Collectivist Cultures

This is the flag of Christiania.

(And no, it is not a design of a rectangle and three circles that i came up with on whim.)

The 'Freetown' Christiania is located just outside Copenhagen, Denmark. It is a community of roughly 850 residents, where artists, musicians, and even drug dealers seem to have free reign.

Yes, you read right, free reign. The reason for this interesting situation is that in 1971, abandoned military barracks were taken over by a bunch of hippies, and was declared open by Jacob Ludvigsen, a popular Danish newspaper publisher. With this Christiania was born, with their misson statement:

"The objective of Christiania is to create a self-governing society whereby each and every individual holds themselves responsible over the wellbeing of the entire community. Our society is to be economically self-sustaining and, as such, our aspiration is to be steadfast in our conviction that psychological and physical destitution can be averted."

The spirit of Christiania quickly developed into one of hippie culture, collectivism and anarchism. People living in this freetown are part of a unique independent society, having sucessfully thwarted government action and violent police raids for years.

Each inhabitant of Christiania has to pay a monthly rent of approximately 1,600 Danish crowns for electricity, heating, road maintenance, land tax, child-care center, kindergarten, leisure and other public costs. However, residents have also developed their own set of rules, independently of the Danish government. The rules forbid stealing, violence, guns, knives, bulletproof vests and hard drugs. (notice the rules forbid HARD drugs, not drugs in general. hmm.)

But yes, the most interesting point about Christiania is probably it's infamous Pusher Street, where drugs like Cannabis were sold openly from permanent stands on the street till 2004. This 'officially' open drug trade was clamped down on by the authorities, but quiet trading of cannabis and hard drugs is still rampant.

Personally, i think it's amazing that a town such as Christiania is able to survive today. This alternative and unorthodox lifestyle that the residents live by is really unlike anything i've read or heard about.

But maybe it's because of the alternative living culture that artists and creative people are attracted to Christiania in the first place. Check out some of the graffitti found around the town!

credits to http://quietcolor.com/qc/