WORKSHOP « Building a sense of solidarity through school activities »

WORKSHOP

« Building a sense of solidarity through school activities »

1. METHODOLOGY

FORMAT:

The format used for the animation was a newspaper article dealing with French storekeepers recruiting vigils in order to expel tramps from the shopping districts because they have negative effect on business and they dissuade the potential buyers.

First I invite the participants to read the text. The article is consists of several paragraphs, so I ask each participant to read one by one a paragraph. When the reading ends, I ask the participants to think about a question. I give them a short time. In turn, each of them comes to write his/her question and his/her name on the board. This methodological plan enables to produce thinking abilities like thinking over and questioning.

Understanding :

As soon as all the questions are written on the board, I read them one after the other and I ask if everybody understands the questions. I ask the participants if there are some questions that appear to be unclear. If one question doesn’t seem to be understandable, I ask the participant who wrote it to express what he really wanted to say, and eventually, I ask him (or the assembly) to reformulate his/her question. If the reformulation enables to the question to receive a better welcome, we write it on the board instead of the first one.

This methodological plan, enables to produce one new thinking ability: reformulation

Criticism/identification of the presuppositions When the questions appear to be clear for everyone, I ask if, according to them, there are some questions containing presuppositions, prejudices or allusions. Sometimes, some questions contain preconceived ideas or presuppositions. I invite the participants to identify the presuppositions appearing in the questions and to reformulate the questions in a way that there are neither ambiguities nor presuppositions anymore.

For example, this question:

“Why does the presence of the tramp affect business?” A participant suspects there is an assertion in the question. That’s why, he asks to reformulate in a neutral way the question.

So,the question is reformulated this way: “Does the presence of tramps affect the business?”

The methodological plan leads to others skills: justifying reasons (why the questions contain presuppositions), reformulation and thinking over.

SELECTION OF THE THEME OF THE DISCUSSION :

We proceed to a vote and the question which collects most votes is chosen. The discussion can start. I invite the participants to make assertions, to give definitions, examples, comparisons. I also ask them to give counter-examples, to justify their positions by calling upon reasons, to consider hypotheses and their inverse hypotheses.

2. SYNTHESIS

Presentation of our Comenius Regio Project Greece-Belgium to the participants, students and colleagues of the Industrial School of Charleroi (social promotion school for adults/evening school)

•The moderator, Maximilien Dorseuil (CAL/Centre of Secular Action) invites us to read a text : “Driving avay homeless people begging outside shops only shifts the problem” (Le Figaro)

•SUMMARY

In La Rochelle, France, storekeepers recruit security guards to drive away homeless people who might disturb the customers. However these guards just want to discuss with them without violence. Social help organizations doubt about the efficiency of this action.•We are asked to write a question on the board :.What’s the problem?•Why does the presence of homeless do harm to business?

•Do they want to get rid of homeless people?•“ framing homeless”? Putting them in a category?•Can we show solidarity to some people without missing solidarity to other people?Some of the questions appear to be unclear and the moderator asks us to rephrase because there could be several interpretations.

APPROACHED THEMES

•Solidarity limits•Solidarity or generosity

•Showing solidarity means entering into conversation with the other•Solidarity and recognizing the other in the action

•Solidarity and individualism•Solidarity to have a clear conscience : ex : Is a homeless the reflection of hidden feelings in ourselves/ the society? (shame, regret, guilty feeling, selfishness)

•Definition of “the true poor”•Naïve generosity and solidarity

•Political instrumentalization of social issues (Charleroi, La Rochelle)•European example : “Is Greece the homeless of Europe?”•Nationalism and European solidarity.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.