Comments on: Kicked out of paradise… or Christiania anyway

By: stan

stan — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:51:50 +0000

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.

By: L. Gonzales

L. Gonzales — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:19:15 +0000

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

By: ole

ole — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:45:30 +0000

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.