We just returned from a couple of weeks working in Denmark. While there, we found out about a crisis facing one of the planet's unique social adventures, Christiania. (Apparently KPFK news under MTK did a story in January by Stafano Bloch.) Although the situations in both Iraq and the Israel/Palestine fronts is troubling as ever and deserve energy, our domestic political challenge to undo the neocon/Bush agenda with either Kerry or better is pressing, and Pacifica is in its usual state of crisis, a small population in Denmark is also at risk and has asked for attention and support. Actually, it has quite a lot in common with Pacifica since the issues and decision systems are remarkably similar, and some of the lessons they have learned about managing interminable meetings and reaching decisions when everybody is in charge so nobody is could be very useful for the foundation and the American left.
This is Christiania, a 33 year old collective of nearly 1000 artists and alternative thinkers and their children which was founded on an abandoned military base in the 1970's by area residents and "hippies" who appreciated the green space and then modeled a new lifestyle on the Haight-Ashbury. The community is now under serious threat from the Bush-loving Danish government in an effort finally to tame it, then to "normalize" it, and ultimately to (re)capture the valuable land on which it sits for exclusive urban development and addition to the upscale real estate market in Copenhagen.
Christiania is an amazing third generation social experiment in collective living and communal organizing, an informal mini-state inside Copenhagen only a few minutes' walk from the center of town. (It's actually been studied quite heavily.) The official Copenhagen tourist guide describes it as a "free town built on the dreams of a life of freedom and the notion of a town run by the residents themselves." (Sound familiar?) The garden-like village which rambles on both sides of an old moat was into self-sufficiency, sustainability, and recycling long before those things became fashionable. Its model of citizen involvement and collective decision making is what many more affluent communities still only imagine, and America's gated enclaves can only dream of. The village's diversity, pluralism, reciprocal caring, and ease of dealing with a broad mix of people represents the world as it will be or was far more than as it is.
Christiania even has its own currency, the Lon (with a slash through the o), which is equivalent to about $7 and represents a unit of contributive work. Although it had its share of drug-related problems and is still famous for "Pusher Street," an area where marijuana and hashish were common and openly available, the overt dealing has largely been cleaned up. One of the fundamental principles of the community is No Hard Drugs. Now, it actually serves as a half-way zone for many victims of alcoholism and drugs unable to re-enter conventional society, providing them work and support during rehab in cooperation with social services agencies. In the public area - and the whole place is quasi-public and very open to visitors - there are galleries, crafts people, a beer garden with assorted eateries, a music club, and even a five star restaurant. (We watched a group of cops admiring the work of some truly expert graffiti artists at work. A traveling show of Christiania art - painting, sculpture, writing, film/video - is being planned with need of sponsoring venues in the US.)
The rambling, car-free area has evolved its own schools, rec center, child and elder care. It is largely self-sufficient for most services and cares for its own infrastructure, buying electricity and water like everyone else. Bathrooms and a shower and laundry building are shared by the residents. Full of Hobbit-like homes ranging from converted cargo containers to conventional Danish structures from military days to state-of-the-art ecological houses with sod roofs and solar heating, the lush area is a wild green pocket amidst Copenhagen's dense-packed concrete urban landscape with walking paths, lush vegetation, wildlife, and quiet. It has become an island mini-world that embodies many of the ideals of a communal society with freedom to be as one chooses without the flaws of oppressive bureaucracy, excessive individualism, or exploitive profiteering. It is a very special "live and let live" place deeply concerned with its ecological niche and helping everything and everyone to be of use. Christiania is far from perfect and knows it, and yet the Christianites deserve the right to continue to be and to explore an alternative to the pervasive dominant culture.
With a prime minister in cahoots with the Bush administration and lending support to the war in Iraq, and a campaign afoot to build a perception of "hippies" who don't contribute properly to the dominant culture despite paying taxes and drawing over a half million tourists a year, the threat to Christiania is serious and immediate. It represents a real loss to human kind of yet another unique population, living in a uniquely progressive way by distributing shared energy and resources, with much to teach the rest of us about how to coexist.
Today, the people of Christiania are in urgent need of help because legislation is being debated in Denmark which will begin its demise. The vote is in early June. They have asked for assistance in raising awareness of the threat to the colony in the belief that pressure from Americans can help. There will soon be model letters and contact details for speaking out in support of Christiania on their website (www.christiania.org), as well as easily-accessible English language documents on the story of Christiania and how to help.
See http://www.forsvarchristiania.dk/index.php?id=38 for a brief overview of the current crisis. They just completed some new English pages at http://www.christiania.org/folderus/ http://www.christiania.org/music/ http://www.christiania.org/self/?lan=gb&what
There is also a new Yahoo! group at savechristiania at yahoogroups.com for those who want to become involved in preserving a unique social experiment of spirits akin to many in Pacifica.