The Third World Meeting of Popular Movements

Rome, 2-5 November 2016

Representatives of various excluded populations – including slum-dwellers, farm workers, displaced and refugees, unemployed and precarious workers – have been are invited by Pope Francis for a World Meeting of Popular Movements (EMMP) in the Vatican, the third to be held, from 2 to 5 November 2016. About 170 delegates will be participating from some 65 countries around the world. The meeting takes place at Pontificio Coll. Internazionale Maria Mater Ecclesiae, Via Pietro de Francisci (Via Aurelia).

The panels and workshops, during the four day, will focus on the principal themes which have traditionally concerned the popular movement meetings: Land, Housing and Work, identified by the Holy Father as the 3 T’s in Spanish: Tierra, Techo y Trabajo.

On this occasion, new topics and analysis will be introduced: peoples and democracy; territory and nature; and the particular situation of thedisplaced and refugees. Every discussion is based on the experience of people who suffer these conditions and is oriented towards generating ideas and proposals for helping one another.

Juan Grabois, member of the Organizing Committee of EMMP, explained “There is a huge number of Organizations, made up by the excluded themselves. They do not resign themselves to the misery imposed upon them. With solidarity they resist the current technocratic paradigm. The dialogue among us and with the church is meant to make known, encourage and link these processes which emerge from the bases or grass-roots”.

Regarding Land, Housing and Work, Grabois affirmed: “The 3 T’s remain the heart of our meetings. They are rights. They have been and are being violated by an unfair system that leaves millions of people behind and outside, in the cities and in the countryside. They are peasants without land, families without a home, and workers without rights. The WMPM is their meeting, they are the protagonists of these days”.

The opening panel of this third EMMP will take place on 2 November at 2:00 p.m. with members of the Organizing Committee: Card. Peter Turkson,Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace – Vatican; João Pedro Stédile, Movimiento de los Trabajadores Sin Tierra (MST) – La Vía Campesina – Brasil;Juan Grabois, Movimiento de Trabajadores Excluidos (MTE) – Confederación de Trabajadores de la Economía Popular (CTEP) – Argentina; Jockin Arputham, National Slum Dwellers Federation of India – Slum Dwellers International (SDI) – India; y Xaro Castelló, Hermandad Obrera de Acción Católico (HOAC) – Movimiento Mundial de Trabajadores Cristianos (MMTC) – España.

On Saturday afternoon 5 November, the closing session will bring all the participants, along with members of many Italian grassroots organizations, in dialogue with Pope Francis in the Aula Paolo VI. He will receive a document with all the proposals made in the four days of meeting.

Press contacts:

Gabriela Bonus  +39 327 422 5455 – Italia/  +54911 32669917 – Argentina

Gerardo Gamarra +55 11 97273 7742 – Brasil

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