Stories from the Bazaar

For the Cities, Culture and Politics course in our master’s program, Emma Montgomery, Lorenz Wöhrmann and I produced a video for which we worked together with Ronni Abergel from the Human Library Organization and Admir Ismanovski from the RomaLiv Organization.

Our video “Stories from the Bazaar” focuses on the Bazaar Under the Arches (Basar under Broen), a secondhand goods market, located at Nørrebro Station in Copenhagen. It had operated illegally for multiple years until Ronni and Admir made the successful attempt to legalize it, allowing it to operate under specific rules. Although the formalization is only temporary, it has already improved the situation, creating a safer space for the vendors, visitors and adjacent residents.

We aim to raise awareness of the vendors at the Bazaar who are of various ethnic backgrounds, but most of them are Roma. In Denmark, Romani people have been facing persecution and marginalization, and they are not officially recognized as a national minority. Additionally, media and policy discourses often reinforce negative stereotypes. Despite official inclusion efforts, there is a lack of recognition and representation.

In the video, Ronni and Admir explain in more detail how the project to legalize the Bazaar came into being, their motives and beliefs, challenges along the way, as well as their visions and hopes regarding the future of the Bazaar.