Dire la pauvreté, qu’est-ce que cela change …

Michèle Grenot, mouvement ATD Quart Monde

Grenot.michele(at)gmail.com

Abstract: The paper outlines the similarities between two historical periods: 1) The time of the French Revolution and the reflection about the exclusion of the poorest from all political rights. A key figure in this respect was a certain Dufourny, who voiced his indignation in his Cahiers du Quatrième ordre, l’ordre sacré des infortunés (“Register of the Fourth Estate, the Sacred Order of the Poor”). 2) Over two centuries later, Joseph Wresinski creates the term Fourth World, collating the two notions of the Fourth Estate and of the Third World. The term means that participation of the poorest is imperative in all countries – including so-called democracies – to build a more just and humane society that is liberated from the “scourge of extreme poverty”.