - with entertainment, theatre, exhibitions and whatever else we may come up with.
The tale, and the adventure, isn't over yet...
A new edition of "The Tale of Christiania", right up to present time (December 2004), is on its way.