I also take issue with that statement. I've been to Christiania 3 times as a tourist and the drug market looks about as diverse as Copenhagen in general. Also, I've never been able to figure out who is a tourist like me, and who is dealing drugs or acting as a lookout. Nor can one tell the religion of a person simply by looking at them.
Oh and they were the ones who told you there was an "exclusively muslim criminal element"? Because the police claims the hash trade is largely controlled by the biker gang Hells Angels - but maybe your investigations have uncovered better information?
Organized criminal activity in any country is a function of migration patterns and poor economic opportunity/integration. Inevitably this always happens and it doesn't matter what ethnic/religious group or what country they move to. I am not making anti-immigrant claims, just stating the current state of affairs that are a result of 20 years of immigration patterns in Denmark.
Crime in general is a function of socioeconomic status, where migration patterns usually involves a flow of people where those who migrate has relative low socioeconomic status.
There are exception to this when people of high income, wealth, and education moves to an area where the relative socioeconomic status is lower. A typical example is popular (often warmer) tourist locations, and in those cases we don't usually see anti-immigrant views gaining popularity. Following this we could draw the conclusion that anti-immigrantion politics is simply a proxy for politics in regard to an a influx of low socioeconomic people regardless of ethnic or religious backgrounds.
Sorry I meant to say that the Christiania hash trade is controlled by Hells Angels. I don't think Hells Angels are particularly Christian despite the biblical name! It is just to point out that the guy saying the trade is "exclusively muslim" is talking bullshit.
I lived quite close to Christiania for a few years, and did visit quite often. My observations were that there are definitely people with Middle-Eastern looks amongst the dealers, but there are also people of other ethnicities. The dominant skin colour was white.
That being said, try visiting Fælleskøkkenet a Friday night. There will usually be a lot of Arabic-speakers.
Christiania does, at least it did back then, make money from the sales. Occasionally, the dealers would have specific days where all the proceeds went to the Christianian community.
I've never heard about photography being forbidden anywhere but on Pusher Street itself.
I haven't been there for five years though. Things might have changed.
I have never heard Muslim and Christiania mentioned in the same breath before.
Really? The Bosnian immigrant who shot the cops talked about in the article had ties to Millatu Ibrahim and was claimed by Isis after the shooting. It was in the news.
Is this really the first time you're hearing this?
Your statement was "There is a large, almost exclusively muslim criminal element there ..."
That's pretty inflammatory. You stated this as fact when it appears to be your subjective opinion.
I am genuinely interested in data to support that claim since it is counter to my own experiences having lived 10 minutes from there for years and daily follower of the Danish and International media.
Taking that one incident does not prove your statement. "One swallow does not a summer make."
There are way too many statements which are easily echoed blindly but just as easily fact-checked (and all too often, debunked) by going for a walk there. Thank you for doing and speaking about the latter.
Comments
You can take photographs throughout Christiana, just not in the small area called 'Pusher Street' for the reason mentioned in the article.
Source? I have never heard Muslim and Christiania mentioned in the same breath before. I live in Copenhagen, near to Christiania.
I also take issue with that statement. I've been to Christiania 3 times as a tourist and the drug market looks about as diverse as Copenhagen in general. Also, I've never been able to figure out who is a tourist like me, and who is dealing drugs or acting as a lookout. Nor can one tell the religion of a person simply by looking at them.
Doesn't that disqualify these observations though? That's a pretty basic skill to have to talk about such a place.
I didn't "just look at" people. I spent time there and got to know locals, including one or two of the Pusher street lookouts.
Oh and they were the ones who told you there was an "exclusively muslim criminal element"? Because the police claims the hash trade is largely controlled by the biker gang Hells Angels - but maybe your investigations have uncovered better information?
I don't recall dealers being predominately Muslim. That sounds like anti-immigrant propaganda.
Organized criminal activity in any country is a function of migration patterns and poor economic opportunity/integration. Inevitably this always happens and it doesn't matter what ethnic/religious group or what country they move to. I am not making anti-immigrant claims, just stating the current state of affairs that are a result of 20 years of immigration patterns in Denmark.
Crime in general is a function of socioeconomic status, where migration patterns usually involves a flow of people where those who migrate has relative low socioeconomic status.
There are exception to this when people of high income, wealth, and education moves to an area where the relative socioeconomic status is lower. A typical example is popular (often warmer) tourist locations, and in those cases we don't usually see anti-immigrant views gaining popularity. Following this we could draw the conclusion that anti-immigrantion politics is simply a proxy for politics in regard to an a influx of low socioeconomic people regardless of ethnic or religious backgrounds.
Citizens of Marseille might disagree. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/marseille-eu...
Front National is very popular there.
You won't see a lot of rich immigrants moving to the north part of Marseille and become active in a drug war between rival gangs.
The Christianity drug trade is to a large extent controlled by the Hells Angels biker gang.
There is/was a substantial Jewish drug trade in Melbourne. Unsurprisingly, organised crime isn't restricted to any particular religion or ethnicity.
Sorry I meant to say that the Christiania hash trade is controlled by Hells Angels. I don't think Hells Angels are particularly Christian despite the biblical name! It is just to point out that the guy saying the trade is "exclusively muslim" is talking bullshit.
OK, factoid time. The Hells Angels started out as a social group for retired WWII pilots who liked motorcycles.
I lived quite close to Christiania for a few years, and did visit quite often. My observations were that there are definitely people with Middle-Eastern looks amongst the dealers, but there are also people of other ethnicities. The dominant skin colour was white.
That being said, try visiting Fælleskøkkenet a Friday night. There will usually be a lot of Arabic-speakers.
Christiania does, at least it did back then, make money from the sales. Occasionally, the dealers would have specific days where all the proceeds went to the Christianian community.
I've never heard about photography being forbidden anywhere but on Pusher Street itself.
I haven't been there for five years though. Things might have changed.
Really? The Bosnian immigrant who shot the cops talked about in the article had ties to Millatu Ibrahim and was claimed by Isis after the shooting. It was in the news.
Is this really the first time you're hearing this?
Your statement was "There is a large, almost exclusively muslim criminal element there ..."
That's pretty inflammatory. You stated this as fact when it appears to be your subjective opinion.
I am genuinely interested in data to support that claim since it is counter to my own experiences having lived 10 minutes from there for years and daily follower of the Danish and International media.
Taking that one incident does not prove your statement. "One swallow does not a summer make."
Thank you for your reality check.
There are way too many statements which are easily echoed blindly but just as easily fact-checked (and all too often, debunked) by going for a walk there. Thank you for doing and speaking about the latter.
One Bosnian immigrant. How does that equate, proportionally, to violence in Malmö?
Um, not even remotely related to the topic of conversation?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism