Tanita Brown's life in Bushwick Brooklyn doesn't have any slack. Still a teenager, she helps her grandmother raise her younger brother and provides shelter to recently evicted neighbours. When Tanita has the chance to speak about poverty in the United Nations she's excited…. but even more overwhelmed , especially when she meets the disparaging Blandine Dulavoir, a UN Diplomat. Blandine runs her Manhattan life like a well oiled machine - until meeting Tanita and the volunteers who run children's art workshops on the sidewalk. When Ahmed travels from Tanzania to New York, both Tanita and Blandine are pushed to re-examine the way they look at the world.
In 2019, this book was a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

[Translated from the original English]
Un discours peut-il vraiment changer la donne ? C’est la question que Tanita se pose lorsque l’occasion lui est offerte de s’exprimer au siège de l’ONU à New York, pour la Journée mondiale du refus de la misère. Mais comment s’adresser à des diplomates qui n’ont aucune expérience concrète de la pauvreté ?

Faut-il parler des mères de son quartier, luttant au quotidien contre une administration absurde ? Des ateliers d’art pour les enfants et de l’implication des volontaires dans le quotidien des familles ? D’Ahmed, venu de Tanzanie pour l’aider dans la préparation du discours et qui découvre que les États-Unis sont loin d’être exempts de pauvreté ? Et puis à quoi bon rencontrer Blandine et Varag, ce couple sophistiqué travaillant à l’ONU ?

Des gratte-ciels de Manhattan aux ghettos du Bronx, une histoire qui nous emmène à la rencontre de l’autre, loin des préjugés.

Every day, around the world, people living in poverty work for peace in often unseen ways. Joining in this struggle has been the mission of the International Movement ATD Fourth World for more than 50 years. ATD Fourth World’s newest book, Artisans of Peace Overcoming Poverty, introduces partners in peace-building whose efforts have too often remained unrecognized. People committed to solidarity in Haiti, Madagascar, the United States, Guatemala, and elsewhere help us to understand their efforts, encouraging all those around the world who strive to overcome the injustice of poverty. In Haiti, these are people like: Merita Colot, who lived in a “no-go zone” and made a point of opening her door for child development projects; Jean-Hughes Henrys, a doctor who refuses to leave for greener pastures and who fights brain drain by encouraging young people to remain despite hardship; and Michèle Montas, then Special Adviser to the UN, who sought out people like Merita and her neighbors so they could provide insights from their experience on how to rebuild the country in such a way that no one would be left behind. Artisans of Peace is rooted in participatory research that was conducted by ATD Fourth World on the violence of extreme poverty that showed just how much people living in poverty do to search for peace, to go beyond violence, and to build a sense of community. Through narratives and numerous color photos, we discover the acts of courage, as well as the creativity, experience, and insights of people born into poverty who are striving to overcome it together with others.

Artisans of Peace Overcoming Poverty introduces partners in peace-building whose efforts have too often remained unrecognized. Volume 2 shares stories of defending human rights in various places — in Lebanon, as Syrian refugees are welcomed; in the Philippines, as climate change displaces thousands of families; and in France, where poverty-based discrimination affects hiring, housing, and health care. This book describes how people living in poverty search for peace, go beyond violence, and build a sense of community.

"Artisans of Peace Overcoming Poverty" introduces partners in peace-building whose efforts are rarely recognised. Volume 3 recounts how young people in the Central African Republic continued organising Street Libraries with children throughout the civil war that began in 2013. In the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and elsewhere, living in poverty are victimised by stereotypes and feared as a source of violence; but the greatest violence is done to them. Their participatory research leads to a new understanding about the choices people make to end the silence surrounding this violence and work towards peace. For almost sixty years, ATD Fourth World has sought out people in the most serious situations of extreme poverty. In low-income communities, this movement of people coordinates projects such as Street Libraries, the People’s University, and fair-trade workshops. Over the years, in many parts of the world, members have witnessed the violence wrought by poverty. First in post-war Europe, and then in Africa, the Americas, and Asia, ATD has brought together people who live in poverty, making it possible for them to end the silence about this violence, and reinforcing their efforts to create peace in their communities.

How would your experience of the COVID-19 pandemic have been different if you had no access to the internet?

The APLE Collective - a group seeking to eradicate poverty – rooted their pandemic activism in expertise held by those with lived experience of poverty. This resulted in the decision to campaign against the exclusively digital response to the crisis and the alienation of people in poverty.

Drawing on case studies from Thrive Teeside, ATD Fourth World and Expert Citizens (APLE Collective organisations), this book interrogates the term ‘lived experience’. It critically investigates how knowledge gained from lived experiences of poverty is integral to developing effective COVID-19 policy responses.