People living in extreme poverty make choices every day to look out for one another and to defend the inalienable dignity of all. Their struggle also requires “supporters” — people from all walks of life (students, teachers, musicians, administrators, homemakers, scientists, labor leaders, journalists, and others) — who choose to make ATD Fourth World part of their lives.

Their responsibility is to promote changes in society so that all people are included and their rights respected.

In the words of Joseph Wresinski:

[We appeal] not only to the government but to all citizens, for it is they who finally determine the choices and main direction of any society. Confronted with exclusion, the Fourth World reminds us, established members of society, that a new alliance must be formed: an alliance between the accepted and the unaccepted. […] To be faithful to this alliance, we will follow through completely our challenge to any of society’s projects that excludes the weakest. We will impose, in every field, the participation of the most disadvantaged. Following through, in fact, means denouncing everything that puts a person in a situation of inferiority and leads to his rejection by others. We will impose on the government a project for the whole of society in the name of defending the most underprivileged and the respect of their rights.

To learn more about how you can take action alongside people living in poverty, please contact ATD in your country or region.