- ‘It is solely by risking life that freedom is obtained.’ – Georg Hegel (36)
- ‘Sectarianism, fed by fanaticism, is always castrating.’ (37)
- ‘Closing themselves into ‘circles of uncertainty’ from which they cannot escape, [sectarians] ‘make’ their own truth. It is not the truth of men and women who struggle to build the future, running the risks involved in this very construction. Nor is it the truth of men and women who fight side by side and learn together how to build this future – which is not something given to be received by people, but is rather something to be created by them. Both types of sectarian, treating History in an equally proprietary fashion, end up without the people – which is another way of being against them.’ (38)
- ‘Each [sectarian], however, as he revolves about ‘his’ truth, feels threatened if his truth is questioned. Thus, each considers anything that is not ‘his’ truth a lie. As the hournalist Marcio Morcina Alves once told me, ‘They… suffer from an absence of doubt.’ ’ (39)
- ‘[The radical] is not afraid to confront, to listen, to see the world unveiled. This person is not afraid to meet the people or to enter into dialogue with them. This person does not consider himself or herself the proprietor of history or of all people, or the liberator of the oppressed: but he or she does commit himself or herself, within history, to fight at their side.’ (39)
- ‘The pedagogy of the oppressed… is a task for radicals; it cannot be carried out by sectarians.’ (39)
- ‘The oppressed must not, in seeking to regain their humanity… become in turn oppressors of the oppressors, but rather restorers in the humanity of both.’ (44)
- ‘Any attempt to ‘soften’ the power of the oppressor in deference to the weakness of the oppressed almost always manifests itself in the form of false generosity; indeed, the attempt never goes beyond this.’ (44)
- ‘True generosity consists precisely in fighting to destroy the causes which nourish false charity. False charity constrains the fearful and subdued, the rejects of life to extend their trembling hands. True generosity lies in striving so that these hands – whether of individuals or entire peoples – need be extended less and less in supplication, so that more and more they become human hands which work and, working, transform the world. This lesson and this apprenticeship must come, however, from the oppressed themselves and from those who are truly solidary with them.’ (45)
- ‘The pedagogy of the oppressed, a pedagogy which must be forged with, not for the oppressed (whether individuals or peoples) in the incessant struggle to regain their humanity. This pedagogy makes oppression and its causes objects of reflection by the oppressed, and from that reflection with come their necessary engagement in the struggle for their liberation.’ (48)
- ‘the resolution of this conflict must be objectively verifiable.’ (50)
- ‘Formerly, they could eat, dress, wear shoes, be educated, travel, and hear Beethoven; while millions did not eat, had no clothes or shoes, neither studied nor traveled, much less listened to Beethoven. Any restriction on this way of life… appears to the former oppressors as a profound violation of their individual rights – although they had no respect for the millions who suffered and died of hunger, pain, sorrow, and despair. For the oppressors, ‘human beings’ refers only to themselves; other people are ‘things’. For the oppressors there exists only one right: their right to live in peace, over against the right, not always even recognized, but simply conceded, of the oppressed to survival, And they make this concession only because the existence of the oppressed is necessary to their own existence.’ (57)
- ‘The oppressor consciousness tends to transform everything surrounding it into an object of its domination. The earth, property, production, the creations of people, people themselves, time – everything is reduced to the status of objects at its disposal.’ (58)
- ‘Our convert[ed oppressor]s, on the other hand, truly desire to transform the unjust order: but because of their background they believe that they must be the executors of the transformation. They talk about the people, but they do not trust them; and trusting the people is the indispensable precondition for revolutionary change.’ (60)
- ‘Those who authentically commit themselves to the people must re-examine themselves constantly.’ (60)
- ‘To affirm this commitment but to consider oneself the proprietor of revolutionary wisdom, which must then be given to (or imposed on) the people – is to return the old ways. The man or woman who proclaims devotion to the cause of liberation yet is unable to enter into communion with the people, whom he or she continues to regard as totally ignorant, is grievously self-deceived. The convert who approaches the people but feels alarm at each step they take, each doubt they express, and each suggestion they offer, and attempts to impose his ‘status’, remains nostalgic towards his origins.’ (60-61)
