O T H E R BOOKS BY P A U L 0 F R E I R E

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Education for Critical Consciousness

Pedagogy of the City
Pedagogy of Hope:
Reliving Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Pedagogy of the Heart
The Paulo Freire Reader
 CHAPTER

hile the problem of humanization has always, from an

axiological point of view, been humankind's central
problem, it now takes on the character of an inescapable
-

'
concern. Concern for humanization leads at once to the recognition
of dehumanization, not only as an ontological possibility but as an
historical reality. And as an individual perceives the extent of dehu-
manization, he or she may ask if humanization is a viable possibility.
Within history, in concrete, objective contexts, both humanization
and dehumanization are possibilities for a person as an uncompleted
being conscious of their incompletion.
But while both humanization and dehumanization are real alter-
natives, only the first is the people's vocation. This vocation is con-
stantly negated, yet it is affirmed by that very negation. It is

1. The current movements of rebellion, especially those of youth, while they

necessarily reflect the peculiarities of their respective settings, manifest in their
essence this preoccupation with people as beings in the world and with the world-
preoccupation with what and how they are "being." As they place consumer civiliza-
tion in judgment, denounce bureaucracies of all types, demand the transformation
of the universities (changing the rigid nature of the teacher-student relationship and
placing that relationship within the context of reality), propose the transformation of
reality itself so that universities can be renewed, attack old orders and established
institutions in the attempt to affirm human beings as the Subjects of decision, all
these movements reflect the style of our age, which is more anthropological than
anthropocentric.
 PEDAGOGY O F T H E OPPRESSED -49

Liberation is thus a childbirth, and a painful one. The man or

woman who emerges is a new person, viable only as the oppressor-
oppressed contradiction is superseded by the humanization of all
people. Or to put it another way, the solution of this contradiction
I is born in the labor which brings into the world this new being: no
longer oppressor nor longer oppressed, but human in the process
of achieving freedom.
This solution cannot be achieved in idealistic terms. In order for
the oppressed to be able to wage the struggle for their liberation,
they must perceive the reality of oppression not as a closed world
from which there is no exit, but as a limiting situation which they
can transform. This perception is a necessary but not a sufficient
condition for liberation; it must become the motivating force for
liberating action. Nor does the discovery by the oppressed that they
exist in dialectical relationship to the oppressor, as his antithesis-
that without them the oppressor could not exist4-in itself constitute
liberation. The oppressed can overcome the contradiction in which
they are caught only when this perception enlists them in the strug-
gle to free themselves.
The same is true with respect to the individual oppressor as a
person. Discovering himself to be an oppressor may cause consider-
able anguish, but it does not necessarily lead to solidarity with the
oppressed. Rationalizing his guilt through paternalistic treatment
of the oppressed, all the while holding them fast in a position of
dependence, will not do. Solidarity requires that one enter into the
situation of those with whom one is solidary; it is a radical posture.
If what characterizes the oppressed is their subordination to the
consciousness of the master, as Hegel affirm^,^ true solidarity with
the oppressed means fighting at their side to transform the objective
reality which has made them these "beings for another." The oppres-

4. See Hegel, op. cit., pp. 236-237.

5. Analyzing the dialectical relationship between the consciousness of the master
and the consciousness of the oppressed, Hegel states: "The one is independent,
and its essential nature is to be for itself; the other is dependent, and its essence
is life or existence for another. The former is the Master, or Lord, the latter the
Bondsman." Ibid., p. 234.

