ATD Fourth World

Understanding the violence faced by people in chronic poverty and the pathways towards peace

2012-02-02T14:45:00Z

« The violence of contempt and indifference causes chronic poverty, since it inevitably leads to exclusion, to the rejection of one human being by other human beings». This statement, by Fr. Joseph Wresinski, founder of ATD Fourth World, needs to be heard and understood by more than the participants to this international Colloquium at UNESCO House, by the whole of society in order to truly build the pathways to peace.

The public event held on 26th January 2012 at UNESCO House, Paris, France, brought together participants from the past two days and over 250 outside guests. Present amongst the guests was Magdalena Sepulveda, UN Special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier de Schutter, UN Special rapporteur on the right to food, Amine Khene, former UNESCO assistant director-general for administration, and Federico Mayor Zaragoza, ex director-general of UNESCO and founder of the Fundacion por la Paz, in Spain.

The day was devoted to outputs from the three year participatory research project, and from the two days spent at ATD Fourth World's international centre. « This has been a lesson in humility », said Cécile Molinier, director of UNDP in Geneva, referring to ATD Fourth World's core functionning of participation, and the blending of life experiences and knowledge of those who have experienced extreme poverty.

Further highlighting the importance of participation, the example of ill-adapted projects to the needs of people living in chronic poverty were discussed. Moïse Compaoré, from Burkina Faso, explained how a project thought out without the participation of those most concerned, is doomed to fail. Amanda Button, in the United Kingdom, spoke out on the violence of having her children taken away from her and put in foster care. Social services did not seek for her involvement, her opinion, her participation in this project.

Martine Le Corre's inspriring speech again emphasized the core need for participation in order to build pathways to peace. « Peace cannot be imposed. It is something we build and live, in our daily experiences ». The knowledge of those who live with the violence of poverty needs to be recognised. Once society recognises the value of this knowledge, then pathways towards peace will take on true substance.

The Colloquium ended with the opening of the art exhibition created by members of ATD Fourth World. The photos and artwork are the expression of the lived experiences of people living in extreme poverty, of the violence of poverty, and of their commitment to building peace.

Download the summary of the three days of the Colloquium

Art against extreme poverty in the Philippines

2012-02-01T16:33:20Z

Eradicating extreme poverty, a must for sustainable societies

2012-02-01T07:50:32Z

Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation emphasize poverty eradication as a requisite for sustainable development. Nevertheless, in spite of progress in some countries over the last two decades, poverty levels remain high. According to the Multidimensional Poverty Index developed by UNDP, 1.75 billion people experienced acute deprivations in health, education, and standard of living in 2010 (UNDP. Human Development Report 2010.). Even in ‘rich' countries, economic growth has not eradicated poverty nor extreme poverty: nearly 1 in 7 people are at risk of poverty within the European Union and the USA.

For more information download the pdf file

ContribWSF-ES-XG2-20jan12

Violence and the trivialisation of poverty

2012-01-28T20:19:00Z

Enough! Those who speak of poverty are always the same

« We can't continue being silent, only letting those who know speak ». These words of Valentina Ccoyo, from Cuzco, Peru, opened the Colloquium on Tuesday 24th January 2012.

More than 300 people have been involved in this three year international research, based on participatory action. Most of the participants have a experience of living extreme poverty. Donna Haig Friedmann, researcher at the Centre for Social Policy of the University of Massachushetts, called ATD Fourth World's fresh approach « counter-cultural » to academia's usual approaches.

Participants spoke up on this first day with examples of the trivialisation of extreme poverty. Cases where human rights are denied, where people living in extreme poverty are excluded from active participation.

Ricarl Pierrelouis, from Mauritius, spoke of an entire village being evicted in order for the authorities to build a dam. The villagers were not consulted, and they now live further from work opportunities, with even more difficult conditions of access to schooling.

In the UK, parents writing letters to their children in care are not allowed to express their emotions – if they do, local authorities may not allow anymore letters.

In Lebanon, migrant domestic workers are not covered by national law. They do not report any violence they may be a victim of, as they know nothing will come of it. Instead, they suffer, and often return to their country.

Speaking of the non-recognition of people living in extreme poverty, Moraene Roberts underscored how the emotions and words of people living in poverty are misinterpreted: « to complain is seen as non-cooperation; to protest as aggression, to explain as making excuses ».

Indeed, the importance of understanding one another, and the language that each and everyone uses, was a major issue in the discussions, both in plenary sessions and in the smaller groups. Diana Skelton, from the International Leadership Team of ATD Fourth World, highlighted the importance of this issue at the beginning of the day.

