Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
With little money, advertising, or styles to keep up with, Christianians do a lot of swap-
ping.
But ever since its inception, Christiania has been a political hot potato. No one in the
Danish establishment wanted it. And no one has had the nerve to mash it. While once very
popular with the general Copenhagen community, Christianians have lost some goodwill
recently as they are seen more as a clique, no longer accepting others to join and looking
out only for themselves. Mindful of their need for popular support from their Copenhagen
neighbors, Christianians are working to connect better with the rest of society. Its residents
now pool their money, creating a fund to pay for utilities and city taxes (about $1 million
a year) and an annual budget of about $1 million to run their local affairs.
But Denmark's government has tried to “normalize” Christiania, pressured by deve-
lopers salivating at the potential profits of developing this once nearly worthless land,
and by the US because of the residents' celebrated open use of marijuana. There's talk
about opening the commune to market forces and developing posh apartments to replace
existing residences, according to one government plan. Increasingly, this community of
peaceniks is in danger of being evicted. But Christiania has a legal team, and litigation
will likely drag on for many years.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search