Agree to Differ

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Image: ATD Fourth World

Dialogue is often enriched by techniques like those used by the Theatre of

the Oppressed, which empowers the disenfranchised to initiate change

Belgian People’s University participants at the European Parliament

with officials

platforms, other participants said, “Hey, we’re facing the same

problems as you are.” People have prejudice fed by racism in

society, but here they begin working on their own prejudice.

“Indirectly, this work is part of overcoming racism with

people of very different backgrounds. Each one has a legiti-

mate place in the dialogue… People debate, exchange ideas,

put themselves in each other’s place, and try to understand the

others… In preparation groups, people take strength because

they’ve found a place for talking and making plans. People can

speak about their own religion and culture and be questioned

by others. That’s how we struggle against racism. People were

able to talk about [the attack in] Paris without taboos and to

hear points of view that are different from those of the media.”

Moreover, as participants get to know each other in the

People’s University, the quality of the connections creates

powerful bonds among people of all races and ethnicities.

For example, when a Roma woman in Belgium was struggling

with homelessness and discrimination, her entire preparation

group joined forces to help her find housing.

Long before people come together in a People’s University,

relationships of trust were developed through our daily pres-

ence in low-income communities. Véronique Morzelle, of ATD

Fourth World’s Volunteer Corps, gives an example of how this

developed in Marseille with her neighbour, Lisette Delapeyre,

an immigrant from the Comoro Islands off the coast of Africa:

“The Street Library we had organized was already a place

of peace for all the children. But parents wanted to form a

tenants’ association as well. For a long time, however, it never

got off the ground. Then there was a very tense time, with a lot

of robberies. More and more young people were arrested. For

Comoran parents, this was unbearable. One mother collapsed

in the street when she heard of her child’s arrest.

“Looking for solutions, some adults invited an imam to

bring them together as a sign to young people that the adults

refused to accept what was happening. This grew into the

tenants’ association. It began with parents praying for the

young people. Sometimes that was misunderstood. Other

neighbours wondered if the prayers were meant to help

the young people or to banish them. Lisette shook things

up, insisting that the young people be invited to join in the

prayers. It remained hard for people of different origins to

speak to one another in public. Connections were made more

often in stairwells or in one another’s homes. This led many

mothers from Comoro and a few from North Africa to become

active for the first time in the Street Library Festival, joining

others to plan cultural activities for the children.”

Lisette adds: “They ended up creating forms of solidarity

that neither Véronique nor I had imagined. The families had

been isolated from one another before, but they had the same

concerns. When Véronique and I went together to listen to

them and to read the Qur’an, they became open to listening

to us, too. Véronique is Catholic, and they accepted her. They

were ready to be open; it just needed to happen with specific

people.” Together, Lisette and Véronique created a context

where people could live up to their aspirations for themselves

and for their neighbourhood.

While the suffering of poverty can cause people to lash

out, it can also be a source of compassion. To give a tragic

example, people in poverty know how hard it is to grow up

in foster care, as did the Kouachi brothers who attacked the

Charlie Hebdo offices in January 2015. Following the attacks,

a French woman who lives in poverty reacted, saying: “What

hurts me the most is that they were French, too. They grew up

here, just like us. They’re like my son, who was put in foster

care, who was also part of a rap group. But they were unlucky;

they were led to do wrong.” A Belgian People’s University

participant who grew up in foster care, Michel Brogniez,

reflected: “It’s hard when you’ve been badly treated from a

young age. We’re in the dark, but we want to see the light.

Peace will begin the day you realize that the person in front

of you is exactly the same as you: a person to be respected.”

They and many others who express similar sentiments do not

gree

iffer