In this choice of language, in choosing not to label people, society has a role to play. Academics, policy-makers and institutions could and should undertake changes in this area. The afternoon plenary session further underscored how fundamental this is. As one participant said, « It is not so much the solutions reached in our dialogue that are important, as being able to reach these solutions all together ».

See below several interviews of participants :
Thomas Mayes (United Kingdom), Sean Dunne (Ireland) and Ronald Schexnayder (USA)

Beatrice Epaye (Central African Republic)

Peace and mutual recognition

2012-01-26T20:05:00Z

« When the violence that is experienced by people living in extreme poverty is recognised, that brings a sort of peace to the soul ». It is through this recognition, as spoken of by Ronald Schexnayder, that pathways for peace can be built. Ronald is a member of ATD Fourth World Movement Task Force, in New Orleans, USA.

After yesterday's discussions and testimonies on the violence of extreme poverty, exchanges today centred on the type of peace participants wish to build in society. The ways in which to build this peace were also examined.

Participants discovered that peace was defined in different ways according to the context of those living it, or denied it. In Rwanda a youth group from Umuseke Association stated that peace was having enough to eat, proper health care, and access to education. Peace was also defined as a feeling that needs to be internal before being able to reproduce it by building with others. Christophe Géroudet, an ATD Fourth World volunteer in Bolivia, reminded us that extreme poverty destroys human beings. Indeed, it can lead to self destruction, when one is ignored as a human being, due to repeated acts of humiliation, a lack of recognition, and a lack of self-esteem. It demands enormous ressources of strength and courage to lift oneself, and others, out of violence and up towards peace building.

As Deirdre Mauss, also a member of ATD New Orleans Task Force, said, « Peace doesn't always happen in a big bang », and there are many pathways to peace. Showing kindness to someone who shows little, for example, but also working together to educate for peace. Hoang Thi Cong Ngoc Nguyen works at the Catalyst Foundation, in Vietnam. She underscored the importance of working in partnership with people in extreme poverty, through projects that allow all participants to learn from one another.

In ATD Fourth World's Live-In Family Developmen project in Noisy le Grand, France, cultural and artistic projects have been set up. Through active participation in the projects, children and adults discover unimagined capabilities of which to be proud. Through sharing and recognition of the equal value of all as human beings, peace is built in the community.

People living in extreme poverty, academics and development workers shared and blended their life experiences and knowledge, one day two of the Colloquium, as they did on day one. Coming together to share these experiences, with the aim of sharing them further, outside of the circle of participants, is most definitely a large step towards building peace together.

See below several interviews of participants

“Faced with the violence of extreme poverty, how can each of us play an active role in searching for peace?” : A Colloquium Responding to the Key Issues in Society

2012-01-25T06:57:08Z

From January 22 to January 28, the international colloquium: “Extreme poverty is violence - Breaking the silence - Pathways towards peace,” is bringing together people living in extreme poverty, academics, practitioners and policy makers. In the conclusion to a three-year project, they are building collective knowledge on the rarely asked question: “Faced with the violence of extreme poverty, how can each of us play an active role in searching for peace?” Through regional seminars and discussion workshops with the “merging of knowledge” methodology, this participative research and action plan has included a thousand different people in 25 countries researching two points:

The violence of taking extreme poverty for granted: What is the violence of extreme poverty? What are the consequences of this
Failure to recognize people living in extreme poverty as human beings.
Fundamental rights are denied.
Poverty eradication projects that are poorly adapted to people's actual needs.
Institutional violence and the violence of unintended policy consequences.

Peace and mutual recognition: How do we resist the violence of extreme poverty? What will allow us to take the path leading to peace together?
Self-defense strategies and protection from violence.
Conditions needed to resist and break the silence.
Understanding peace because of a refusal to accept extreme poverty.
Building peace together: resources and responsibilities.

This research is essential in today's world impacted by successive economic crises, where those who have the least are the first to suffer the consequences of national debt and austerity measures. Political leaders have decided to slash budgets in traditionally under-invested services while spending more to investigate welfare cheating. Policy makers mask their lack of long-term vision for ending extreme poverty by setting targets that seek to justify exclusion. In this troubled world that seems to turn its back on strong ideals, this research is needed for those striving toward a new form of globalization that would be guided by human dignity. This means a globalization that is not dictated by profit margins but by fairly sharing the earth's resources, a globalization that merges collective knowledge instead of monetizing knowledge, a globalization based not on uniformity but on valuing the wealth of diversity, a globalization that takes down walls in order to open spaces where a new way of living together becomes a true possibility.

