Against the backdrop of a long and major crisis linked to the pandemic, the team at the Joseph Wresinski Archives and Research Centre (JWC) sought to implement everything possible from the outset to \u201ckeep going, despite the challenges\u201d, guided by two key principles: maintain our ties and continue our missions. This required continuing with day-to-day tasks and the ongoing projects, in compliance with the JWC programme, while also maintaining the ties within the team and with the teams of the Movement beyond the JWC premises, as well as with all its partners involved in the various tasks associated with the archives, documentation and research projects.<\/p>\n
From the moment of the first lockdown, the JWC team mobilised resources to ensure that everyone had the means to continue with their work, despite the distances and the absence of physical connections in the workplace, which was often keenly felt. The everyday work of the JWC was coordinated via virtual meetings. The processing of digital archives was given priority and reinforced to enable classification work to continue, while the work to describe physical archives continued on-site at a minimum, where possible, while respecting the government measures<\/p>\n
Young people were particularly affected by the severing of societal and cultural ties resulting from the crisis. As such, the JWC sought to reinforce the inclusive and participative aspect of its legacy and research work by welcoming student interns, young volunteers undergoing training or in transition, and participants of workshops organised by the Movement, and supporting them on-site in Baillet-en-France.<\/p>\n
The JWC also quickly mobilised resources to collect and publish testimonies on the Movement\u2019s websites of what those living in extreme poverty were living through, how they were coping and their thoughts on the period. \u201cIf we do not create history,\u201d says Bruno Tardieu, Director of the JWC, \u201cif we do not keep a record of how those living in extreme poverty are experiencing this period, nobody will know what happened. History, as witnessed by certain people, will be erased by that witnessed by others.\u201d For a large part of the global population, confinement has not been possible: if people do not go out in the morning, they will not eat in the evening. The unusual nature of the situation for many prompted the following remarks from one activist in Belgium: \u201cFor those of us living in poverty, being isolated is the norm. Perhaps now, others will realise what we live through every day\u2026 I hope \u2013 he says \u2013 that this will be a turning point, a sort of \u2018reset\u2019 button.\u201d<\/p>\n
The disruptions due to the exceptional nature of the crisis brought on by the pandemic and the many measures put in place by the public authorities to safeguard health and control socialising in order to combat the pandemic have shone a light on the \u2018ordinary\u2019 elements of the JWC team\u2019s work. It is this aspect of the everyday life and activities of the JWC, during a pandemic, that we have sought to highlight in this Activity Report.<\/p>\n
We would like to interpret the JWC\u2019s will to maintain its ties and continue its missions, despite all the challenges, as a contribution to a \u2018reset\u2019 towards an alternative world, a world that neither forgets nor leaves anybody behind.<\/p>\n
Download the full report below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Maintain our ties and continue our missions Against the backdrop of a long and major crisis linked to the pandemic, (…) Read more