"When human beings are condemned to live in misery, human rights are violated. Coming together to ensure respect for these rights is a sacred duty."
This is how it is written on the commemorative plaque for the victims of poverty in the atrium of Trocadéro in Paris, placed by Father Joseph Wresinski on October 17, 1987, on the occasion of the large march that inaugurated the World Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The location, very evocative, is the same place where the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed.}
Father Joseph Wresinski experienced the consequences of poverty from his childhood: with a Spanish mother and a Polish father, he grew up in a very poor neighborhood in Angers. At a point in his life as a priest, he decided to live in a homeless camp on the outskirts of Paris: a community affected by unemployment, alcoholism, prostitution, school dropout, children in the care of social services... It was here that the need to stand alongside them against poverty arose, rejecting any patronizing approach to awake the protagonism of these desperate people and help them defend their own rights.
The film "Joseph the Rebel" (2011) allows us to get to know this "rebellious" man and relive the passionate struggle experienced by the families in the camp, which gave rise to ATD Fourth World, a movement that brings together all those who decide to fight against poverty, regardless of their culture or religion, and it has spread been to over a hundred countries.
What Father Joseph was clear about is that poverty cannot be eradicated with mere material aid, which without the involvement of the recipients, can even contribute to making them more dependent and passive. Instead, it is necessary to fight alongside them, at various levels, from the grassroots to the highest levels of politics. Declaring war to the sense of inevitability, resignation, dishonor, and inferiority that deeply undermines human dignity. Those trapped in poverty need a voice, a listening ear, access to culture, and the awareness that they deserve those rights that must be claimed together.
Sometimes, poverty and destitution are considered synonymous, but the difference between these two terms can help us better define the enemy to be fought against. Any form of poverty makes life much more precarious and vulnerable, but not all forms of poverty are equally condemnable, as I see here in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where many people, despite having little celebrate the joy of living, smile easily, and walk with their heads up high.
On the other hand, destitution must always be fought because it disfigures, degrades, and strips away dignity. Today and Father Joseph Wresinski's reflection provide an opportunity to be aware of our "sacred duty" to fight against this enemy and the strategy to be adopted: to maximize and value what destitution undermines, human dignity.
