- ATD Fourth World

AN APPEAL FOR SOLIDARITY (Extracts)

Father Joseph Wresinski
17 November 1977 - Mutualité, Paris

An appeal to the Allies of the Movement

I appeal not only to the State but to all citizens, for it is they who ultimately make the choices and determine the main directions of any society.

Confronted with exclusion, the Fourth World reminds us, who are recognised citizens, that a new alliance must be forged: an alliance between those who are accepted and those who are considered as outcasts.

This alliance must transform the basis of our political life, change the ideas of our time, give a new spirit to our institutions and laws, and revive the life of our Churches.

This new alliance which we should bring about with the Fourth World will ensure that everywhere the cause of rejected people will be defended.

But to be true to such an alliance, we must fight to the end against any societal undertaking which excludes the poorest, and we will insist on the participation of the underprivileged in every situation.

For to fight out the battle to the end, we should be ready to denounce whatever makes an individual feel inferior and rejected.

We will lead such a campaign in the schools attended by our children, refusing the neglect of the least gifted child, and of the child crushed by the weight of his family’s poverty.
We will campaign in the business community and will demand that work be offered to those who have no professional training. In times of economic crisis, we will see to it that workers’ solidarity comes out fully in their favour.
Such a campaign will lead us to fight for the underprivileged in our organisations, and in any family associations, groups or clubs that we belong to. In a word, we will no longer accept that the underprivileged should be forgotten or neglected anywhere.

By joining political parties, we will contribute to creating new trend in policies towards a society without exclusion.

We shall force on governments societal undertakings based upon the defence of the underprivileged and the respect of their rights.

As for believers, may they act in such a way that, thanks to their dynamism and faith, their Churches become first to welcome the most destitute. Moreover for centuries, haven’t they been places too pray for and to struggle against war, poverty, ignorance and against the domination of the powerful and the learned? May the Churches, thanks to these believers, become again places where the most unprotected, unknown and suffering people will feel at home; a place of hope, a place of sharing, a place where power is cast aside, but also a place to witness God’s refusal to accept oppression, injustice and hatred.

Our struggle in campaigns against war, starvation and the disregard of human rights will reinforce our refusal to accept any form of exclusion; for exclusion is but the last stage of persecution against the dignity of men and women and the respect due to them.

If we can, we shall always give more of our time to fight against ignorance within the very heart of the poorest, to awaken the population living in dire poverty to reading, writing, learning, art, poetry and music.

Educators and teachers will join those in the Movement who are opening "street libraries" and running "cultural action centres".

Sociologists, economists or psychologists will participate in research activities which have been carried out by the Movement’s Institute over the last fifteen years to establish a body of scientific knowledge about the very poor.

Jurists will strengthen advocacy groups which take upon them to defend the rights and interests of the Fourth World.

Those of us who are representing a country, or those who are responsible in any way for the solidarity among citizens, we will do our utmost to ensure that organisations representing very poor people have their rightful place as social partners in any national body or institution.

Nurses and doctors will take up the defence of the poor patient in hospitals, family planning clinics, etc…

Writers and journalists will continue to the creation of a language accessible to the least educated: exclusion of all kinds should be denounced.

Without exception, all of us, we can and we must provide financial support.
All of us, we will take the commitments of the Movement into account, giving all we can in our campaigning, our justice and our love :
in opting for thankless struggle against poverty,
in denouncing all situations that make a man feel inferior.

Thus our campaign will become the will of the whole nation to get rid of extreme poverty.

An appeal to the Fourth World Activists and Delegates

Activists and delegates of the Fourth World, I now appeal to you.
You more than anyone will be affected by the decisions which will be made this evening concerning you and your children. It is your refusal to live without hope, your refusal to be considered responsible for your suffering, and your refusal to be treated as if you didn’t exist or as if you were useless that has inspired our Movement. Indeed, what is this Movement if not the expression of your revolt, and also your cry for help?

However, you know that nobody will set you free without your participation. You have been let down and abandoned too many times. You know that wider society does not have the same interests, the same ideas, or the same plans as you. That is why you are the main players in your liberation; you will be the first to take responsibility for the change in your lives.

Taking responsibility means that you must continue with training and learning, and meeting to discuss your situation. You must insist upon a school suitable for your children, and a job which gives you independence and guarantees your family a decent life. It will also mean demanding vocational training suited to your background, together with the means to get involved in cultural and spiritual activities.

So that your families may gain respect, and that your children can have the right to your love and to be brought up by you, our aim for the next 10 years is to wipe out illiteracy, to improve school attendance and ensure that no child fails.

Undoubtedly we will need others’ help to achieve these aims but we can also play our part. Let those who know how to read and write teach their neighbours how to. Let each of us take responsibility for getting training for ourselves and our community. Let us sign up for life-long learning and encourage our grown-up children to do the same.

Taking responsibility also mans joining organisations, parent-teacher associations, tenants’ associations, trade unions and political parties. You too are entitled to fight for justice, peace and human rights.

Taking responsibility means participating in the principal struggles of humanity. You will participate in these struggles on equal terms and you will make sure that the fight against poverty is included.

We cannot bring great learning, we cannot bring gold our silver, but we have something with others haven’t and which they need to know about - our experience of what it means to be excluded.

We know, better than anyone else, what freedom is for we have always had to be dependent upon others. We know what equality means, having been treated as inferior and as useless parasites. We understand the honour of being a human being, having had to bear the burden of scorn. We have experienced everything that can humiliate and wound a person, a family or a community. If we join in other struggles, it will be to make others aware of those who are crushed, in extreme suffering, wretchedness and despair.

Conclusion

Therefore I invite you tonight to create an alliance between those who live in extreme poverty and society, an alliance between the excluded and non-excluded, an alliance which must change the relationships between people, political life and the thinking of our time.

I am asking you to make a real contract tonight between those in poverty, the State and all citizens. What is at stake in this contract is the creation of a democracy which learns from the lessons if its own injustice towards the disadvantaged and restores to them their responsibilities as citizens.