Video presentationof participatory action research project, “Extreme Poverty is Violence- Breaking the Silence – Searching for Peace”

All over the world, thousand of people face the violence of extreme poverty every day.  Too often, however, people in poverty and their communities are targeted as the cause of violence. Society seldom acknowledges the violence inflicted by grinding poverty, discrimination, and exclusion. Suffering goes on in silence and ignorance. From 2009-2012, however, some 1000 people who live in deep poverty worldwide decided to break the silence.  They took part an action-research project that affirmed the violence of extreme poverty. They came together to share not only their pain, but their resilience and their initiatives for peace.

Their sharing culminated in an international colloquium entitled, “Extreme Poverty is Violence – Breaking the Silence – Searching for Peace.” In that colloquium they shared their knowledge and their proposals with academics, public officials and others active in field of peace-building. This 26-minute video illustrates their daily struggles and their continual efforts to move forward to build community.