Pedagogy of the Oppressed

In our next meeting—April 19th 2021—we will be discussing Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The Brazillian educator and Marxist-Lenninist Paulo Freire writes about how we can transform our world through education. There is absolutely no such thing as an education process which is neutral. It can either function as an instrument which is used to facilitate people into the present system and bring conformity to it or it can be used for the “practice of freedom”, as Freire argues, which means oppressed people can critically deal with reality and transform the world. Freire argues that oppressed people can regain their humanity in the struggle for liberation, but only if that struggle is led by oppressed people. This introduces the central problem of the book: how to create an education system with oppressed people, for oppressed people, that will spur consciousness and help them become more free. Oppressed people can have an unconscious fear of freedom. This is a critical text at a time where the British government has just banned anti-capitalist literature being taught at schools and decades of McCarthyism is still at play. Not only is this a critical text but it is also a fun and compassionate read. We hope you can join us for our next meeting and a copy of a free PDF is in our bio link. Solidarity.