Joseph Wresinski: Carving a Space for the Cause of People in Poverty in France, from the 1950s to the 1980s – Frederic Viguier

Posted on 10 June 2017

Round Table: When the Poorest Became Partners – June 8, 2017

Frederic Viguier is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Institute of French Studies in New York University, USA.

Frederic Viguier reflects on the initial project of Joseph Wresinski – making people in poverty full actors in the fight to overcome poverty – and at what that project became at the moment of his death in 1988. Viguier compares two periods: the first stretched from the 50’s to the 80’s, with the arrival of Wresinski at the emergency housing camp in Noisy-le-Grand, and the foundation of ATD Fourth World; the second period was beginning in the 80’s as ATD Fourth World supported the creation of the RMI (part of the French welfare system), alongside people living in extreme poverty. The idea is to measure the distance traveled, notably with regards to “including those in extreme poverty in the fight to overcome poverty.”