Autonomy and the Spaciousness of the Social in Denmark: The Conflict Between Ungdomshuset and Faderhuset

Abstract

This article is concerned with the idea of societal 'spaciousness' and its relationship to individual and collective autonomy. These issues are analyzed in the context of the eviction of a self-managed social center of left-radical activists in Copenhagen and the protests and public debate that followed. The authors find that societal spaciousness in Denmark is metaphorically associated with a house or a limited physical space. People should limit themselves in public space, as in a house, to 'make room' for all. Because youngsters are not conceived of as fully fledged political subjects who are able to conduct themselves appropriately in public space, they become a group of special concern. The authors argue that space should be conceived as a dimension of social relations, and that sociality relies on a temporal assemblage of people, things, and imaginaries with space.

Figurations of the Future: On the Form and Temporality of Protests among Left Radical Activists in Europe

“…In these situations, in which activists are singled out and individualized, they describe themselves as overwhelmed by sadness, resignation, and paranoia. In sum, the life of an activist oscillates between various temporal modes of being, namely, between active time and 'dead time', both of which hinge on the body (Krøijer 2011;Krøijer and Sjørslev forthcoming).…”

The existential spatiality of rebellion: Insubordination, counter‐conduct, and places

“…Everyday urbanism favoring public and infrastructural spatiality emphasizes the need to reinvent the ordinary places of the city (Beebeejaun, 2017;Dehaene & De Cauter, 2008;Hou, 2010). In contrast to this accent on the public character of the ordinary, the interpretive strategy disclosing the relevance of extraordinary places for urban struggles reveals the subversive potential of architecturally confined and socially closed places, too (Creasap, 2012;Ferreira, 2016;Hansen & Karpantschof, 2016;Krøijer & Sjørslev, 2011;Soja, 1996). These "other places" operating within the urban fabric can offer hiding places for disobedient subjects to develop solidarities oriented toward particular forms of counter-conduct (Davidson, 2011;Death, 2010).…”

Revolution is the way you eat: exemplification among left radical activists in Denmark and in anthropology

“…different ways of entering into conflict with the police). The four blocs followed different routes after meeting the first police blockade and, at Grøndalsvænge, the action ended with activists from the yellow ‘queer‐feminist’ bloc placing a pirate flag on the rooftop of the building, in spite of the police who had besieged the area since the previous day (see Krøijer ; and Krøijer & Sjørslev for an encompassing description). The participants considered the day a great success, even though they were soon arrested.…”

“…The participants considered the day a great success, even though they were soon arrested. Vigga, who had participated in the planning of the yellow bloc, described the success as a bodily sense of strength:

It was really cool to break through the fence and get onto the site, but it did not compare with the victories on the way there: to pass the police line, and the incredible strength and force in ‘now we walk in chains together’, and ‘we stick together’, and ‘we do not give a damn that the police is here’ … If I sometimes feel powerless then there is an enormous strength in taking back the street and setting the agenda … If I have to think of one moment where I felt that way strongly, then it was when we were on our way to Grøndalsvænge with a yellow bloc and managed to get around the police line; or the situation that emerged in Nørrebro the night after Ungeren [slang for Ungdomshuset] was evicted (cited in Krøijer & Sjørslev : 99).

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