The Freetown Christiania

DIS gives all the students Wednesdays off from class, but our professors can use these days to schedule class field trips. My Danish professor took us to Christiania. It is part of Copenhagen, and for a long time was a military base. In the 70s the government deserted the barracks, and squatters (mostly young people, hippies, druggies, etc) moved into the buildings. In 1971 the inhabitants came together and declared themselves a free community, not under Danish rule. Since then, they've expanded to 800+ people and Christiania is regarded as a sort of hippie commune, or social experiment.

The government made an agreement in the 1980s to let the community remain as it was, even though they don't pay taxes. The more recent government wants to get rid of Christiana, you can read more details about that on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freetown_Christiania.

One of the big controversies is the town openly sells hash on their famous "Pusher Street". This is illegal in Denmark, and Christiana is no exception. The police periodically do massive raids, but apparently lookouts in the city warn the dealers before they arrive. The police's more recent solution is to search people leaving Christiania, and if you're caught carrying hash, then you receive a massive fine. But, the residents of Christiana have banned all hard drugs, guns and violence.

The houses were fun to look at, as shown above. Everyone in the community is really into recycling and living sustainably. And they have some beautiful views, such as the lake shown, right in the middle of Copenhagen!