Amazon actually sells the flag of Christiania, which prompted me to write the following comment.
When I was young, Sweden was – despite its
international reputation as a haven for Swedish sin and Swedish chefs –
actually quite conformist and “respectable”. If you stepped out of line, even a
little, you were a Menace 2 Society a.k.a. Clear & Present Danger. The Hare
Krishna stepped into it, big time. So did the neo-Nazi NRP and Radio Nova. And
then there was Christiania…
Strictly speaking, Christiania is in Denmark, not in Sweden. To be exact, the
“Freetown” Christiania was an enormous hippie commune in the Danish national
capital Copenhagen. Cannabis and cannabis-related products were sold freely,
and since the border between Denmark and Sweden was essentially open, Swedes
could partake of the, shall we say, Danish sin and procure their joints from
the Freetown. It seems Danes had a more laid back, “continental” attitude to
drugs, booze and cranky people than the notoriously uptight Swedish Elder
Brother. This was the notorious “danske gemyt”. Having hundreds of hippies
living wild and free in the national capital was simply another aspect of being
jovially red-and-white.
In Sweden, by contrast, Christiania was seen as Public Enemy Numero Uno, since
Sweden had a very restrictive policy towards both drugs and alcohol (on paper,
it still has – it's alright to be a lesbian teenager and kiss your girlfriend
in public, but if you are underage and try to drink hard liquor with said
girlfriend and the cops see you…well, mucho problemo). Swedish politicians
demanded that Denmark should close down Christiania, and Swedish media were
filled with scare stories about the place. I readily admit that I used to
believe all this myself.
I STILL DO. THE PLACE MUST BURN!!!
I sometimes wonder if this is Denmark's gemytlig revenge for Sweden having
conquered their eastern provinces in the war of 1657-58…
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