I
1

I
I
I
I PEDAGOGY O F T H E OPPRESSED -53

prqblem of critical intervention. "To explain to the masses their own

action" is to clarify and illuminate that action, both regarding its
relationship to the objective facts by which it was prompted, and
regarding its purposes. The more the people unveil this challenging
reality which is to be the object of their transforming action, the
more critically they enter that reality. In this way they are "con-
sciously activating the subsequent development of their experi-
ences." There would be no human action if there were no objective
reality, no world to be the "not I" of the person and to challenge
I them; just as there would be no human action if humankind were
I not a "project," if he or she were not able to transcend himself or
herself, if one were not able to perceive reality and understand it
in order to transform it.
In dialectical thought, world and action are intimately interdepen-
I dent. But action is human only when it is not merely an occupation
I but also a preoccupation, that is, when it is not dichotomized from
reflection. Reflection, which is essential to action, is implicit in Lu-
k8cs' requirement of "explaining to the masses their own action,"
just as it is implicit in the purpose he attributes to this explanation:
that of "consciously activating the subsequent development of expe-
rience. "
For us, however, the requirement is seen not in terms of ex-
plaining to, but rather dialoguing with the people about their ac-
tions. In any event, no reality transforms itselKg and the duty which
Luk8cs ascribes to the revolutionary party of "explaining to the
masses their own action" coincides with our affirmation of the need
for the critical intervention of the people in reality through the
praxis. The pedagogy of the oppressed, which is the pedagogy of
people engaged in the fight for their own liberation, has its roots
here. And those who recognize, or begin to recognize, themselves

9. "The materialist doctrine that men are products of circumstances and up-
bringing, and that, therefore, changed men are products of other circumstances
and changed upbringing, forgets that it is men that change circumstances and that
the educator himself needs educating." Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Selected
Works (New York, 1968), p. 28.
 ~ ~ . P A U LF RO E I R E

as oppressed must b e among the developers of this pedagogy. No

pedagogy which is truly liberating can remain distant from the op-
pressed by treating them as unfortunates and by presenting for their
emulation models from among the oppressors. The oppressed must
be their own example in the struggle for their redemption.
The pedagogy of the oppressed, animated by authentic, humanist
(not humanitarian) generosity presents itself as a pedagogy of
humankind. Pedagogy which begins with the egoistic interests of
the oppressors (an egoism cloaked in the false generosity of paternal-
ism) and makes of the oppressed the objects of its humanitarianism,
itself maintains and embodies oppression. It is an instrument of
dehumanization. This is why as we affirmed earlier, the pedagogy
of the oppressed cannot be developed or practiced by the oppres- .
sors. It would be a contradiction in terms if the oppressors not only
defended but actually implemented a liberating education.
But if the implementation of a liberating education requires politi-
cal poker and the oppressed have none, how then is it possible to
carry out the pedagogy of the oppressed prior to the revolution?
This is a question of the greatest importance, the reply to which is
at least tentatively outlined in Chapter 4. One aspect of the reply
is to be found in t h e distinction between systematic education,
which can only be changed by political power, and educational proj-
ects, which should be carried out with the oppressed in the process
of organizing them.
The pedagogy of the oppressed, as a humanist and libertarian
pedagogy, has two distinct stages. In the first, the oppressed unveil
the world of oppression and through the praxis commit themselves
to its transformation. In the second stage, in which the reality of
oppression has already been transformed, this pedagogy ceases to
belong to the oppressed and becomes a pedagogy of all people in
the process of permanent liberation. In both stages, it is always
through action in depth that the culture of domination is culturally
confronted.1° In the first stage this confrontation occurs through the

10. This appears to be the fundamental aspect of Mao's Cultural Revolution.

 PEDAGOGY O F T H E OPPRESSED -57

is oppressive only when it prevents people from being more fully

human. Accordingly, these necessary restraints do not in thenz.selues
signify that yesterday's oppressed have become today's oppressors.
Acts which prevent the restoration of the oppressive regime cannot
b e compared with those which create and maintain it, cannot be
compared with those by which a few men and women deny the
majority their right to be human.
However, the moment the new regime hardens into a dominating
"bureaucracy"" the humanist dimension of the struggle is lost and
it is no longer possible to speak of liberation. Hence our insistence
that the authentic solution of the oppressor-oppressed contradiction
does not lie in a mere reversal of position, in moving from one
pole to the other. Nor does it lie in the replacement of the former
I oppressors with new ones who continue to subjugate the op-
pressed-all in the name of their liberation.
But even when the contradiction is resolved authentically by a
new situation established by the liberated laborers, the former op-
pressors do not feel liberated. On the contrary, they genuinely con-
sider themselves to be oppressed. Conditioned by the experience
of oppressing others, any situation other than their former seems to
them like oppression. 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, in the
name of the rights of the community appears to the former oppres-
sors 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

11. This rigidity should not be identified with the restraints that must be im-
posed on the former oppressors so they cannot restore the oppressive order. Rather,
it refers to the revolution which becomes stagnant and turns against the people,
using the old repressive, bureaucratic State apparatus (which should have been
drastically suppressed, as M a x so often emphasized).