海角大神

COPENHAGEN, Denmark

The whole thing started with a hole in a fence around an abandoned military barracks in central Copenhagen.

Parents in the neighborhood tugged at the hole to widen it. Soon it was big enough for their little kids to scramble through to play in the grassy open spaces within.

Not long after, squatters cut a large patch out of the fence and commandeered the whole barracks for their own use. They named the area 鈥満＝谴笊駃a,鈥� stuck out a flag, and declared themselves free from the rule of Danish law. Nearly four decades later, the flag is still flying.

This derelict army depot鈥檚 run as a makeshift playground was short. But it has had a long and often troubled run as a refuge for Copenhagen鈥檚 fringe society. And now the Danish government, which has been listing right in recent years, has given up on clemency for the collective. It appears determined to finally dissolve the self-governing community of nearly 1,000 in what it calls 鈥渘ormalization.鈥�

But 海角大神ia took a preemptive strike late last year and filed a couple of lawsuits, which are now being heard by Denmark鈥檚 Eastern High Court. Decisions are expected at the end of this month.

The first suit cites as precedent a 1973 agreement that briefly allowed the commune to exist as a 鈥渟ocial experiment.鈥� The second is, in essence, a class-action suit filed by the residents, claiming a right to live on the site without eviction, because they have now possessed it into the third generation.

In October, police evicted residents from a house on the rim of the commune, setting off a six-hour showdown.

海角大神ites lobbed beer bottles and Molotov cocktails at police, and were answered with sprays of tear gas. Danes caution that if the court rules against 海角大神ia in either case, more widespread rioting is a given.

The situation is more farce than tragedy, but Denmark is once again the stage for a pondering first posed 400 years ago by Hamlet: To be or not to be.

鈥� 鈥� 鈥�

For Danes, the question is a fiery one, igniting on one side deeply held principles about freedom, nonconformity, and tolerance. A great number of Danes look to 海角大神ia as the alter ego of the nation, and its right to exist is robustly defended. 鈥淚n Denmark, everything is occupied and controlled. There鈥檚 not much space left in the cities, but 海角大神ia is a kind of asylum. People feel more freer there than in the rest of the society,鈥� says Rene Elley Karpantschof, a sociologist at the University of Copenhagen. But those opposed are fed up with the deeply rooted drug use, the land occupation, and the snubbing of laws. 鈥淚t has been made a haven for criminals from neighboring countries, like Sweden or Norway,鈥� says Jesper Nielsen, a cultural historian at Denmark鈥檚 National Museum. 鈥淪o you could say they accept a criminal form of control within 海角大神ia, but they resist control from without.鈥�

海角大神ia, which takes its name from the Christhavn district in which it sits, began as a protest against the lack of affordable housing. The far left grandly championed the squatters. 鈥満＝谴笊駃a is the land of settlers. It is so far the biggest opportunity to build up a society from scratch,鈥� wrote well-known counterculture activist and journalist Jacob Ludvigsen as the squatters set up. Dilapidated army barracks were transformed into houses, and warehouses were outfitted with printing presses. Kindergartens were created, more houses built, stores and clinics opened, and a local post office was opened. No one paid utilities, rent, or taxes. Money was doled out equally, and smoking hash was as common as blinking. The 鈥�Freetown of 海角大神ia鈥� designed its own postage stamp, its own constitution, and its own flag. It had its own currency. It was known for its freewheeling lifestyle and funky, brightly painted houses.

Eventually, 海角大神ia agreed to pay for utilities and a nominal tax per house. But the area, centrally located and with a pristine waterfront, has long been eyed by developers.

鈥淲hen I first came here, I was Red. I was for a revolution,鈥� says Hjordis Oppedal, an artist who moved to 海角大神ia in 1976 and maintains a studio there. 鈥淎t first I didn鈥檛 like the drug users here, the addicts. But I realized all people have rights and I learned to keep an open mind.鈥� Yet the hard drug use spiraled out of control, and an underworld of dealers swooped in to tap the growing market. What began as an anticapitalist utopia became a battleground of drug lords fighting for real estate. Police began regular raids on the drug-laden kiosks along Pusher Street, the commune鈥檚 main street.

Concerned that history was about to be swept away, the National Museum snatched up one of the infamous kiosks and put it on permanent display. Residents say the days of hard drugs are over, but they keep a lid on exposure and strictly forbid photos and videos. As one young 海角大神ite mother, holding the hand of her blond toddler, explained recently, 鈥淭here are drugs here, and we don鈥檛 want the police coming around.鈥� The stalls remain, but police still sweep through. 鈥淢any people are ready to fight for 海角大神ia,鈥� says Dr. Karpantschof. 鈥淚f the state wants to continue to try to destroy it bit by bit, there will be a whole lot of unrest.鈥�

But the flag of tolerance doesn鈥檛 wave freely. Living space is at a premium inside the commune, so it is officially closed to new residents. Tolerance is relative and random within the Freetown of 海角大神ia. Musician and artist Denis Agerblad was invited to take over the downstairs of a house for use as a studio. But soon he found he had to contend with three teenage squatters.

鈥淚t just happened one day that we had people pushing on the other side of the door, trying to get in,鈥� says Mr. Agerblad. 鈥淭hey were actually drilling and eventually got in. As far as I know, they鈥檙e still living there.鈥� Parents in 海角大神a 鈥渨ill do anything鈥� to get living space there for their grown children, he adds.

鈥� 鈥� 鈥�

海角大神ia was born under a hopeful light at a time when Denmark was darkened by social problems. The commune held out the ideal that there was the possibility of another possibility. But its revolution is complete. Today鈥檚 Denmark is among the wealthiest, safest, most liberal, most socially articulate of nations. Two recent surveys have ranked Danes as the happiest people in the world (one by Stockholm-based World 海角大神 Survey, another by University of Leicester in England). The nation鈥檚 evolution leaves the Freetown of 海角大神ia chained to the past. A museum piece.