“If you want peace, you have to work for it, because if you don't work for it, you won't have peace. (…) I can't accept that people don't respect me or my neighbors. If that's the case, I'll put up a fight.” (Regional seminar in Dakar - July, 2011)

This participative research and action seminar is one of the key projects of the 2008-2012 ATD Fourth World Contract of Common Commitments

Occupying North America “Usually, we are invisible”

2012-01-24T17:44:00Z

In Philadephia, Boston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Seattle, Washington, Oakland, and elsewhere, many camps have popped up since September, starting with the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York. “Thanks to Occupy, we are now talking about economic justice in the media and with our politicians. Finally!” says Peggy Simmons, a member of ATD Fourth World Movement who lives in Oakland, California.

“The economic injustice that the protestors denounce is a real issue for the American people in general,” says Michelle Williams, an ATD Fourth World supporter in Washington, DC, “More and more people are realizing that the ‘American dream' and equal opportunity for all are more myth than fact for many people. But Americans still have a really hard time accepting that someone who grew up in poverty and remains in poverty should be defended and listened to. It's easier for us to see injustice when someone had a home or job and lost it.”

“Very poor people are among the protestors and they participate in the consensus process that governs the conduct of the Occupy groups,” says Alison McCrary, an attorney for the New Orleans Occupy movement. With other attorneys, she obtained a 7-day temporary restraining order from a federal court to allow protestors to re-occupy Duncan Plaza after the mayor ordered the police to raid the site of the protests.

Peggy Simmons didn't camp with the protestors, but helped out with the Occupy Oakland Library and went to protests and General Assemblies [GAs]. “The Occupy Oakland [OO] camp was full of very poor people,” she says, “One great thing about the camp is that it has united people in the city who have been doing very grassroots work around poverty, violence, racism, social and economic justice, etc. These are small, neighborhood-based projects. It is with these activists that the very poor are most and best represented in the work of OO. They were welcomed in the camp like they are nowhere else. Part of the reason for the camp's existence was to help those who needed help.” “The GAs are an amazing way to meet and make decisions amongst diverse people,” Peggy explains, “The night after the first time the OO camp was raided, the police were violent and people were hurt. There were 3,000 people at the GA and everyone could feel like they were part of the process. That said, the GA consensus process is very dialogue-based. One of the biggest lessons I learned in the Fourth World Movement is that to really have an inclusive discussion, we need to use more than words, more than dialogue. There have been hard discussions in OO, about really divisive issues such as the degree to which an action should be “nonviolent.” The very poor would be very helpful in this discussion. I've been dreaming about having day-long creative workshops about the topic, with art and music, culminating in a theater of the oppressed forum. This is the sort of dialoguing, in my experience, that is truly inclusive.”

Myriam Verzat, a college student and ATD Fourth World supporter, participates in Occupy Montreal. “We built a place that has never existed before. Workers, students, homeless, idealists, artists, writers, journalists, politicians, retired people, and children meet here. In Victoria Square, we set up a people's democracy through General Assemblies, a common kitchen, workshops about non-violence, a choir, public readings, and poetry. We sought new ways to express ourselves, to communicate, and to make decisions. We often stumbled, we didn't always agree because we are all different, but we succeeded.” In October, the mayor of Montreal allowed the protestors to camp in Victoria Square. At the end of November, he asked them to clear the camp for security reasons. “But these problems of violence precede Occupy,” says Myriam, “They are only more visible now, grouped together in front of all the media day and night. If the city helped us, we could make of this place a safe place for everyone. We only wish that this camp could continue to live, to welcome everybody, including the most disadvantaged people. It is a place of education for all, to share solutions, and where everybody should be able to find their place.”

Jean-Christophe Sarrot and Ben Fehsenfeld

The title "Usually, we are invisible" comes from “An Open Letter from America's Port Truck Drivers on Occupy the Ports,” December, 12, 2011,

Mme Alwine de Vos van Steenwijk, Honorary President of International Movement ATD Fourth World has died

2012-01-23T20:00:00Z

The 24 of january, after several days confined to her bed, Madame Alwine de Vos van Steenwijk passed away peacefully. Her strength that she had given without hesitation or calculation to build our movement finally left her. She was 90 years old.

At the end of the 50s, when Madame de Vos was a diplomat in Paris for her country, the Netherlands, she heard about Fr. Joseph Wresinski and his fight alongside the families in the emergency housing camp of Noisy-Le-Grand. Shocked by the dreadful conditions in which families there were living, she was drawn by the originality of what they were undertaking with Fr. Joseph. She decided to take the dusty dirt track to the camp; she wanted to talk with Fr. Joseph. He suggested that she help sort the myriad things that people dropped off the families in the camp. How could she sort and arrange clothes when so many were torn and left unwashed. When the night fell, Fr. Joseph found Alwine crying and sitting on a chair in the coatroom. "Why are you crying?" "I realize how my own milieu can humiliate people in poverty. They think they are being useful by sending old shoes." "If you want to be useful, help me set up a research institute."

