The Year against Poverty concerns all of us
09-03-2010

The European Union has declared 2010 the “Year of fighting and reducing Poverty and Social Exclusion” and  despite the fact that the Danish government didn’t open the “Year” until the beginning of March the Project Outside has from the first of January regarded this year with great interest.

We think that it is absolutely a step in the right direction that the European Union  does now focus upon the problems that follow poverty and social exclusion. This year demands new initiatives as well from the state as from the municipalities and all the organizations. It is necessary that we start debating seriously these problems.

But, does  this year only turn to professional persons and public institutions and authorities? What about all the Danes who don’t know much about poverty and social exclusion?  - shouldn’t the message also reach them?

In order to make new and better initiatives in the fight against poverty it is important that the Danes know that, as a matter of fact, we do have many poor and homeless people in Denmark.

In Copenhagen as in the rest of Denmark many organizations and municipalities have started relief work and projects directly meant for the marginalised groups. This effort is commendable and indispensable, but it is an important part of the fight against poverty to pass on knowledge and try to influence peoples attitude towards the homeless and maginalised groups and exactly this part of the work could be intensified.

The Year against Poverty 2010 has set up the frames of our efforts to focus upon poverty and Project Outside wants to call upon everybody to participate the debate in order to obtain the best possible results.

Project Outside wants to reach all Danes and challenge their attitude and their knowledge about the conditions of homeless people by showing the art exhibition: “STOP HOMELESSNESS!”. Most people have an idea about what it is to be homeless, and they also have an attitude to the problems of homeless people, so why not bring out more informations and try to create a debate about these problems.

Remembering the sentence ”The life-story of a homeless is best told by a homeless”,

we will exhibit thirteen sculptures  all made by the sculptor Jens Galschiøt and all representing homeless people and poverty in different ways.

The thirteen sculptures will be displayed in central squares in Copenhagen, Odense, Århus and Aalborg from April to June. They all focus in a different and very direct way on the conditions of homeless people in Denmark. We hope that they will give the Danes an idea of the financial, mental and social empoverishment that the homeless meets every day.

Setting up the exhibition  “STOP HOMELESSNESS”  does not mean that we  want to go out and tell everybody how our society can stop exclusion and create better conditions of life for all of us. On the contrary: the sculptures are supposed to start a debate in which any attitude can be expressed because we think that the most important is to start a discussion about these problems.

In the EU Year against Poverty the homeless people should be among the first we should be concerned about.