Historical overview and approach:

The joint action and the group to group negotiation mechanism consists in the implementation in an open setting of the democratic approach of social mediation which was developed by the psychoanalyst and sociologist Gérard Mendel. For 30 years, Mendel encouraged the development of applications related to this mechanism in France, Belgium, Argentina and currently in Quebec, from the standpoint of sociopsychoanalysis (1). 

In Montreal, the mechanism was tested in 1997 on the basis of a pilot project and a partnership established between a postdoctoral researcher, three youth community organizations, and three elected officials from the city of Montreal. Following the positive evaluation of the project(2), other partners joined in, and the implementation of the mechanism took place between 2001 and 2003, with the participation of 200 street youths. 

Since 2004, various improvements were added, namely additions of other groups of actors to make the mechanism more responsive to the targeted objectives(3).The establishment of this mechanism was funded by J.W. McConnell foundation. Today, the mechanism benefits from IPAC (Institute of Public Administration of Canada) federal grant. Established in 2001, the "DéSisyphe" (read: decisive) collective supervises the implementation of the mechanism in Montreal.

Objective:

Launch a process of democratic socialization to initiate a trend of action ownership for all the actors involved and among the street youth.

 

Main goals:
Recognize the political impact of street life and construct a group stand among the actors involved.  

Build a 'bridge' between the periphery and the centre and according to egalitarian principles.

Switch from a reactionary logic to a logic based on dialogue that will enable confrontations and avoid standoff.

Enable street youth to deal with their problems in a democratic way, that will allow them to realize that society is not a jungle.

Enhance knowledge and improve the understanding of others’ realities.
Possibility to seek common solutions to achieve urban cohabitation.

Enable participants to better understand the nature of social actions, and involvement with street youth.

The DéSisyphe collective :

Michel Parazelli (parazelli.michel@uqam.ca)

 

Coordinator of this mechanism with street youth in Montreal:

Annamaria Colombo (colombo.annamaria@uqam.ca)

 

Link to the original text (in French only).

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