STOP Poverty Launch Events
A variety of events will be held both in public and private to launch ATD Fourth World’s 2017 STOP Poverty campaign. The list below includes details on some of the most prominent :
February 8, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York a side event will take place at the annual meeting of the General Assembly Commission on Social Development. This roundtable discussion will address the central concern of the new Sustainable Development Goals: who is left behind and why? Speakers will include: Francois Delattre, French Ambassador to the United Nations; Emma Speaks, ATD Fourth World activist; Christopher Winship, Professor of Sociology at Harvard University; Frédéric Viguier, Professor at New York University; and Genevieve Tardieu, Director of International Relations at ATD Fourth World. This event will be broadcast live on facebook. More about this event below.
February 10, 11, & 12 in Angers, France, the birthplace of Joseph Wresinski, there will be a weekend of events, beginning with a ceremony at the town hall to recognize Joseph Wresinski alongside people living in poverty and others who work to support them. Isabelle Perrin, General Director of ATD Fourth World, and Christophe Bechu, Senator and Mayor of Angers, will launch the STOP Poverty: Together in Dignity call to action. A walking tour will visit key sites of Joseph Wresinski’s childhood. In addition there will be theatrical performances, conferences, and a performance of “Joseph’s Monologue of the Stabat Mater of Pergolesi” by Michael Lonsdale, performed by Laurence Benezit, Soprano. See below for this event’s program in French.
February 14, at the Economic, Environmental and Social Council in Paris, France, there will be a special session to highlight the international impact of the “Wresinski Report”, Chronic Poverty and Lack of Basic Security, on the fight against poverty in France. The session takes place on the 30th anniversary of the report’s publication.
February 11, at the Titus Brandsma memorial in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, words from Joseph Wresinski chosen by hundreds of school children from across the country will be added to the Wall of Peace. Titus Brandsma was a Dutch priest sent to a concentration camp for speaking out against Nazism.
February 11, ATD Fourth World Bangui, Central African Republic will host a roundtable discussion of the Wresinski approach to poverty with Maurice Guimendego, historian; Timoléon Kokongo, lawyer; Médard Sané, theologian; Eugen Brand, former Director General of ATD Fourth World; and the members of ATD Fourth World Central African Republic. The roundtable will begin with a performance of “Zo Kwe Zo” (Every Man Is a Man), a song which will be sung around the world throughout 2017 as part of the STOP Poverty campaign.
February 12, in New Orleans USA, Trinity Episcopal Church will organize a concert including songs of resistance and dignity from 20 countries. This concert is one of the first in a series of musical performances that will take place in 2017 as part of an international choir partnership with the STOP Poverty campaign.
In February, ATD Fourth World Latin America, in partnership with the University of Cuzco and the University of Mexico, will publish a book, authored jointly by intellectuals and people living in poverty, about the relevance of Joseph Wresinski’s writings for Latin America.