

Their is a fair amount of large and permanent architecture there, most of it covered in graffiti, both by local crews and artists from all over Europe. Much of it incorporates the 3 yellow circles of a red background which is the logo and flag of Christiania. There is also a huge amount of impromptu tents and yerts, which gives a large chunk of the place the feeling of a squatter caravan or camp site. The center of the village is an area called pusher street, which had large scale signs warning people to not take photos and a bunch of younger kids trying to sell hash to everyone. Because of Christiania’s long-running autonomy from the larger city it seems drugs are pseudo-legalized here, but it is unclear how the commercial drug economy fuses with the utopian vision the area was founded on.
We stumbled upon a small cafe which had a display of old Christiana graphics and posters, and was selling reproductions of a lot of the posters. The guy running the place was extremely friendly, and seemed surprised to here that we didn’t like George Bush, and even more surprised that I had little hope that the next president would be any better. I suppose it makes sense that the rest of the world follows US politics since it will likely affect their lives, but it was strange having a conversation about the US democratic presidential candidates with a 50 year old squatter in Denmark.