Thus Madame de Vos lay the foundations of the Bureau for Social Research which gave fresh credibility to the Movement's cause. It is still developing today within the framework of the International Joseph Wresinski Center. Her work marked the start of a skillful and energetic campaign for the world of science to take into account the experiences and thinking of families in deep, chronic poverty. Hundreds of texts of all descriptions bear witness to the determination of Madame de Vos to bring together and share the knowledge acquired and developed day by day so that the world would learn from it and free itself from the grip of extreme poverty and violence.

On January 26, the international colloquium, "Poverty is Violence- Break the Silence- Pathways towards Peace," will conclude with a meeting at UNESCO. This participatory research project begun three years ago brings together different sources of knowledge from a diversity of people. It reminds us that in organizing the International Colloquium on Extreme Poverty in 1964 at UNESCO, Fr. Joseph and Alwine de Vos prepared the ground for the acquisition of knowledge founded on reciprocity among people of different backgrounds.

Later, Fr. Joseph asked Alwine de Vose to become an ambassador for her own people with the ambition of enabling the Fourth World to climb the steps of the United Nations and become a new participant in international public life where the future of the community of humankind is debated developed and shaped. She never left a meeting with a top official without having posed the questions, "What shall I say to families in deep poverty" "What commitments are you prepared to make?"

After Fr. Joseph died, her chief preoccupation became to make his life known. She wrote the first biography of Fr. Joseph and worked on the creation of the two volumes "Ecrits et Paroles du Père Joseph" (Writings and sayings). She devoted all her energy to having the actions and thinking of Wresinski recognized in their own right, become more accessible, and be discussed so as to remain sources of inspiration not only in his own church, but also in political, scientific and cultural spheres. It was the first step toward developing the International Joseph Wresinski Center.

These last years, in the Netherlands, Madame de Vos launched into a marvelous experience of theatrical production with actor and professional director Laurens Umans and with families confronted with the exclusion which leads to the injustice of extreme poverty. Their highly artistic plays of great depth opened and inspired the hearts and minds of many audiences of all cultural, social, spiritual and political horizons throughout the country and Europe as a whole. A few hours before she died, she said to those around her, ?Tell the families I love them.?

All the Videos of the Colloquium: Extreme poverty is Violence. Breaking the Silence. Searching for Peace

2012-01-23T10:16:00Z

Preparatory seminar :
The Seminar of Lima (Perou) For one week, members of ATD Fourth World of the Hispanic and the Caribbean world gathered together to build knowledge based on experience of the poor to violence against them.

First day of the Colloquium: Violence and the trivialisation of poverty
Interviews of Thomas Mayes (United Kingdom), Sean Dunne (Ireland), and Ronald Schexnayder

Second day of the Colloquium: Peace and mutual recognition
Interviews of Colm O Cuanachaín (Amnesty International) and Lala Arabian (Lebanon)

The Seminar of Lima (Pérou)

Séminaire Lima 2010 - Breaking the Silence par oct17org

Interviews of Thomas Mayes (United Kingdom), Sean Dunne (Ireland), and Ronald Schexnayder

Interviews of Colm O Cuanachaín (Amnesty International) and Lala Arabian (Lebanon)

Eradicating Extreme Poverty

2012-01-13T16:21:30Z

Rejecting traditional 'top-down' approaches, Xavier Godinot and his colleagues start from the experiences, capabilities and strategies of the poor themselves. They argue that the first step is a close connection with poor communities followed by a commitment to take action alongside them. Life-stories from Burkina Faso, France, Peru and the Philippines are used to show that the poor must be involved in their own liberation.

After decades of failed development policies, this book outlines a radical new approach which will enliven debate amongst policy-makers, researchers, students and academics.

« This gem of a book gets under the skin of poverty. Years accompanying poor people in four countries in their daily struggle for survival reveal a world far more complex and fascinating than the $1-a-day platitudes of the conventional aid debate. Above all it shows the human reality of poverty: the endless struggle for respect, and against indignity and stigma. Read it to learn what development should be about. »
Duncan Green, head of research, Oxfam Great Britain

About The Author
Xavier Godinot works at the headquarters of the International Movement ATD Fourth World, where he was director of its Research Institute for twelve years. He coordinates anti-poverty projects in Southern and Northen countries, with families living in rubbish dumps, under bridges and in slums. He has edited several books about poverty in the North and the South. To buy the the book