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ASTRID FORSCHNER DIPL. SOZ. PäD.
Tel: +49 69 707 41 43
Email: astrid.forschner@rhein-main.net
The celebration of Brugerforeningen’s 8th. anniversary
At the 15th of November 2001 in Copenhagen.
By Astrid Forschner, JES Rhein-Main, Frankfurt/M., Germany
This year, I wanted to be there again when BF arranged their housewarming, and simultaneously celebrated the union’s 8 years anniversary and giving its honour prize to the “User friend” of the year.
So on the 14th of November 2001, I went by train to Copenhagen again to be there when the party should start. It was not my first visit to BF. Matter of fact, I try to get there as often as I can make it possible, for many reasons.
First, BF is the best organized user union I have ever seen, including the one I am a member of. Second, the people working there as well as the guests, are very nice. Third, the rooms are always firendly and spacious, and everything is spotlessly clean.
The atmosphere is relaxed and open as well as warm and generous. Many of the users who are there regularily have become friends of mine and any time I go there, it feels like coming home. On top of all of it they are doing splendid work, and I have often had the opportunity to catch the one or other good idea, and adapt it to the conditions in my hometown, Frankfurt a.M.
When I got to Copenhagen this time, eveybody was in the middle of the preparation for the next day, already a bit nervous and very excited. The place brimmed with excitement, everybody had his or her hands full to do with preparations. So I stayed out of the way since I could not really help with anything. Besides the usual warm welcome they gave me no one really had time to sit down and talk, and therefore I was quite glad when Eva asked me if I wanted to come along for shopping. She still had to buy some last-minute-items, things like fruits for the decoration of the tables, ashtrays, napkins and so on.
Finally the big day started. I went to the union in the afternoon, about an hour early, because I had agreed to iron Joergen’s shirt. Joergen is the leader of BF, he also is its heart and soul. I would say without him, BF would not be the same.
Sadly, the other usual international guests could not come. Bill Nelles from London had some very important meetings coming up, and Per and Stine from the BF affiliate in Norway had to stay home because of loads of work, and personal exhaustion. The only other user from outside Copenhagen area was Kjeld who is at the time working at starting up annother local BF affiliate in the town of Herning. So I represented the „rest of the world“.
The combined housewarming & anniversary party was great. At three o‘clock, everything was ready and shining. I was pleased to see that to the hour the first guests arrived. All in all I estimate that there were almost 300 people celebrating the BF's 8th anniversary and witness the donation of BF’s traditional honour award “The user friend of the year” 2001, an award handed to a person who has been doing something extraordinary to merit it: BF is honouring a person with a nice framed diploma and a little money check order of app. 300 UK.£. given to the man or woman who has exceeded him-or herself doing good things in the favour of the users of illegalized drugs.
After about one hour of welcome and entertaining people with casual talk Joergen decided it was time for the ceremony. In the meanwhile many persons had arrived, and I just wished that I knew some of them, but amongst all the many faces I only could distinguish some known user friends.
I do not know Copenahgen’s celebrities I am sorry to say. I just was told that there were quite a number of local prominents, which made me immensely proud to be able to witness this big success.
Everybody admired the wonderful job BF had been doing to there new headquarter. Two uniformed active BF members were placed at the street, with two Danish flags, welcoming the guests and the person lift was manned with an activist assisting elderly or stair-walking disabled, to get up to the third level where the new BF headquarter is placed.
Everything shined. There were a lot of flowers and plants all over to give a cosy touch to the huge office loft with the many rooms that BF now can calls its own. I believe the only ones unimpressed by the wohle scene were the fish in the huge aquarium, but then they never care about anything but fish affairs,- and about these we people don’t know anything.
This year the person to receive the honour prize was Poul Petersen, now senior consultant, former head of section office in the Social ministry, who got the prize for many years of user friendly service and working hard implementing the users right to be heard. The last years “User friend” Dr. Joergen Jepsen according to the tradition handed the diploma of honour to the new “User friend”.
Joergen entered the speakers stand placed on a newbuild stage in front of the audience, in the large sports room. There were actually so many people that even BF’s biggest room could not contain them all and many therefore had to stand outside the door while the ceremony went along.
Joergen told the audience of the happenings to BF since last time the prize was given.
