Brussels, 19/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - Members of the Wresinski Circle and ATD Fourth World are organising a conference-debate on Wednesday 4 February in Brussels. The theme of the debate will focus on the poorest members of society as guarantors of art and its meaning, as well as the theme of art for living. Bernard Foccroulle, the director of the Aix-en-Provence festival, has collaborated with Fourth World families in Brussels and will come and talk about his experience and the role of art when one is living in poverty. His speech will be introduced with an extract from a speech made by Father Joseph Wresinski during an evening debate in Paris on 16 March 1987 on the liberating effect of cultural sharing.
In this extract, Father Wresinski points out that “for 30 years, ATD Fourth World has been asserting the right of the poorest sections of the population to develop their identity and, subsequently, their own future. This right requires the means of collective cultural expression and the resources for voluntary work”. Father Wresinski adds that “developing culture through others is about reciprocity…I can testify at length about the innate sense most deprived children have for expression through colour and drawing their lives, making decisions, the far-sightedness of the young and their authenticity in theatre, whether this takes part in caves, attics, the doors of council estates, the slums of East New York or the capitals of countries in the third world. We can debate the artistic value of these creations and in so doing defend the artistic value on them on their own merit. I would like to, above all, bear witness to the strength of the message underpinning such expression. No trainer or volunteer from ATD Fourth World, or anyone at all would have been able to help develop such creativity, if freedom was not already there in the hearts of these people, if their creation was not already a cry for freedom, a challenge in the face of despair”. Father Wresinski concluded that “poverty destroys man but it also teaches him that he has to destroy poverty. Poverty reminds us that it is also our duty to join in this adventure, in the name of human rights because in building together with the poorest, freedom is an adventure. Freeing intelligence, imagination and the creativity of families for whom we have minimised culture is also a fight for human rights”.
The Joseph Wresinski Circle brings together citizens from all backgrounds to reflection upon the relevance of the Joseph Wresinski project for society in our current world. It will be of interest to all those who want to develop their thinking, share their views on poverty and discuss with other people. Joseph Wresinski believed that extreme poverty constituted a denial of one of the most fundamental of rights. In a press release, ATD Fourth World explains that the poorest people must be considered as the main protagonists in the fight against poverty. They have to be involved in devising, implementing and assessing policies that affect them and also become the essential point of reference for any societal project. Info: delegations.ue@atd-quartmonde.org (G.B./transl.rh).