"Extreme Poverty is Society’s Failure"
17 October 2008
The morning began at the Roman Seminary with the presentation of work done by some 250 students on the subject of poverty in a project put together by the region of Lazio and the Fondazione Labos (an organisation which analyses social policy).
Claudio Calvaruso, President of the Association of Friends of ATD Fourth World in Italy, used the work of the Fondazione Labos and the students to reveal the reality of the lives of young people in the region. For example, even if the young people are conscious of the existence of poverty, only one in ten said they had encountered situations of poverty through their classmates or their circle of friends outside of school. Secondly, the majority of young people claimed not to understood the responsibilities assumed by the public authorities or the role of associations and organisations in fighting poverty, nor did understand what role they and their fellow citizens could play on a daily basis to combat poverty.
Ms Claudia Costa, Under Secretary for Education and Training for the Region of Lazio, also called on the economic world to recognise not only its responsibilities regarding the causes of poverty but also its responsibilities regarding remedying such situations through reorienting the economy. Ms Costa also brought into relief the fact that the United Nations focuses on the question of poverty through famine, the lack of drinking water and development aid, and that there is a role to be played by local and national authorities, who have to act and be pushed to act, in the fight against poverty. Finally, she decried the fact that 17 October, the United Nations International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, is not better recognised and understood in Italy.
In the afternoon, a round table discussion was held on the thinking and works of Joseph Wresinski, the founder of ATD Fourth World, and a number of well-respected Italian figures known for their commitment towards the most disadvantaged, including Don Carlo Gnocchi (founder of a centre for children left orphaned by war), Don Lorenzo Milani (a well-known educator and advocate of conscientious objection) and Don Luigi di Liegro (who founded the Italian branch of Caritas in Rome).
Of all the presentations given during the round table, the words of Don Luigi di Liegro lingered the longest: “To face up to the insecurities and the exclusion which can touch him, a man needs to feel supported and respected by the community around him. When a man falls into extreme poverty, it is society’s failure.” These words echoed strongly those inscribed on the Commemorative Stone in Honour of the Victims of Hunger, Ignorance and Violence laid on the Parvis des Droits de l’Homme et des Libertés in Paris on 17 October 1987: Wherever men and women are condemned to live in extreme poverty, human rights are violated. To come together to ensure these rights be respected is our solemn duty.”
It was around the Rome replica of the Commemorative Stone, on the Sagrato della Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, that two testimonies written by people living in poverty today were later read. This was followed by a further reading of the speech given by Joseph Wresinski on 17 October 1987, evoking the lives, past and future of all those living in extreme poverty.
