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  Curtains for Christiania?: Lawless Danish Settlement Approaches Date with Fate

Curtains for Christiania? Lawless Danish Settlement Approaches Date with Fate

By Manfred Ertel in Copenhagen

Part 2: 'It's Hard for 650 Hippie Anarchists to Reach a Consensus'

Lillesøe was among the first hippies and squatters to occupy the decaying military barracks on the dusty site in 1971. Ignoring issues of ownership, they began building a new community from scratch, complete with gardens, a playing field, a recycling facility, garbage disposal and, more recently, one of the country's biggest halfpipes for skateboarders and rollerbladers. The community has enjoyed broad public support throughout its history.

Any attempts to restrict Christiania's freedoms have been met with mass demonstrations, sometimes turning violent, as was the case this past May. In opinion polls, almost three quarters of Copenhagen residents are consistently in favor of preserving the unlegislated area, while support from the community nationwide is still above 50 percent. From a formal standpoint, Christiania doesn't even exist. There are no sales contracts or lease agreements. Many if not most residents don't even pay taxes. Each adult resident is required to pay a monthly fee of 1,400 kroners (about €190) into a community till, as well as fees for heat, electricity and water. But none of these payments confers any legal rights.

Klaus Danzer, 41, was passing through Christiania 14 years ago as a journeyman carpenter when he decided to stay. Since then he has voluntarily built a number of houses for other societal dropouts, including the hostel for journeymen.

Danzer spent about €100,000 renovating an apartment for himself on the hostel's ground floor, where he lives with his wife and two daughters. Now he plans to invest even more money and time to renovate an old, dilapidated wooden house between the old city wall and moat. The building is in an idyllic waterfront location, but it also happens to be in the unlegislated area.

Copenhagen Has Plans for Christiania

If the government had its druthers, it would bulldoze the 50 or or so wooden houses in the area, as well as another 20 on "Red Sun Square," where some of the roughly 400 new apartments and condominiums planned for Christiania are to be built. The land along the one-kilometer moat is slated to become a public park.

This is part of the plan included in the government's most recent, and probably last, compromise proposal. Under the proposal, Christianians would receive the first right of refusal to rent or purchase the apartments, but nothing more. Prices would be close to the market value.

According to the plan, the future Christiania will be a combination foundation model, non-profit housing association and cooperative, with carefully devised rights of co-determination for residents. "This is more than a 50-percent victory," says Klaus Danzer, who is in favor of the proposal. "It's an historic opportunity for us to continue existing as a unit."

"We will be established, completely legally," says Nils Vest. Two-thirds of Christianians, give or take, agree with the plan.

But a two-thirds majority means next to nothing in Christiania, because life in this large commune is based on the "consensus principle," whereby decisions must be unanimous -- which is hardly likely in the current situation. But if there is one thing on which everyone can agree, it is that a decision, any decision, must be reached quickly -- that is, in the coming weeks.

"The government knows how hard it is for 650 hippie anarchists to reach a consensus," says filmmaker Vest. He has documented Christiania's history on film, including all of its political battles, victories and defeats alike.

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan.

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