Bob Marley, the beauty of human diversity and being yelled at for taking a photo. This is how I remember my visit to Christiania, Copenhagen’s ‘free state’. Upon walking through the gates which announce that you are now leaving the EU, you’re faced with a great contradiction – leafy green gardens and trickling streams to your left and on your right enough colourful graffiti to send you on an acid trip back to the 70’s, and a wafts of grass-tinged smoke that lodged itself within my clothes for days. Straight ahead a giant Bob Marley mural watches over your every move – you’re not permitted to take photos on the region’s main road, the aptly named ‘Pusher Street’, and the locals strongly enforce this – Before I noticed the ‘no photos’ sign just within Christiania’s borders, I had my camera out, clicking away, keen to capture some of the colourful graffiti that adorns the walls.
‘STOP! No photo!! No photo!’
There was a man now racing towards me who’s long, straggly beard made him look like some kind of homeless Santa Clause, and he was hopping along, waving his hands and bouncing on the heels of his feet like he was walking across hot coals.
‘No photo, no photo!’ This guy was not happy with me, so I quickly slid my camera back into my bag.
‘Alright! Sorry!’ I put my hands up to show him they were now empty. Once he saw I meant no offence he immediately started walking back the other way, his focus now on another group of tourists who were just about to unwittingly commit the very crime that I just had. Welcome to Pusher Street!, I thought as I continued walking down the bustling road.
After experiencing this somewhat darker side to the locals than which I had originally expected, I began to understand why Christiania had been met with various controversies since its creation in 1971, when a group of hippies essentially took over an abandoned military area sprawling 85 acres and created their own society completely independent of Copenhagen, the city in which it resided. These days there are around 850 residents living in the area which is governed by the ‘Christiania Law of 1982’, and because of this legal divide there has been ongoing conflicts regarding the legalisation of cannabis between the Copenhagen general public and Christiania’s residents since the 1970’s. Cannabis use was largely turned a blind eye to by the authorities until 2004, however since then there have been several clashes resulting in continuing heated negotiations between the two.
I must admit that there was something that excited me about being in Christiania – perhaps because it doesn’t belong to the European continent or maybe it’s because its residents have managed to elude the authorities for 40 years. This sort of thing definitely would not be tolerated in the UK or the US and it got me wondering what the harm in Christiania really is? The people don’t appear to be interested in the outside world and are happy being left alone – should we let them live this way when they cause no harm to others? I would be very interested to know what would happen if a violent crime or murder was committed here, but so far in 40 years no such event has occurred. Perhaps there was something to be learnt from Christiania after all?
Here there’s art, music and theatre – shouldn’t we encourage this? Or should we close it down and crucify its residents because they don’t fit within ‘normal’ society? Leaving Christiania left me questioning if this sort of legal ‘no-man’s land’ should really be allowed. But perhaps the differing qualities that seemingly harmed the local’s reputation with the outside world were very qualities that we should embrace in our fellow humans. As I walked through the gates back to the EU I felt happy that a place like this exists – that the people have continued to live their lives how they see fit even in the face of ridicule and discrimination. I think there’s something very cool to be said about that.
Previous Post – Cocktail Drinking Around The World
Next Post – Photo Of The Week – Holocaust Memorial, Berlin
I honestly have never even heard of this place! Definitely sounds interesting, though.
I was the same…It wasn’t until someone told me about it that I decided it was a must-see! Definitely one of the weirder places I’ve visited, thats for sure!
Thanks for stopping by! : )