Paulo Freire (1921 – 1997)
Brazilian educator and theorist of critical pedagogy.
"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral."
"As long as they live in the duality in which to be is to to be like, and to be like is to be like the oppressor, this contribution is impossible."
"The oppressors do not favor promoting the community as a whole, but rather selected leaders."
"The unfinished character of human beings and the transformational character of reality necessitate that education be an ongoing activity."
"People are fulfilled only to the extent that they create their world (which is a human world), and create it with their transforming labor. The fulfillment of humankind as human beings lies, then, in the fulfillment of the world. If for a person to be in the world of work is to be totally dependent, insecure, and permanently threatened--if their work does not belong to them--the person cannot be fulfilled. Work that is not free ceases to be a fulfilling pursuit and becomes an effective means of dehumanization."
"Finally, cultural revolution develops the practice of permanent dialogue between leaders and people and consolidates the participation of the people in power."
"Discovering himself to be an oppressor may cause considerable anguish, but it does not necessarily lead to solidarity with the oppressed."
"The oppressed want at any cost to resemble the oppressors."
"The behavior and reactions of the oppressed, which lead the oppressor to practice cultural invasion, should evoke from the revolutionary a different theory of action. What distinguishes revolutionary leaders from the dominant elite is not only their objectives, but their procedures."
"Only in the encounter of the people with the revolutionary leaders--in their communion, in their praxis--can this theory be built."
"The task of revolutionary leaders is to pose as problems not only this myth, but all the other myths used by the oppressor elites to oppress."
"It is essential for the oppressed to realize that when they accept the struggle for humanization they also accept, from that moment, their total responsibility for the struggle."
"Dialogue cannot exist, however, in the absence of a profound love for the world and its people."
"A real humanist can be identified more by his trust in the people, which engages him in their struggle."
"Some may think that to affirm dialogue--the encounter of women and men in the world in order to transform the world--is naively and subjectively idealistic. There is nothing, however, more real or concrete than people in the world and with the world, than humans with other humans."
"Authentic thinking, thinking that is concerned about reality, does not take place in ivory tower isolation, but only in communication. If it is true that thought has meaning only when generated by action upon the world, the subordination of students to teachers becomes impossible."
"Critical and liberating dialogue, which presupposes action, must be carried on with the oppressed at whatever the stage of their struggle for liberation."
"It is not suprising that the banking concept of education regards men as adaptable, manageable beings."
"It is accomplished by the oppressors depositing myths indispensable to the preservation of the status quo."
"A fact which is not denied but whose truths are rationalized loses its objective base. It ceases to be concrete and becomes a myth created in defense of the class of the perceiver."