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IUSY Festival 2006The 2006 IUSY (International Union of Socialist Youth) Festival 2006 was held at Alicante, Spain. I and another student attended this year's festival via club funding for our college's "Democrats & Progressives" Club. You may be wondering, "What the heck is the International Union of Socialist Youth all about?" The IUSY was founded on August 24, 1907, but suspended activities during the two world wars and re-convened after WWII on September 30, 1946, in Paris. The organization's goal is to put into practice and defend the ideals of democratic socialism (www.iusy.org). The organization is comprised of 143 socialist, social democratic and labor youth organizations from 100 countries all over the world. America's member organization is the YDS, the Young Democratic Socialists. See www.ydsusa.org for more information. The festival lasted from July 18th to the 24th; six days of conferences and international discussion between the various countries represented. Over 7000 people, mostly college students, from all around the globe participated. 2006 is the first year that the U.S. was represented. There were three of us Americans that attended. The third American was Lucas Shapiro, of the Young Democratic Socialists from New York. The festival offered many opportunities for us to engage in conversations with many people from many different cultures. The majority of delegations (each country's group) camped out on the University of Alicante campus. The delegations were split up into two dining halls, ours being Social I, which served half of all the attendees, German, Italian, Eastern European countries, some Spanish, the U.S., and Western Sahara. A few of the delegations offered "conferences" throughout the week. The French delegation was the most organized offering serious discussions on socialist topics. The German delegation, which had the largest showing of 350+ delegates, offered discussions with the most range, from gender equality to worker's rights. Although the discussions were lively and interesting, I personally, found it difficult to understand what many people were saying. The discussions were started in English, but if often devolved back into the native language of individuals in the room. However, everyone spoke English (often with one or more additional languages), at least in a limited capacity so it was easy to get into groups and enjoy cultural exchange. This was the most enjoyable aspect of attending the festival. The French had a revolving wine & cheese table, which made its way around the campus, the Western Saharans set up a huge tent and played traditional (and not so traditional) music and invited each passerby to dance with them. Almost all the groups brought items for sale, from T-shirts to posters to handicrafts. Every night, around 11 p.m., the parties began. There were a few live concerts and some dance parties. I was amazed at how well many of the people we met at the festival understood America's political structure. Better than most Americans, I would argue. On the other hand, they still seemed to hold on to the myth of American wealth, I should say, the perceived wealth of the average American. Many were amazed by the footage they witnessed after hurricane Katrina. They were even more surprised when I explained that Louisiana wasn't isolated in their poverty. They couldn't understand how we could allow such degradation in such a large population in the richest nation in the world. I would say at least a third of all the students we saw on campus were wearing shirts, hats, or buttons denouncing President Bush and his policies. At first, it was a little scary to admit to being an American because I was afraid of being linked to the administration's actions. I, after all, do not agree with most of what our government perpetrates overseas. Whenever we found ourselves in a conversation with someone, whether in town or at the festival, Bush and his politics came up. It seems that more "average" Europeans have an understanding of what he's up to than the "average" American. We stayed at the Hotel Leuka in downtown Alicante. The hotel was in the perfect location. In ten minutes we could walk to the beach, La Playa San Juan. The university was only about 20 minutes away by bus. Every avenue around the hotel, for many blocks, held shops, cafes, restaurants and bars. You could eat and drink at just about every hour, day or night. And, for the most part, there were always lots of people around to chat with wherever we went. We talked up a cook from Liberia one late night, we made nice with a whole restaurant's wait-staff and cooks at the El Merengue, and made friends at the Cafe Vivaldi, and exchanged emails and addresses with a dozen people from Spain and other countries. Also, every time we pulled out our camera, we had no shortage of people willing to get a picture with us. It was exciting, to say the least. We were universally accepted as Americans, although many times we were assumed to be English. To be honest, I expected at least one person to be confrontational about our nationality, but it never transpired. Overall, the trip to Spain was an amazing experience, one that we will never forget. My advice to any college student who may be reading this, I strongly encourage you to take advantage of opportunities that may come your way to visit other countries. Get involved and see where it may take you. I promise it will make a difference in your life.
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