Posts Tagged ‘Copenhagen’

Copenhagen’s city lakes freeze almost every year. It took a little longer than usual, but the ice was finally thick enough this February for people to head out and skate.

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Two Danes hope to bring bicycle culture to Africa to tackle poverty and improve lives.

Baisikeli founders Henrik Smedegaard Mortensen and Niels Bonefeld (left and right) stand with their custom bicycle – built to withstand the harsh African climate – outside the new Baisikeli café and workshop by Dybøllsbro station (Photo: Peter Stanners)

Do you take the car, train or bicycle to work? We have so many options of getting from A to B that it’s hard to imagine that for many people walking is the only real option. And our own two legs can only take us so far.  In Africa, this is the reality for millions of people and, as a result, their ability to access health care, education and employment is severely limited, trapping them in cycles of poverty and ill health.

But Danish bicycle company Baisikeli – Swahili for bicycle – is hoping to change that. This October they are setting up a workshop in Mozambique to sell and repair second-hand Danish bicycles, as well as manufacture bicycles for the global market. They are a business – unsupported by the government or charities – that has already sent thousands of bicycles to the continent to help foster social change by creating a sustainable bicycle culture in Africa. (more…)

A clinic has opened in Copenhagen that will only treat illegal immigrants, formally known as undocumented migrants. I spoke to the manager of the clinic to find out more.

Vibeke Lenskjold from the Red Cross in Denmark runs the clinic. She believes only healthy people are in a condition to find their own way home (Photo: Peter Stanners)

Tucked away in the corner of a quiet courtyard off Revenstlowgade beside the central station is a private health clinic. Its clients aren’t wealthy or famous, but you still need to be special to be seen. The clinic only takes in people who – for whatever reason – are illegally resident in Denmark. In fact, it’s the only place in the country where they can be treated.

Vibeke Lenskjold from the Red Cross in Denmark, who runs the clinic, invited the Copenhagen Post to take a look around this Monday. Sitting in the reception of the clinic, she explained that while some politicians were outraged at the opening of a health clinic for illegal immigrants, all the Red Cross in Denmark cared about was that there were people who needed help but weren’t receiving it.

“It’s at the heart of what we do – humanitarian help for people in need. We don’t care who they are, if they need help they must have it,” Lenskjold said. (more…)

The right to speak one’s mind is normally defended as an ultimate right in Denmark. But two incidents in recent weeks illustrate that the urge to control what people say is still a temptation.

Most will remember that when protests broke out in 2005 over Jyllands-Posten newspaper’s publication of 12 drawings of the prophet Mohammed – including one with a bomb in his turban – politicians from across the political spectrum in Denmark staunchly defended the cartoonist and newspaper’s right to do so.

Even as Danish products were boycotted in Islamic countries, and its embassy in Damascus was torched, politicians argued that upholding this right was more important than bowing to pressure for the sake of security.

Among those politicians was Liberal MP Inger Støjberg, who stated on TV2 News in 2008, after the cartoons were published a second time, that: “I think it’s disgraceful that they are able to silence people with threats. I support the right of the Danish artists to express their freedom of speech.” (more…)

The annual street and club festival Distortion will need to undergo drastic changes if it is to return next year, warns its lead organiser.

Distortion organiser Thomas Fleurquin, pictured, was disappointed by the low turn-out for the evening events, writing “Don’t they know Distortion is a festival of club culture, where the street parties are intended as a free and cosy warm-up for the club night fun?” (Photo: Peter Stanners)

The festival, which visits a different Copenhagen district on each its five days, saw up to 100,000 people attend each of the street parties.

But despite their soaring popularity, the night-time Club Clash events were massively undersubscribed, with only 2,500 of the 230 kroner tickets sold for Friday night’s event when sales of 6,000 tickets were needed to break even. (more…)

Delving into the archives I discover how the dreams to create a popular and vibrant city club, changed the face of Danish football forever.

Photo: FCK.DK / Daniel Rommedahl

Floating at stratospheric heights at the top of the Danish Super League is the ‘City’s Team’, FC Copenhagen. With a staggering 21-point lead and just 11 games left to play, the team is playing with unmatched class and efficiency.

A relative infant, the club was created in 1992 through a merger of Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (KB) and B1903 – a move widely credited as improving the standard of Danish league football over the last two decades.

The idea of creating a merged team to represent the city as a whole had been on the table since the late-‘80s. The main issue was that the city’s many regional clubs were all vying against each other, thinning the spectator base and preventing any one side from developing a strong team.

Finally, in September 1991, it was announced that two of Copenhagen’s clubs would merge to create a citywide team. The news came as a surprise to many, with Danish paper BT writing: “A fusion of KB and B1903 has become a reality, dropped like a bomb.”

But board members of the as-of-yet non-existent team defended the decision. One of whom, the well-known lawyer and billionaire Christian Kjær, stated: “We need a team that can draw a crowd and get football to blossom. We need to get the spirit back to the good old days when more people went to watch football and got more involved – when they shouted and cheered and had a great time.” (more…)

Electric car company hopes to revolutionise the electric car industry and change what it means to own a car.

Better Place currently provides its battery swap and charging system for one car, the Renault Fluenz ZE, picture (Photo: Peter Stanners)"

Denmark’s green credentials received a significant boost this week with the arrival of a new electric car concept. Hailed as a groundbreaking new approach to driving, the collaboration between California-based Better Place and Renault will offer drivers in Denmark – only the second country in the world to introduce the initiative after Israel – the opportunity to drive using only renewable electricity. (more…)