Occupied

The last program here on Steps Beyond focused on free spaces but in both cases that were mentioned, the Candy Factory and Christiania there are some agreements and links between the communities living there and the governing bodies of Copenhagen. Next week´s program would be more focused on occupied places in which the people living there have no bureaucratic or else links with the government. Not so many of these places around so after searching all over Copenhagen and asking around I will probably manage to include only two such places that have no internet representation. One will be the squatted buildings next to the building that was given to the Candy Factory in Raghilgade and another will be an occupied harbour and trailer area next to Christiania. In both places because of the lack of communication between the people living there and the  government the sittuation is uncertain so the places might not be there for long.

But just to give an idea of what people can do if left to their own I also interviewed people in Makvärket, a former abandoned ceramics factory 70 km outside Copenhagen that is now under use by a small group of young people that self organise to create workshops and concert halls. More on the place can be found here: http://makvaerket.wordpress.com but also on http://www.wwoof.dk/ and http://www.helpx.net/

As an unexpected bonus there will be a feature from the Gangeviertel, a squated center in the center of Hamburg that managed to stay open for two years so far. Let´s hope the cops won´t come to ruin the party but if they do it will all be on "tape". http://das-gaengeviertel.i

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Unfortunately I will miss a camp outside Berlin which is exchanging volunteers with the place pictured above in Makvärket. If you will be in the area I am sure they will be happy to have help out and learn from all the great things they are preparing to build, mainly with clay and other natural materials. Here is a blog for the place called KuBiZ: http://lehmofen.blogsport.de/

Nomad Radio

Steps Beyond goes on the road, beyond Luxembourg and beyond the Greater Region . The radio program is now on the move, leaving Luxembourg today, heading for Copenhagen where we should arrive in two days. We will meet people there that spend a lot of time in free spaces such as The Candy Factory (Bolsjefabrikken), The Floating City or Ungdomshuset (The Youth House).

So next week's program on Monday from 14:00 on Radio Ara (<click for livestream) will again be dedicated to free spaces, program that will hopefully come to supplement the information that is lacking in Luxembourg regarding organising such a thing and inspire people into supporting such a great bottom up initiative. If you have any requests for interview subjects in relation to the free space topic just drop me a line here or on facebook and I will try to accommodate all demands.

For more information and inspiration related to the topic you can check this other post about the last radio program on free spaces: http://stepsbeyond.blogspot.com/2011/07/free-spaces.html

On a personal level I am also looking forward to share in the experience of very well functioning alternatives to commercial venues in Copenhagen so I can better prepare for the Reclaim the Fields camp in Romania that will take place from thr 21st until the 30th of September. Meant to bring people at a grass roots level together to propose sustainable alternatives for what is planned to be one the biggest ecological, social and archaeological disasters of Europe since Chernobyl and all in the name of profit of a gold corporation. You can find out more about the area Rosia Montana here: http://www.nodirtygold.org/rosia_montana_romania.cfm and more on the camp here: http://www.reclaimthefields.org/node/329

If you are in the area you can already experience the area and the alternatives to a potentially terrible mining disaster by going to the festival prepared there by volunteers, the FanFest: http://fanfest.ro/index.shtml