RE: Is long-term solitary confinement torture?
December 30, 2011 at 3:27 pm
(This post was last modified: December 30, 2011 at 3:48 pm by Epimethean.)
Rev, I did some looking into Christiania. It is not a dreamland, you are right, but it has major problems with organized crime, particularly with regard to drug trafficking. Not all drugs are legal there and the white supremacists seem to have taken both marijuana and hash sales by the throat-with violence toward anyone who is either a competitor or a detractor.
I wouldn't say it is "going strong." It has had many battles with authorities, especially as a haven for criminals, and since it doesn't have any effective means to combat crime, it seems to contain both a blessing and a curse for those who simply wish to live their lives there.
In addition, it is no prisonland. It was founded by hippies and squatters, not supermax criminals whose population contains rapists and murderers. Suggesting that an anarchist state would work for such people would merely promote might makes right until enough people had been hurt that the rapists and murderers were either killed themselves or incarcerated again (or perhaps exported, an then what, if they couldn't manage their own trespassers?). I'm not sure that your contention that violent criminals could be located in such a spot and remain there peacefully. 900 hippies in one place doesn't seem to be an adequate basis for a replicable system of self-government, especially by convicts.
Given the community's start as a children's playground, one of the saddest things I see in Christiania is a beautifully handcrafted wooden children's playground, painted in rainbow colours that sits empty and unused. There are no kids to be seen, just a dozen drunks and drug addicts crouched along the walls in front of it.
And perhaps even more tragic is the amount of drugs that are openly sold to kids in Freetown. Throughout the day I see handfuls of kids biking in, no more than 14 years old, buying weed from the dealers. It's a sad failure of both Freetown and the Danish authorities to address the problem that clearly exists here.
http://travel.ninemsn.com.au/holidaytype...e-of-decay
When talking to the residents of Christiania who’ve lived in the neighborhood for more than 15 years, you get a sense that some of the original ideals are being lost with a new generation more interested in drugs than community. Much of the dealing has been taken over by organized crime and subsequently the Danish government has taken notice. Drug raids are common and many government officials of late have based part of their campaigns on promises of ending Christiania’s loosely defined status.
http://foxnomad.com/2010/03/10/a-look-in...ristiania/
Christiania is independent to an extent, but cannot exist without the supplies, electricity, nor police protection of the big brother that surrounds it. So, while the community may be able to police itself, it hasn’t been able to control the invasive external elements that have moved in to take advantage of its semi-independence.
http://foxnomad.com/2011/10/28/optimisti...the-world/
Christiania is Copenhagen’s most popular tourist attraction apart from Tivoli. However, be advised that possession of marihuana etc. is illegal, and that the neighbourhood drug sales are mainly run by organised criminal gangs, not the locals.
http://www.science.ku.dk/phd/applying/living/
Really, anarchy doesn't lend itself to stable society and so, governments coalesce, as is seen to be happening even in Christiania. I understand that you find much merit in anarchist movements, but all they can really be is interstices between forms of government. I rather like this take on the subject:
http://critical-thinker.net/?p=440
I wouldn't say it is "going strong." It has had many battles with authorities, especially as a haven for criminals, and since it doesn't have any effective means to combat crime, it seems to contain both a blessing and a curse for those who simply wish to live their lives there.
In addition, it is no prisonland. It was founded by hippies and squatters, not supermax criminals whose population contains rapists and murderers. Suggesting that an anarchist state would work for such people would merely promote might makes right until enough people had been hurt that the rapists and murderers were either killed themselves or incarcerated again (or perhaps exported, an then what, if they couldn't manage their own trespassers?). I'm not sure that your contention that violent criminals could be located in such a spot and remain there peacefully. 900 hippies in one place doesn't seem to be an adequate basis for a replicable system of self-government, especially by convicts.
Given the community's start as a children's playground, one of the saddest things I see in Christiania is a beautifully handcrafted wooden children's playground, painted in rainbow colours that sits empty and unused. There are no kids to be seen, just a dozen drunks and drug addicts crouched along the walls in front of it.
And perhaps even more tragic is the amount of drugs that are openly sold to kids in Freetown. Throughout the day I see handfuls of kids biking in, no more than 14 years old, buying weed from the dealers. It's a sad failure of both Freetown and the Danish authorities to address the problem that clearly exists here.
http://travel.ninemsn.com.au/holidaytype...e-of-decay
When talking to the residents of Christiania who’ve lived in the neighborhood for more than 15 years, you get a sense that some of the original ideals are being lost with a new generation more interested in drugs than community. Much of the dealing has been taken over by organized crime and subsequently the Danish government has taken notice. Drug raids are common and many government officials of late have based part of their campaigns on promises of ending Christiania’s loosely defined status.
http://foxnomad.com/2010/03/10/a-look-in...ristiania/
Christiania is independent to an extent, but cannot exist without the supplies, electricity, nor police protection of the big brother that surrounds it. So, while the community may be able to police itself, it hasn’t been able to control the invasive external elements that have moved in to take advantage of its semi-independence.
http://foxnomad.com/2011/10/28/optimisti...the-world/
Christiania is Copenhagen’s most popular tourist attraction apart from Tivoli. However, be advised that possession of marihuana etc. is illegal, and that the neighbourhood drug sales are mainly run by organised criminal gangs, not the locals.
http://www.science.ku.dk/phd/applying/living/
Really, anarchy doesn't lend itself to stable society and so, governments coalesce, as is seen to be happening even in Christiania. I understand that you find much merit in anarchist movements, but all they can really be is interstices between forms of government. I rather like this take on the subject:
http://critical-thinker.net/?p=440
Trying to update my sig ...
