A-Infos (en) France, OCL CA #344 - Abbé Pierre: And yet they knew (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

A first testimony from July 2023 reports a sexual assault on a woman by 
the "saint" Abbé Pierre, who died in 2007. Then a cascade of others 
reveal similar facts between 1970 and 2005, including one concerning a 
minor... ---- In the shadow of the icon... ---- For a long time, Abbé 
Pierre was elected "Favorite Personality" of the French, ahead of the 
singer Jean-Jacques Goldman. His call for "the insurrection of 
goodness", launched on the airwaves of Radio-Luxembourg during the harsh 
winter of 1954, sparked a powerful movement of solidarity to help the 
homeless. Since then, the abbé has co-founded the Emmaüs communities. 
The halo has remained in the minds and hearts of the French, but had 
very early on interested politicians.
Once the shock of the revelations had passed, reality came galloping 
back. Accusations of sexual violence were brought against the priest as 
early as 1953 in the USA, then in Canada in 1959. He was then sidelined 
for a while in a clinic in Switzerland. "... the church needed Father 
Pierre, who restored its image, its popularity, and it could not allow 
such a scandal to break out" (France Bleu, 09/2023). The Church has been 
embroiled for decades in the scandals of pedophilia of priests that it 
has hidden, the latest of which concerns the Church of Belgium. The 
institution as well as former executives of Emmaüs who were also aware 
of it therefore covered up Father Pierre's actions. But this time 
everyone is taking the lead: opening files, erasing all reminders and 
memories concerning him, promised compensation, etc. Christian empathy 
towards the victims or simple stopgap to limit once again the ravages of 
the scandal, the leaks, the desertions of the flock and sheep?

Emmaüs or the idea of a Christian charity
"These revelations are shaking up our structures within which the figure 
of Abbé Pierre occupies a major place", reacted the representative of 
the Emmaüs France movement in a press release. Like many other 
capitalist companies, it is necessary to make people forget, to get rid 
of the negative image in order to survive (1). Like the Church, Emmaüs 
is adapting. Denial is no longer an option given the scandal of the 
protégé. Everything related to the character must be erased. Following 
the 17 new accusations, the Abbé-Pierre Foundation is closing its 
memorial center in Seine-Maritime, Emmaüs is renaming and removing the 
portraits of the abbé from the communities, while Emmaüs International 
is considering forms of compensation for the victims.
But the ecclesiastical icon was also useful to the bourgeoisie. It 
served its interests. It knew how to recover what was sincere in the 
"call" of Abbé Pierre at its beginnings. Ideal ideological screen to 
hide behind the image of charity, the perpetuation of an exploitation of 
misery that its economic and social policies produced. Emmaüs 
International is present in more than thirty countries. In France with 
more than 120 communities, there are 30,000 people who continue the 
"solidarity fight", according to Emmaus-France.org. Companions, 
employees or volunteers in integration find refuge there, but also 
undocumented immigrants in search of residence permits, who represent 
more than 70% of the people welcomed. Since 2010, communities can be 
approved OACAS ("community reception organizations for social 
activities"), but without obligation of affiliation. Since 2018, the 
asylum and immigration law has stated that undocumented immigrants can 
obtain a residence permit if they can prove three years of activity 
within an OACAS. Many will probably not see the long-awaited sesame.
Officially, Emmaüs does not have employees but "solidarity workers", who 
in exchange for their "participation" receive a monthly income of 350 
euros and decent accommodation. A special status was concocted for them 
in 2008 by the former president of Emmaüs, Martin Hirsch. The same one 
who, having become a minister under F. Fillon under the presidency of N. 
Sarkozy, would then crack down on the ransacking of the APHP (Public 
Assistance/Hospitals of Paris) (2). This status deprives volunteers of 
any recourse to the industrial tribunal in the event of a dispute with 
the head of a community, due to the lack of an employment contract. With 
this text, Mr. Hirsch and the government have simply legalized and made 
these closed places lawless zones. And, in fact, these workers find 
themselves outside the regulations that cover all employees. Volunteers 
are entirely dependent on the association, or even on the judgment of 
the person in charge of the place. A docile workforce that can be 
exploited at will.

It is in these lawless areas that social struggles will break out, 
denouncing living and working conditions. One of the striking employees 
declares: "We don't cost much but we can bring in a lot of money." Thus 
in June 2023, during the struggle at the Halte Saint-Jean community in 
Saint-André-lez-Lille (3) followed by others in the North, the online 
newspaper Street Press revealed the conditions to which these 
"solidarity employees" were subjected. "We worked 40 hours a week for 
150 or 300 euros a month... No right to miss due to illness or injury... 
Muslims didn't have a day to celebrate Eid..." This center had also, 
following the hunger strike movement, undergone a preliminary 
investigation for undeclared work and human trafficking. In 2022, the 
head of the Halte Saint Jean boasted of having broken the productivity 
record, and therefore collected more than 30,000 euros. Is this a 
special case or are these living and working conditions the lot of many 
Emmaüs communities? In 2022, it was the online newspaper Reporterre that 
already revealed the arbitrariness exercised for accommodation. It 
highlighted the conditions of expulsion in the middle of winter of sick 
or injured companions, who had therefore become unproductive and without 
recourse against their managers.

Business is business
We are far from the "insurrection of kindness" advocated by the priest 
at the time, but which already compensated for the shortcomings of the 
State. The priest was therefore nothing more than an empty image, a logo 
for Emmaüs as for any capitalist company. The myth of the character 
allowed ideological oppression and the mystification of populations 
inclined to beliefs and who had retained the call for generosity of 
1954. They probably saw mutual aid and a bit of justice on Earth. 
Catholic charity then masked the ignoble capitalist reality. It 
hypocritically allowed the hidden exploitation of these damned of the 
Earth. Thus shone the benevolent halo. For the happiness of bourgeois 
governments, this charitable model took charge of the relegated that it 
had produced. Charity replaced class solidarity.
Are these individual cases, isolated slip-ups of managers, or can we see 
the harmful role of the State via its institutions in the concealment 
and reproduction of this violence? Are we not on the contrary faced with 
a morbid, persistent continuity of a daily life that has long been 
hidden or minimized? If the influence of one and the exploitation of the 
other could exist, it is also because capitalist institutions at 
different levels, with their relays, reproduce and legitimize such 
situations. A necessary submission and exploitation of individuals and 
populations to establish domination and perpetuate the reproduction of 
Capital.

Decaen, 09/15/2024

Notes
1. Let us remember, after the scandals, Thomson TSF which became Thalès, 
France Télécom Orange, Aréva Orano. And, recently, the ORPEA group which 
became EMEIS to erase the scandals in EHPADs, etc.
2. Reorganization of working time: employees lose 2 to 5 days of RTT. 
Elimination of beds and services: 10 to 20%. Debt: 2.1 billion in 2014, 
3.1 billion in 2021, etc.
3. Read also CA n° 234 (April 2024): "Revolt and strike of undocumented 
workers in the Emmaüs communities of the North.

http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4286
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