Christiania's Mission 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.
Christiania was formed in 1971 and is a partially self-governing neighborhood in the Danish capital Copenhagen. Christiania has established semi-legal status as an independent community and is the only place in Denmark, and possibly even the world, where there is a city/society that governs itself within an already-existing city/society.
The people of Christiania have developed their own set of rules, completely independent of the Danish government. These rules promote a more peaceful, healthy and environmental approach to life: The rules forbid stealing, possessing guns, bulletproof vests, hard drugs, and the use of motorized vehicles inside Christiania.
Over the years, Christiania has also become the largest tourist attraction in Denmark.
Rune Glifberg has been going to Christiania since he was 14 years old. There he spent many years skateboarding and making friends, for the society supported youth and skateboarding from the very beginning-allowing the kids to build obstacles and ramps to skate in indoor halls when the weather was bad, buying a vert ramp, and building and the famous Wonderland bowl with a roof over it to protect it from the weather. Many top pros from all over the world have visited Christiania to skate.
The Danish government has claimed Christiania was only a "social experiment" and is attempting to regain control of this lush, valuable land and kick out the people and families who have lived there for their whole lives-in order to profit from real estate. In 2004, the Danish government passed a law abolishing the collective and treating its 900 members as individuals. Beginning in the summer of 2005, a series of protests have been staged by Christiania members. During the same time, Danish police have made frequent sweeps of the area where many residents have been arrested.
"I feel like I'm in a position to raise awareness and tell people about Christiania," says Rune. "And doing that through the Forsvar (Forsvar means "defend" in Danish) shoe with etnies is the best way I can help and take action in the preserving of Christiania-it's a concept that all of society can learn a lot from. Without something Christiania, the world becomes too uniform-everything becomes the same."
Forsvar Christiania: "You can't kill us; we are a part of you."
