On Sunday we decided to go for a walk around one of the lakes that separates Christianshavn from Amager. I suggested that we walk through Christiania, since it was on the way, and because it’s strange to me that we live so close to it but almost never go there.
We got there, and we could hear some singing on pusher street. This naturally made us curious, so we decided to walk by on our way to the lake. I was taking pictures of some of the sights, and, just as I’d finished saying, “We really should come through here more often” we were kind of sidled by a young guy that said, “Hey, how’s it going — where you from?” It wasn’t really asked like a question, and we both took is as a prelude to a sales pitch. Christiania is notorious for drugs, and so we both ignored him and kept walking.
That clearly made him mad. He got much louder and said, “I’m talking to you — don’t walk away from me!” He grabbed my coat and pulled me back toward him.
This made me mad, so I stepped right up to him, which surprised him, and said, “But I don’t want to talk to you.” He stammered a bit, and said a few things that didn’t make much sense. He kept looking at my camera.
I was really confused at this point. I went from wondering if he was trying to sell us something, to thinking that he wanted to fight, to thinking that he wanted my camera. All of which made me pretty nervous.
He pulled himself together, and said, “Ok, you don’t talk. Now you listen.” But just then he was joined by a much more vocal and aggressive buddy, who started ranting at Lisbeth in Danish.
I understood a little. I learned that my camera was a problem, and that we weren’t welcome. The conversation ended with him saying basically, “You have ten seconds to get out”, and her saying, “We’re going, we’re going.”
Once we left I learned that what he’d said was pretty bizarre. He’s said that cameras weren’t allowed, which, if they’d just said that in the first place might have been fine (although I find it pretty ironic in that hippie-dominated area where love and openness is paramount and art is allegedly cherished, pictures are forbidden.)
He also said (and this is translated from Danish), “You don’t understand us. You think we’re all a bunch of stupid people here.” To which Lisbeth responded, “You don’t know me or what I think.” And he shot back, “I don’t WANT to know you! Don’t you get it?”
There’s so much irony here that I can’t get over it. First, Christiania, which rails against all authority, apparently has a little volunteer police force. Second, they told us that we’re clueless as to how enlightened they are by shouting at us, making broad generalizations about us, and kicking us out — exactly the kind of things they’re supposed to hate. Third, we didn’t even want to go to the freaking concert, and I couldn’t possibly care less about taking pictures of some people on stage. Christiania was merely on the way.
Christiania started about 30 years ago when Copenhagen was plagued by housing shortages. A group of hippies took over some unused military buildings and refused to leave, and have gotten away with it ever since. They also refused to pay taxes, and got away with it. They also openly sold illegal drugs, and got away with it. Until just a few years ago, that is.
Personally I don’t think drugs should be illegal, and one of the reasons is because banning them sets up a guranteed source of income for drug lords and thugs. That is exactly what happened to Christiania — the “rockers” as they are known (basically the Hells Angels) took over, and there has been lots of trouble, including a few shootings and a murder — all fairly recently. Then, in 2004, the Danish government got tired of it and cracked down hard on all the drug dealing in Christiania.
The side effect has been twofold: dealers diversified into other parts of the city, and they got a lot smarter about their continued sales in Christiania. I know people who buy hash there regularly, and they tell me that the dealers have a network of lookouts that simply call them if the cops are spotted.
At any rate, this was the closest I’ve been to being in a fight since moving here two years ago. Copenhagen is, overall, an amazingly safe and calm city. So it’s disappointing, but also interesting. My friend Michelle, who is American as well, was approached in Christiania and told quite pointedly (and in front of her young son) that foreigners aren’t welcome. That has been her only bad experience in Denmark as well.
Since then I’ve learned that pictures weren’t allowed in Christiania because they didn’t want drug transactions documented. There is a logic to that, but why enforce that rule now? But maybe the whole thing was my fault for assuming that a guy that dresses like a thug is a thug. His demeanor wasn’t threatening initially.
At any rate, it seems that the place that is allegedly about open mindedness and tolerance is the most unfriendly place in town.
hi there
i live in christiania, and i am very sorry to hear – that people are threatened. but as much as i would like it not even christiania can be free from feardriven anger …
the problem is that while we tolerate the sales of cannabis by resident pushers in an effort to keep out hard drugs, the government doesn’t. we tolerate the sales of cannabis only within a designated area – called pusher street – and since the danish government started their current zero-tolerance policy enforcement the police has moved in massively, made random arrests, spied on the sellers and searched high and low to find the supposedly dangerous herbs.
it is not a secret that there is sales of cannabis going on in pusher street – it is a kind of civic action, and the result of trying to enable social control over the drug market and keep out heroin, coke, amfetamin, e and other hard drugs. as far as we know christiania is one of the only places where there has been such a substatial effort to make a civic solution to keep out hard drugs, and establish social control over the local pushers. pushers are everywhere, but we try to maintain a contact, as the police has rarely been constructive in christiania. not primarily because of the hashmarket – but rather because of the squatter status of the area.
the zero-tolerance enforced by the current danish government has created frustration and caters to the kind of paranoia that unfortunately makes the dealers even more hardcore. also – they have to make sure that competitors stay out of the market – as the competitors might not be inclined to keep the market free of hard drugs.
christiania is divided on how to tackle this, mostly because it has become harder for us to maintain the social control over the market, that is a precondition for it to work out peacefully.
untill cannabis is legalized the situation is unlikely to improve.
you can’t imagine the inventiveness by the danish police in trying to get to the dealers, they dress up like tourists and even once came in disguised as handicapped visitors in wheelchairs.
there are examples of tourists’ films being confiscated by police for use as evidence against the pushers.
so – they get paranoid – we try to keep it civil – and there are very clear signs in pusher street with the no photo policy adopted by the pushers.
outside of pusher street everyone is free to photograph in christiania, as long as normal courtesy is observed – people live there and have a minimum need of privacy, but it is usually not a problem. also – not all guests want their picture taken as the place is still controversial to some.
i hope that you will come by once again, and experience all the other things that made christiania steal my heart.
Hello,
Was referred to the website by Mr. A. Trujillo, a fellow member of the Optic Ed. Bd. Enjoyed reading about Denmark, as about all I know about it is what I read in Hamlet. We Americans often are so engrossed in our little universe that we forget that there’s a fascinating world out there. Too bad about the encounter you had. Not to be funny, but it reminded me somewhat of Mora- you know about all the problems “outsiders” have there, I’m sure. I’m so impressed with your website. So sophisticated. If you went to RHS, maybe you knew my son, Eli(as) Gonzales. He now is the Audio-Video Producer for Legacy Church in Alb. I’ll look over some of the other items. You are such a good writer, young man. But the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, does it? lg
Ole: Thanks for your informative comment — very interesting. One of the things that prompted me to write about the incident in the first place is because I really do appreciate having such a radically different community so close to where I live, so it was very disappointing to have an unpleasant encounter. I actually take my camera everywhere I go (even to work), but I’ll have to stash it away the next time I head in your direction.
Lupita: Thanks for the kind words — I’ve put a lot of work into this site, and it’s great to hear from people that appreciate it. And yes, the incident reminded me very much of the scrapes I got into regularly growing up in Northern New Mexico. I recognize the name, but I can’t remember your son specifically.