- ‘Only through comradeship with the oppressed can the converts understand their characteristic ways of living and behaving, which in diverse moments effect the structure of domination.’ (61)
- ‘Self-deprecation is another characteristic of the oppressed, which derives from their internalization of the opinion of the oppressors hold of them. So often do they hear that they are good for nothing, know nothing and are incapable of learning anything – that they are sick, lazy, and unproductive – that in the end they become convinced of their own unfitness.’ (63)
- ‘Almost never do they realize that they, too, ‘know things’ they have learned in their relations with the world’ (63)
- ‘The oppressed must see examples of the vulnerability of the oppressor so that a contrary conviction begins to grow within them.’ (64)
- ‘When the situation calls for action, that action will constitute an authentic praxis only if its consequences become the object of critical reflection.’ (66)
- ‘The liberation of the oppressed is liberation of women and men, not things.’ (66)
- ‘The correct method lies in dialogue.’ (67)
- ‘The only effective instrument is a humanizing pedagogy in which the revolutionary leadership establishes a permanent relationship of dialogue with the oppressed.’ (68)
- ‘Education must begin with the solution of the teacher-student contradiction, by reconciling the poles of the contradiction so that both are simultaneously teachers and students.’ (72)
- ‘One cannot impose oneself, nor even merely co-exist with one’s students. Solidarity gives true communion.’ (76-77)
- ‘Education as the exercise of domination stimulates the credulity of students, with the ideological intent (often not perceived by educators) of indoctrinating them to adapt to the world of oppression.’ (78)
- ‘Liberating education consists in acts of cognition, and transferals of information.’ (79)
- ‘The problem-solving educator constantly re-forms his reflections in the reflection of the students. The students – no longer docile listeners – are now critical co-investigators in dialogue with their teacher. The teacher presents the material to the students for their consideration, and re-considers her earlier considerations as the students express their own.’ (80)
- ‘Banking [memorization] education (for obvious reasons) attempts, by mythisizing reality, to conceal certain facts which explain the way human beings exist in the world; problem-posing education sets itself the task of mythologizing. Banking education resists dialogue; problem-posing education regards dialogue as indispensable to the act of cognition which unveils reality. Banking education treats students as objects of assistance; problem-posing education makes them critical thinkers.’ (83)
- ‘To alienate human beings from their own decision-making is to change them into objects.’ (85)
- ‘Problem-posing education does not and cannot serve the interests of the oppressor.’ (86)
- ‘Action for action’s sake – negates the true praxis and makes dialogue impossible.’ (88)
- ‘How can I dialogue if I consider myself a member of the in-group of ‘pure’ men, the owners of truth and knowledge, for whom al non-members are ‘these people’ or ‘the great unwashed’?’ (90)
- ‘At the point of encounter there are neither utter ignoramuses or perfect sages; there are only people who are attempting, together, to learn more than they now know.’ (90)
- ‘Without this faith in people, dialogue is a force which inevitably degenerates into paternalistic manipulation.’ (91)
- ‘Trust is contingent on the evidence which one party provides the others of his true, concrete intentions.’ (91)
- ‘Founding itself upon love, humility, and faith, dialogue becomes a horizontal relationship of which mutual trust between the dialoguers is a logical consequence.’ (91)
- ‘Hope, however, does not consist in crossing one’s arms and waiting.’ (92)
- ‘If the dialoguers expect nothing to come out of their efforts, their encounter will be empty and sterile, bureaucratic and tedious.’ (92)
- ‘The revolutionary’s role is to liberate, and be liberated, with the people.’ (95)
- ‘No activity must escape the attention of the investigators during the initial survey of the area.’ (112)
- ‘The revolutionary effort to transform these structures radically cannot designate its leaders as its thinkers and the oppressed as its mere doers.’ (126)
- ‘The earlier dialogue begins, the more truly revolutionary with the moment be.’ (128)
- ‘Those who steal the words of others develop a deep doubt in the abilities of others and consider them incompetent. Each time they say their word without hearing the word of those whom they have forbidden to speak, they grow more accustomed to power and acquire a taste for guiding, ordering, and commanding. They can no longer live without having someone to give orders to. Under these circumstances, dialogue is impossible.’ (134)
