LIBERA 21.03.15 - Against Mafia

Good morning everyone !

On Saturday I woke up at 4.30 am, and at 5.15 am I left with a bus for Bologna. I traveled with my my scout group and with some students from the high school I used to go to.

The 21st of March was the day of Memory and Commitment in memory of the Mafia's victims.

When we arrived in Bologna, we took part of a 3h march in the city's streets, and we all ended up in a giant square where there was an amazing speech by Don Luigi Ciotti. Walking the last big streets, you could hear all the names of the people killed by this system, names that were read by people on the main stage, located on the square where we were heading to.

I think that it's not necessary to talk about the Mafia as wrong system, as you may and should already know much about it. If not, if you'll ever get the chance, try to inform you as much as you can.

Italy is often called the country of ''Pizza, Pasta and Mafia'' as stereotype, but, for how cool it may seems in ''The Padrino'' movie, believe me that this system is ruining our country, creating strange circulation of money and dividing even more the South from the North.

Libera is the association  that organized this event and many others. It works against every kind of Mafia (Camorra etc.) and that try to reuse territories and buildings taken from these systems in the society. It also does different events to help people think about this situation, that seems so far away from our routine, but in truth it is not.

If you wanna learn more, click HERE, it's Libera's official website. It should be easy to understand, although it is in Italian because, if you are using Google, it should ask you, at the beginning, if you want the entire page to be translated.

The following are some of the very few pics I took. I tried to live the experience, instead of just portraying it: like talking as much as I could with the new people I met there, such as a really nice girl who was over-hearing a conversation I was having with a friend of mine. I recently sent out to the secretarial of my Uni a request for Erasmus, for next year obviously. This girl turned around and asked me what my choices where, and she described me very kindly her experience, giving me tips and advises.

''Mafia fears culture more than justice. Let's invest in culture''

 I hope this blog post, which was different from the others, will intrigue you and that inspired you to try to learn as much as you can about this topic, and maybe take part in a movement like Libera, if they exist in your area. Have a nice weekend :)

Fede

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The National Route 2014 .

HeyHey

So, since when I was 8 years old I've been a scout. Not a ''boy scout'' as we're called worldwide, but just a scout. I started because my parents were both scouts when they were younger, they both went in the group we have in Assisi and so did I when it came my time. After me my brother and all my 5 cousins started this journey.

 I spent 4 years with the ''Lupetti'' that is the first group in which you play, do several activities and slowly get involved in the mentality that is required to be a scout. You learn to share things, to help the others and when you finally think that you understand how this all system works, than you change group.

In fact, on the 2nd year of middle school, I started the ''Reparto'' that is another group that lasts for 4 years, that I left on my 2nd year of high school. Basically this is where the stereotype of the average scout is created. You walk a lot, you sell calendars and other things for charity (not biscuits, sorry!), you sleep in tents and you cook and eat on structures that you build with woods and ropes. Also in this case, when you know everything it's time to move on.

And here I am, at the end of my 3rd year of ''clan'', the last group in which you learn how to be yourself in society, to help the others out. 

I started this long journey, that can be defined as a lifestyle as well, back in 2003 I believe, and this year I had the opportunity to be part of one of the most amazing scout experience you can live: the National Route.

The ''vacation'' of 10 days you do when you're in the Clan, is called route, mainly because you walk, change location almost every night and you carry on your shoulder everything you need (the essential). It's a period that you spend with your group...but this year was different.

In 1975 there was the first National Route; all the Clans (or at least, the biggest part of them) that existed at the time in Italy, all went together in Route. In 1986 the same thing happened. And finally...after almost 30 years, in 2014 we had the opportunity to live this event on a National level.

We were 35.000 scouts, we were divided in 460 groups composed by guys from different Clans. Every group was composed by 70 to 60 people. From the 1st to the 5th of August, the different groups walked in different parts of Italy, on the 6th everyone traveled to San Rossore, a park near Pisa, and there we met, all 35.000 !

My group was the Route 190. My Clan hosted the others, this means that we walked and did our activities in the territory close to Assisi (where I live). The Clans that we hosted where from Alba, Cava dei Tirreni, Pescara and Gorizia. This last one is a city located on the bound between Slovenia and Italy, so they all speak fluently both Italian and Slovenian. We were in 67 and I miss every single person.

On the 6th all the buses left from a city close to Assisi, so we went there, traveled for 4h or so and finally arrived in the night in Pisa! And when we met all the other 35.000...well...let's say this picture doesn't give you the smallest idea of what it was!

I want to thank everyone! It was an amazing experience...and it makes me emotional to think that I was so lucky to be one of those people, one of those that had the opportunity to be part of such an amazing event!

Probably this blog post wasn't as interesting as you expected, it was different from what I normally write about. The quality of the pictures is not high, none of us had a DSLR camera ofc, and these are all photos taken by friends of mine. Hope you liked this post in any case, maybe you learned something new, who knows? If you're a little bit more interested in the event now, you can google and look for information and videos on YouTube about the event. There are lots of them, and they'll give you the idea of what it was better than all the words I wrote to describe it. Have a nice week everyone :)

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