A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #348 - Culture, Read Marion Cuerq: A childhood in the NORTH, for an education without violence and at a child's level (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

What if the root of all dominations was located in childhood? The way we 
treat children teaches us a lot about the society in which we live, 
defends Marion Cuerq in her book. It is not a militant book like we are 
used to sharing between comrades. And yet the argument that unfolds 
there is truly subversive: the basis of all the structures of oppression 
in our societies is to be found in supposedly educational violence, 
asserts Marion Cuerq.
A specialist in children's rights, she looked into this issue very early 
on and it was to train herself that she decided to live in Sweden. The 
first country in the world to have legislated to prohibit all forms of 
child abuse, Sweden is today one of the healthiest democracies in the 
world, according to the author.

If this observation is probably debatable, the diagnosis made on French 
society is very accurate: mistreating a child, physically or 
psychologically, is very rarely punished socially (judicially let's not 
talk about it). Worse, parents who try to practice listening and respect 
are often singled out. This state of affairs is both constitutive and 
revealing of a society based on distrust of others, verticality, 
authoritarianism.

Getting on the level of the child-author
Cuerq offers two concepts that she translates herself, from Swedish 
educational sciences: child-height and child-author. She notes in 
passing that many words used in Swedish are missing in French, just as 
terms like "child king" or "put in the corner" are difficult to 
translate the other way. Which reveals a deep impregnation of mentalities.

Childhood therefore: it is about looking at the world with the eyes of a 
child, to try to understand what they are experiencing. It is a duty 
that adults have who are supposed to take care of the children around 
them. Do not expect the child to adapt, but try to see how he perceives 
things, in order to create the most horizontal relationship possible. 
The child-author is the imperative of not losing sight of the fact that 
despite all the good will in the world, only an individual who is ten 
years old today knows what it is like to be ten years old today. 'today. 
We must therefore listen as much as possible to those primarily 
concerned and take their opinions into consideration.

In terms of law, the author recalls that France is a signatory to the 
International Convention on the Rights of the Child. This 1989 text, 
which is presented and explained at length in the book, places the child 
at the heart of a project for a fairer and more democratic society. 
Childhood is not a stage towards adulthood but a fundamental moment in 
an individual's life. And adults therefore have a duty to build a 
society that is welcoming and adapted to the little ones. In doing so, 
we are building a more open and healthier society, we are moving away 
from ableism, racism, fascism (even if Cuerq does not use these words). 
An often moving read.

Mélanie (AL's friend)

Marion Cuerq, A childhood in the NORTH: for an education without 
violence and at the level of the child, Marabout, 2023, 222 pages, 18.90 
euros

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Lire-Marion-Cuerq-Une-enfance-en-nORd-pour-une-education-sans-violence-et-a
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