ZION, THE STUDENTS' TOWN
Posted by Peter Gerlach (peter gerlach) on Feb 28 2006 at 4:50 PM
inspiration >>

 “Zion” is the name of a summer camp organised since many years by Unione degli Studenti and Unione degli Universitari, the two biggest Italian school and university students associations.
But “Zion” is not only its name. It’s also a metaphor of what we are. Remember the film “the Matrix”? Zion is the town which resists to the machines society. For us, Zion is the ideal town for a generation which wants to resist to a society dominated by war, violence, terrorism and fear. A generation which is deeply involved in making a change possible, beginning from our daily work in schools and our efforts to make them places where democracy and intercultural understanding are implemented.
Zion is entirely organised by students for students, also thanks to the work of many volunteers.
It is the place where students coming from whole Italy meet, have fun and learn to know themselves better. The place where students fall in love with good music, with theatre, with culture, with politics…
In Zion we try to build our own world, governed by our own rules, far from conventional spaces and timings. It’s a possibility we have to create a reality based on solidarity, rights, justice and peace. Every day thousands of students discuss different social and cultural topics: how to fight against mafia, sexual discriminations, fascism, corporate globalisation or promote international solidarity, environmental awareness, education etc. Every year we have the possibility to exchange ideas with important experts of these matters; intellectuals and politicians. We also have a rich cultural program made up by concerts, dance halls, cinema, theatre plays and, not to forget, sports.
“Zion” has a particular importance also for the place where it is located, a wonderful natural park on Tuscany’s seaside, named Parco Naturale della Sterpaia. This to underline our involvement in protecting the environment around us: the camping is built following the advices of associations like WWF and Legambiente, using special environment-friendly structures, and hosting debates and speeches in order to rise awareness around these matters. It’s thanks to this involvement that we can savour a wonderful beach and rest under centenary trees.
We also try to give an answer to growing globalisation proposing our own model of “healthy globalisation”, providing our bars, restaurants and bazars with products coming from the fair trade organisations.
“Zion” is simply the place where we can be ourselves and give a chance to our creativity, it’s the first step towards the different world we are daily fighting for.