- ‘The oppressors halt by any method (including violence) any action which in even incipient fashion could awaken the oppressed to the need for unity. Concepts such as unity, organization, and struggle are immediately labeled as dangerous.’ (141)
- ‘The more alienated people are, the easier it is to divide them and keep them divided… These focalized forms of action, by intensifying the focalized way of life of the oppressed (especially in rural areas), hamper the oppressed from perceiving reality and keep them isolated from the problems of oppressed men and women in rural areas.’ (142)
- ‘It is indispensable for the oppressors to keep the peasants isolated from the urban workers, just as it is indispensable to keep both groups isolated from the students.’ (145)
- ‘The dominators try to present themselves as saviors of the women and men they dehumanize and divide. This messianism, however, cannot conceal their true intent: to save themselves.’ (145)
- ‘Children in their infancy increasingly internalize the parental authority.’ (154)
- ‘…the antidialogical behavior of persons who, although convinced of their revolutionary commitment, continue to mistrust the people and fear communion with them. Unconsciously, such persons retain the oppressor within themselves, and because they ‘house’ the master, they fear freedom.’ (155)
- ‘To the professionals, it seems absurd to consider the necessity of respecting the ‘view of the world’ held by the people. The professionals are the ones with a ‘world view’. They regard as equally absurd the affirmation that one must necessarily consult the people when organizing the program content of educational action. They feel that the ignorance of the people is so complete that they are unfit for anything except to receive the teachings of the professionals.’ (156)
- ‘Well-intentioned professionals… eventually discover that certain of their educational failures must be ascribed, not to the intrinsic inferiority of the ‘simple men of the people’, but to the violence of their own act of invasion. Those who make this discovery face a difficult alternative: they feel the need to renounce invasion, but patterns of domination are so entrenched within them that this renunciation would become a threat to their own identities. To renounce invasion would mean ending their dual status as dominated and dominators. It would mean abandoning all the myths which nourish invasion, and starting to incarnate dialogical action. For this reason, it would mean to cease being over or inside (as foreigners) in order to be with (as comrades). And so the fear of freedom takes hold of these men. During this traumatic process, they naturally tend to rationalize their fear with a series of evasions.’ (156)
- ‘the culture of the dominant class hinders the affirmation as beings of decision.’ (157)
- ‘[The oppressed] resort (stimulated by the oppressor) to magical explanations or a false view of God, to whom they fatalistically transfer the responsibility for their oppressed state. It is extremely unlikely that these self-mistrustful, downtrodden, hopeless people will seek their own liberation – an act of rebellion which they may view as a disobedient violation of the will of God, as an unwarranted confrontation with destiny. (Hence, the oft-emphasized necessity of posing as problems the myths fed to the people by the oppressors.)’ (163)
- ‘In the theory of antidialogical, conquest (as its primary characteristic) involves a Subject who conquers another person and transforms her or him into a ‘thing’. In the dialogical theory of action, Subjects meet in cooperation in order to transform the world. The antidialogical, dominating I transforms the dominated, conquered thou into a mere it. The dialogical I, however, knows that it is precisely the though (‘not-I’) which has called forth his or her own existence.’ (167)
- ‘Cooperation leads dialogical Subjects to focus their attention on the reality which mediates them and which – posed as a problem – challenges them. The response to that challenge is the action of dialogical Subjects upon reality in order to transform it. Let me reemphasize that posing reality as a problem does not mean sloganizing it: it means critical analysis of a problematic reality.’ (168)
- ‘…devoured by tuberculosis, schistosomiasis, infant diarrhea… by the myriad diseases of poverty (most of which, in the terminology of the oppressors, are called ‘tropical diseases’).’ (172)
- ‘In cultural synthesis, the actors who come from ‘another world’ to the world of the people do so not as invaders. They do not come to teach or to transmit or give anything, but rather to learn, with the people, about the peoples’ world.’
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