Activist Paulo Freire's life (fwd)

kerry miller (mailto:astingsh@KSU.EDU)
Tue, 6 May 1997 13:33:34 -0500 

Message-ID:  <Pine.SOL.3.91.970506133130.23691M-100000@fox.ksu.ksu.edu>
Date:         Tue, 6 May 1997 13:33:34 -0500
From: kerry miller <mailto:astingsh@KSU.EDU>
Subject:      Activist Paulo Freire's life (fwd)
To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 5 May 97 19:20:19 CDT
From: mailto:jmrosen@ix.netcom.com
Subject: Activist Paulo Freire's life


Paulo Freire died Friday and was buried Sunday. Forwarded message
from RSMackin:


)Freire gained notoriety in the 1960s for his work of literacy training with
)Brazilian peasants.   His work was threatening to the oppressive order,
)because he encouraged students to not only learn to read, but also to
)question the author... to, as he was fond of saying, "Be the subject of
your education."  After the coup of 1964, Freire left Brazil for Chile and
then later for the United States.  During his exile, Paulo continued to
study, write and build  connections with struggles around the world.  It was
during this period that   Pedagogy of the Oppressed was first published, his
)seminal work, which would  become a lasting source of inspiration and
)guidance for all people the world over.  Paulo's work is very special.  He
)wrote to us with an overwhelming  love of humanity and an absolute refusal
)to tolerate oppression.  He taught us to struggle with dignity.  As he said
)in Pedagogy of the Oppressed:
)
)  "Because it is a distortion of being more fully human, sooner or later
being less human leads the oppressed to struggle against those who made them
so. In order for this struggle to have meaning, the oppressed must not, in
seeking to regain their humanity (which is a way to create it), become in
turn oppressors of the oppressors, but rather the restorers of the humanity
of both... This, then, is the great humanistic and historical task of the
oppressed to liberate themselves and their oppressors as well.  The
oppressors, who oppress, exploit, and rape by virtue of their power, cannot
find in their power the strength to liberate the oppressed or themselves.
Only the power that springs from the weakness of the oppressed will be
sufficiently strong to free both" (p. 26).


)Paulo has impacted educational theorists (Ira Shore, Henry Giroux, Ivan
)Illich and Michael Apple are some of the people who have noted his
)importance for their work) and liberationist movements throughout Latin
)America.  He will be sorely missed.
)