He spoke of the many difficulties BF had when they decided to move from Norrebrogade into bigger rooms. BF was supposed to get more space, but the building they wanted was not ready for them when the time to move came and they just had to wait.
BF had given notice to the landlord of the place in Norrebrogade, When it looked first like the contract for the new quarters was to be signed at any moment, and he soon after rented it out to new people. So, for 10 weeks, BF found itself homeless, and all the equipment was stashed in containers.
The board members and some activists worked from home, and also met every second day in a citizen house’s café. Many were worried about the union, - would it be possible to get a new house in time before the many users who used to drop in each day before, would loose the belief in the union and maybe never come back? Then, after 10 hard weeks, they found a cosy place in Bogfinkevej where BF was temporarily opened for six months, all the waiting time before the promised rooms, those they are in now, were ready to move into.
I have seen the place in Bogfinkenvei, too. It was actually a bit bigger than the place at Norrebrogade, but the rooms were pretty small and pretty remotely placed, and not nearly what the members really wanted as the BF home. It was a nice little building with a flat roof and a little cosy yard around the house, whereunder a real wild fox lived. Durin the periode of BF’s stay she had a litter of five puppies. She befriended the users because they fed her, and no one ever harrased her or her puppies.
But it was nothing to be compared with the real thing. In Juli, when BF with a weeks notice, moved to the new premises. I had the opportunity to see the new place before it was furnished. To be back in November means that I can estimate the loads of work BF did to decorate and furnish the rooms and make them look the way they do now.
In his speech Joergen told the audience about all these events, and even though I do not speak Danish I could follow his words so far, and I could see the hapiness and pride in his face as he told the assembled people about all this. He mentioned the huge workload that the active members had done and afterwards he continued with a short laudatio to Poul Petersen and spoke about the reasons why BF wished to give this year’s prize to him.
Big applause from the audience told Joergen that everybody there was happy.
Dr. Joergen Jepsen who gave the award diploma to Mr.Pould Petersen also held a rather large speech which I could not really understand, but I think he thanked BF again for the honour done to him last year, and spoke about how happy he was to hand the prize over to his follower.
After the final applause for this, the large cold buffet was announced open. There were different kinds of Smoerrebrods, which never are missing at a Danish feast, Dips and chips, fruit, strawberries in chocolate, the latter is a traditional BF special, as well as little petits fours. Lots of legal drugs were passed around, wine, champagne and beer. People chatted amiably, and Joergen had to answer a million questions about the new place and the work of BF, and so had all the other active members.
As I looked around I could not help but to think a little enviously of the long way the German users still have to go if we want to achieve the same kind of reputation and relationship to the our country’s population as BF has reached to theirs.
BF really is respected in Copenhagen, and even further on in Denmark. They offer prevention lessons to schoolclasses, talk to the new police cadets and the justice and law students, as well as to nurses & social workers, about the way users want to be seen and treated by them.
They actively can shape their country’s drug policy because they have a staedy seat in the Danish government’s Narcotic Council, and four sub workgroups. They are well financed and housed by the Social Ministry and the commune of Copenhagen.
BF also is actively changing the way that users are looked at by the population and help to change the myths about them, by i.e. collecting used syringes on and around the relatively open drug scene of Copenhagen. BF is also actively participating in a citizen board, as well as cooperating in a forum of help and outreach projects.
I thought if only some German politicans, who still have the picture and myth about the sick, haggard, dirty, and shabby dressed users in their minds, could only see this bunch of fat and healthy looking junkies in BF – it would rock their picture of the world to the bottom.
I only had the wish in this moment that our health minister in Germany had been invited to this party- it would have been a shock to her, because she thinks we all are sick in the mind and must be treated,- at any price....
Also I thought of our national memorial day for the victims of German drug policy. Hardly anybody of press or public takes notice of the day. If we’d give a party like this, I know it would go nearly unnoticed. Unthinkable that as many people would come to honour us in the way they do it in Copenhagen.
But I also know something else. This success that BF is having now is not due to sheer luck. It is the result of a long time of hard and disciplined politcal work.
Therefore I know that BF deserves everything they achived, and I only wish for them to be able to keep on this good work for a long time still to come.
I am proud to be a friend....
Astrid Forschner, JES Rhein-Main, Frankfurt/M., Germany
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