At the bottom of the agenda
Fringe climate festival in Christiania reaches the parts other events can’t
By Brittany Shoot
While Klimaforum is the best known alternative event running parallel to the official UN conference, Copenhagen’s Christiania neighbourhood has also thrown their proverbial conference-hosting hat in the ring. Organising the Climate Bottom Meeting from December 5 – 18, organisers hope to encourage open conversation among climate activists, anarchists, local officials, Latin American organisers, and everyone in between.
Well known among European leftists as a hippie enclave left over from a ‘70s protest against the lack of affordable housing in Copenhagen, Christiania is half squatters’ village, half commune located in the Christianshavn district. Occupying an abandoned military base, the small area has existed as an independent settlement in Copenhagen since 1971, when occupants declared the ‘free town’ open to anyone interested in their collectivist ambitions. The irony of setting up communal, peaceful residence on former military barracks was not lost on the rogue self-exiled Danes.
The commune is also somewhat famous locally for their part in the cannabis trade, which was officially banned in 2004 after decades of police looking the other way. Since the dispersion, city officials have since been busy chasing drug dealers that have decamped to other parts of the city. Some even blame the city’s slight rise in crime on the spreading drug trade, which has been taken up by rival biker gangs and planted roots in other areas of town, though it remains somewhat sustainable in Christiania as well.
While a generally peaceful people, Christiania residents have been known to break cameras if they feel their space is invaded. Large signs insist that tourists refrain from taking photos on the main drag known as Pusher Street, though murals and artwork along the area’s outside walls are free to be admired and documented. Beyond the community’s entrance area, photos are tolerated. In fact, you can head beyond the Pusher Street stalls for some of the best vegetarian food in the otherwise carnivore-friendly city, available in several of the tucked-away cafes beyond the picturesque gateway. Outside the official walls of the village, spray paint designs depict swirling flowers and charcoal drawings of Barack Obama bear a striking, perhaps intentional, resemblance to Malcolm X.
Even today, Freetown Christiania inhabitants do not pay city taxes. But, they do vote on the desirability of potential new residents, maintaining an odd mix of free love communalism and exclusive property rights. Locally, the space is regarded with a similar ironic blend of historic respect and affectionate ridicule, though many are quick to agree that Christiania residents have long been on the forefront of environmental consciousness. Some attribute the area’s local, sustainable focus to Christiania’s long-standing struggle against the government. ‘Christiania is being threatened by the local government because of our land’, Doris Kruckenberg, one of the Climate Bottom organisers, told the Inter Press Service.
Tucked inside the stone barriers that line the space, the spirit of Christiania in all its communalist splendour has been on display at Climate Bottom all week. Tents, camping, bonfires and makeshift roasting materials dot the landscape, and after a warm and fuzzy opening ceremony, a wide range of events is planned. Additional events are happening at Vartov square.
The opening ceremony of Climate Bottom featured a quaint if predictable mix of literal hand-holding, meditative chanting, and Buddhist philosophy. Along with local speakers, Pracha Hutanuwatr, the leader of Thailand’s Wongsanit Ashram, was invited to speak about intentional community, simple living, and self-sufficiency.
Outfitted in traditional clothing, Bolivian indigenous leader Angelica Sarzuri also spoke – in Spanish through translation – about traditional agricultural methods that are being threatened by global warming. As rainfall has begun to effect her community, traditional methods of crop rotation have begun to fail and problems with soil run-off have complicated farming methods.
Over the coming weeks, similar enlightening speeches and conversations are sure to take place. Bored by the inactivity and closed-door sessions at the Bella Center, more than a few journalists have found their way down to Christiania and Vartov square looking for authentic tales found within the ‘storytelling yurt’ and various makeshift enclosures scattered between the two locations. Unlike the figureheads present at the official COP15, Climate Bottom focuses on individuals, their personal stories and community solutions. A number of the meeting speakers have travelled from Latin America to participate in the informal sessions and to offer practical experience from their own lives.
Despite many successes in their meetings so far, one failing of the Climate Bottom Meeting is its inaccessibility to outsiders. Being relatively untargeted at foreign audiences otherwise in town for COP15, the limited outreach has included Danish language press releases and even the confusing event name: Climate Bottom. While the moniker is an amusing pun in Danish, it simply does not translate well to English. On the other hand, perhaps the phrase can signal a different meaning. More than a few leftist activists believe that in trying to appease so many divergent agendas in the UN meetings, COP15 will end up being a race to the bottom in terms of effective policy for all.
Despite the scepticism, throughout the next two weeks and spread across their two main locales in Christiania and Vartov, participants at Climate Bottom will talk with each other to reach sustainable solutions, focusing on interpersonal communication and individual and community-based solutions.
