Case Study: Christiania Anarchist Commune
Christiania (Danish: Fristaden Christiania), also known as Christiania or simply Staden, is an intentional community and anarchist commune in the Christianshavn neighbourhood of the Danish capital city of Copenhagen.
The main reason Christiania was established was the lack of affordable housing in Copenhagen. People moved into empty buildings and built new ones to meet their needs. They set their own rules, which included banning theft, violence, dangerous weapons, and hard drugs like heroin and cocaine. They also chose not to pay taxes to avoid recognizing the legitimacy of the state. This changed in 1994, when residents began paying taxes to the Danish government for essential services like water and electricity. By July 2012, they started making payments to purchase the land they occupy. While Christiania maintains its distinct culture, it is now officially part of Denmark, and Danish laws are enforced within the community.
For more than 50 years, the hippy neighbourhood of Christiania has been a haven of counter-culture, in the very heart of the Danish capital Copenhagen.
Popular with tourists, it is known for its liberal attitude towards cannabis and the infamous drug market, Pusher Street. However, in recent years organised criminals have increasingly taken over, and growing violence has rattled the community.
Residents have now had enough. In a bid to reclaim the street from drug dealers, this Saturday they began physically digging it up, armed with spades and crowbars.
There were celebratory claps and cheers of "Christiania", as locals prised up heavy cobblestones and tossed them into wheelbarrows, one by one. "We've been breaking up Pusher Street. It's closing down today. So it's a kind of a closing party," said local Pia Jagger, carrying away a big stone. Now this roughly 100-metre stretch of road has a new sign reading: "Pusher Street is closed today."
BBC Christiania: A Copenhagen hippy commune fights back against drug gangs April 2024