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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 9. 1ts May 1973

"Pedagogy of the Oppressed",. — "Cultural Action for Freedom"

"Pedagogy of the Oppressed",.

"Cultural Action for Freedom".

The works of Paulo Freire are, in my opinion, of paramount importance to all progressive people in New Zealand. Freire is concerned with how the oppressed can achieve awareness—how the 89% that G.G. ignored can liberate themselves through what Freire calls 'cultural action and conscientization'. The oppressed in New Zealand are the alienated, unaware majority—workers in the factories and in the offices that produce the goods and and services in our economy.

Freire's main premise is that the major contradiction in the world today is between the oppressor and the oppressed. The act of dominance deprives the oppressed of their 'thought-language' and imposes that of the oppressor. The thought-language' of the oppressor constitutes the myths, rationalisations, the superstition and fatalism that uphold the state of oppression.

Oppression is dehumanizing, says Freire, because it deprives man of his uniquely human right to know and understand his life in his society, and, therefore, deprives him of the right to control his own destiny. Humanization, becoming aware of oppression and thereby organising with one's fellows to achieve freedom, is the process which these two books describe.

Briefly, humanization is achieved by a process of dialogue between 'teacher-students' and 'student-teachers'. First, the oppressed must see themselves as subjects rather than objects. That is, the oppressed must realise that they make the culture in which they live and that the relationships and social actions in that culture are not pre-ordained (although they are controlled by the oppressor). This is achieved by getting the oppressed to teach the teacher-student about their lives. Knowledge of the lives of the oppressed enables the teacher-student to initiate dialogue about the oppression through which the oppressed become aware. Through dialogue the oppressed name the world (their experiences) and thus develop a 'thought-language' with which they can understand their lives, and most important, their oppression.

As the dialogue develops the teacher poses problems that help the oppressed to clarify their understanding of their lives in society, and to finally achieve awareness and praxis. Praxis is "learning to perceive social, political, and economic contradictions, and to take action against the oppressive elements of reality".

This is the pedagogy of the oppressed. Praxis, cultural action for freedom, is in some quarters labelled mere reformism. Freire developed his theories of education in Brazil where their practice was centred on a rural adult literacy campaign. After Freire's literacy teams left a village the peasants would begin to organise in Peasants' Associations and work for the end of landlordism and for land redistribution. Thus Freire's method was so successful in inciting rebellion that one of the first acts of the military regime after the coup of 1964 was to put Freire in prison. Freire was subsequently exiled to Chile where he helped institute a literacy campaign based on his principles in the shanty towns. It was the change of vote in the shanty towns which was one of the factors in Allende's election as president.

The essence of Freire's theories are universal and can be applied to any situation where oppression exists. "For the dialogical problem-posing teacher-student the programme content of education is ... the organised, systematised, and developed 'representation' to individuals of the things about which they wish to know more". Or, as another well known political thinker who developed parallel ideas somewhat earlier said: "In all the practical work of our Party, all correct leadership is necessarily 'from the masses, to the masses'. This means: take the ideas of the masses (scattered and unsystematic ideas) and concentrate them (through study turn them into concentrated and systematic ideas), then go to the masses and propagate and explain these ideas until the masses embrace them as their own, hold fast to them and translate them into action, and test the correctness of these ideas in such action".

Freire also has many other words of wisdom to offer us on such subjects as sectariansim and verbalism. So, instead of deriding Christians even though they be Marxists, (Freire is one of the mythical Christian-Marxists), and engaging in other sectarian practices, bone up on your revolutionary ideology. Both books, though heavy going, are well worth the effort. And, who knows, if we can put them into practice perhaps the government may not let a certain Mr Freire into N.Z. in May 1974 at which time it is rumoured he may be coming.