Why does everyone go on about the Dam? I don't see why everyone has failed to see the wonders of the Free City of Christiana. It's a beautiful place in a beautiful city!! Bevar Christiania.
The 'obsession' with Amsterdam weaselpop, is due to the fact that they take an ultimately civilised veiw on a plant/herb that has been used for centuries by man for a multitude of useful purposes - a naurally occurring resource that for some reason (I could explain, but it would take forever) many goverments have seen fit to legislate agianst and persecute its users.
Well.. tell us more about Christiana If enough people like it, maybe Skip will create a different forum for that as well.. Amsterdam is in many ways a great city, but that doesn't mean that there aren't any other wonderful cities in the world. In my view, San Francisco is an ultimate hippy city which I would like to visit sometime.. but somehow Amsterdam has become more of an icon I guess, probably due to the legal weed, as Marko stated. So.. whatcha think?
Well, settle down, children, i shall now tell you the Tale of the Free City of Christiania. A long time ago, around the mid 19 hundreds, there was an area of the city Cobenhagen, in the land of Denmark, called Christiania. Here lay a network of army barracks, but they were long abandoned by their creators of violent intent. Then, in the 60s or 70s, a group and hippies, homeless and suchlike began to squat there. They declared it a free state and lived there in anarchist happiness. They did not pay taxes, they had their own MP. They paid for their own sewer system and such like so that it wouldn't be shut down. It was also a stoner paradice. ((to be continued...))
[size=+1]Newsbrief: Trouble in Christiania [/size][size=-2]3/19/04 [/size][size=-1]Danish police raided the Copenhagen hippy enclave of Christiania Tuesday, arresting 53 people in a crackdown on hash sales days after the conservative Danish government announced it would. About 200 police stormed the 84-acre "free city" at 5:00am, tearing down awnings along Pusher Street, destroying the sheds of alleged hash-sellers, and clearing the streets of rocks put up as roadblocks by local residents, the Independent (UK) reported[/size] Sounds fab!.....but personally grief from numerous violent police raids doesn't twist my mellon...I'll stick with the dam I think.
That's only because of this new goverment, the confusingly named 'Left' Party - which is about as far from them as you could get. They don't like asylum seekers at all, and they brought Denmark into the war on Iraq (though it's quite funny - they sent one submarine which broke down before it got there and by the time it was fixed it couldn't make any difference). The new gov want to pull down Christiania and build expensive appartments instead, so they'll make a lot of money. It's a beautiful area with loads of wonderful trees and an artifitial lake that was part of Christiania's defence system in the olden days. THe police have always been soft on Christiania before - mainly because they know where most of the drug smuggling is. One thing that i heard about though, is when, years ago, the police closed off Christiania for 24 hours, and apparently you could here the screams of the junkies on cold turkey and the dealers being dealt with. I think Christiania has always been anti hard drugs, which is one of the best things about it too me, and now the inhabitants have to take drugs tests to make sure they're not using any. If they are they're chucked out. There are loads of banners around the place saying 'say no to hard drugs'. They shouldn't try to close down Christiania cause it's putting out that message. Pusher street is an OPEN AIR HASH MARKET. Open air!! It's so brilliant there, people sitting on roofs getting stoned, outside cafes in the sun, clothes shops in the market, jazz in the bars and cafes...
Well Ive been to both, and they are bpth lovely places to be...but Amsterdam has this vibe to it, its hard to explain, its just very relaxed there (gezelig ) and dunno its just the atmosphere there thats amazing..they are both great
There is much more too it than that AoXo. True the majority of Americans go for puff and porn (or both) - but Lani is absolutely right - it is a vibe, a lifestyle. I love Amsterdam - I love good MJ and good sex too and I can get both of those where I live. What I cannot get is a beer in the open air by the side of a lovely canal, whilst smoking a refer of the choicest herb without fear or hinderance. The cheery locals (usually with a few Genevers (sp) inside them) waving cheerily as they sail on by down the canal while the beautiful tall Dutch girls zoom past on their bikes. I'm almost out of weed! but I'm sure the nice guy in the corner can sort this for me for a few Euro while I decide whether to have another beer or chose a great resteraunt for dinner.............. Difiicult to explain.... but it is THE place.
in holland we have Ruigoord. Its a town squatted by people who dindt want it to be destroyed to build new facory's on the place. There is a law that if a house is inihabited for one year and when its possible to proove it you have the right to live there. Just call the police to say you arent burglars and you have your free home. They can only throw you out with a warrant. Ofcourse house owners who want to speculate dont like that Its legal now and they can stay there because there are many artists living there. I guess artists are protected species This town is now one big hippie artists commune in the middle of nature I hope christiana ends the same way
That is the same for almost every city in Holland so that doesn't explain the obsession for Amsterdam. I hate it because most bands come and play there. They haven't even got the best venue to play in. Granted it looks good but the sound is really shitty. Really there are other places to go than Amsterdam. Utrecht has a better vibe and Maastricht is very cool too.
a lot of the tourism blurb from copenhagen warn people not to go to christiana so people dont go. i did it was quite chilled with some genuine interesting characters and free spirits but it cant compare to adams liberalism in fact copenhagen was one of my least fav trips.wasnt a lot to do. the highlights were the sea ferry to malmo and the coast up to helsingor on the saturday and watching all the swedes bringing there empty bottles back and the filling them back up again and getting falling down drunk before the return ferry later that day.
Just curious.... what do all the free spirited hippies do to get food, clothing, etc? I realize that it is blasphemy to partake in any capitalist enterprise, but how does a self contained hippie community sustain itself? Do they grow their own crops to feed everyone? And what medical services are used? After their clothes are old and worn out, how do they get new ones? Are there cotton fields within the community? Where are bic lighters found to light the weed? If they have to go shopping in a capitalist store, what do they use for money? And money is used, how do they get their money? Do they take jobs outside of Christiana? Can anyone enlighten me on this????
