Freetown Christiania, the self-declared autonomous neighborhood in Copenhagen established after squatters occupied a former military barracks in 1971, has issued its own currency intermittently as a deliberate assertion of independence from the Danish state. The Løn — the word means "wage" in Danish — was designed for internal circulation among the roughly 900 residents and the commune's collectively owned businesses. Denmark has tolerated Christiania's existence through decades of legal ambiguity, periodic police raids, and negotiated settlements, including a 2011 agreement that allowed residents to collectively purchase much of the land.
The 2019 issue postdates that purchase, giving this particular emission a different political weight than earlier ones.
Freetown Christiania, the self-declared autonomous neighborhood in Copenhagen established after squatters occupied a former military barracks in 1971, has issued its own currency intermittently as a deliberate assertion of independence from the Danish state. The Løn — the word means "wage" in Danish — was designed for internal circulation among the roughly 900 residents and the commune's collectively owned businesses. Denmark has tolerated Christiania's existence through decades of legal ambiguity, periodic police raids, and negotiated settlements, including a 2011 agreement that allowed residents to collectively purchase much of the land.
The 2019 issue postdates that purchase, giving this particular emission a different political weight than earlier ones.