Freire ( oppressor & oppressed )

                                                                                                       Christy Kim

This question came from my real concern/experiences :

While I was preparing this, I really wondered if what I prepared was the banking method or not. I think using a ppt might lean toward a banking method and I wanted to avoid that. So, I was wondering how to do this so it is critical pedagogy and not banking. Also, what is the best way to handle a situation when the audience is quiet and not participative? How long should the presenter wait before speaking?

I was reading some headlines and thinking about the recent news and it made me wonder.

The Libyan uprising, Tunisia & Egyptian protests. Syria, Bahrain and so on. Who is the oppressor?

Gadafi, Mubarak. Then what about Bill Gates?

20% of the population (Americans) got over 89% of the wealth. The next 20% has little over 10% but the second-lowest 20 %& the bottom 20% is too small so they are not even on here!

If this situation exists too long, what will happen? What would Frerie say? P26

He might say as on page 26, “sooner or later being less human leads the oppressed to struggle against those who made them so”. (After being treated so badly for such as long time then eventually the oppressed will revolt, like what is happening now and what has happened in the past.)

Oppressor – Oppressed  p.26 What is oppression? P37. third paragraph starting with “Any situation…” “sooner or later being less human leads the oppressed to struggle against those who made them so”

What is oppression? P37. third paragraph starting with “Any situation in which “A” objectively exploits “B” or hinders his/her pursuit of self-affirmation.”

Can anyone give me some examples of this? North Korea, China, Myanmar…how about Samsung group or corporate America, like Wall Street or Microsoft? Why are they? Each in their own way, exploits people for their profit and in combination with other corporations enslave people to work for them blindly trying to make ends meet. This is slavery but in another form, they see people as objects and even label them things such as “labor” so they can be dehumanized.

Now lets think about how this might have happened? And this lead me to think about some great historical figures who were oppressed and became oppressors. One of my heroes- Che Guevarra who with Castro were oppressed and they overthrew the Cuban government which was ruled by the dictator- Baptist, Castro becamse leader but Che left to help others. So, what went wrong in Cuba under Castro after Che left? Just as Freire warned against, “The oppressed became oppressor.” Why did the oppressed become oppressors? There are lots of reasons. Oppressed follow oppressor as a model, fear freedom, or didn’t think critically. They just replaced one oppressor for another without thinking how to prevent that from happening and making something better, safe feeling of conformity….so their act of humanization lead to dehumanization. (Why he is an oppressor? No free enterprise, people cannot leave the country, abuse of people)

Just as Freire warned against, “The oppressed became oppressor.” Humanization leads to Dehumanization They just replaced one oppressor for another without thinking how to prevent that from happening and making something better, safe feeling of conformity….so their act of humanization lead to dehumanization. Why did the oppressed become oppressors? How can this be a bigger problem? P29..”Moreover…”

How can this be a bigger problem? P29..”Moreover…” even Hilary Clinton mentioned this about Libya the other day. She said, “we don’t know what kind of government will arise from this but it couldn’t be worse than this”. (This is the concern, that it could be worse than now). I mean like North Korea, Kim Il Sung once considered a great man with a great philosophy but he created something worse than what they had because maybe he was fearful of taking risks that might take away his power and create something that he didn’t expect.

Like Catherine wrote about Margret Thatcher and how women thought she would be a champion for women’s causes but she actually made it worse for women by marginalizing them.

On another note, what do you think about these headlines

1.Saudi King orders $93 billion dollars in handouts – he ignores calls for political reform, gives out money http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/saudi-arabia/110318/king-abdullah-political-reform-bahrain-yemen 2. Bill Gates, one of the richest men on Earth and the largest philanthropist. He donates billions every year.

**Saudi King orders $93 billion dollars in handouts**

 What would Freire say about this? “False charity” P26-27..the people are protesting for government reform but the king doesn’t want to have reforms so he gives away handouts such as new jobs and cheaper apartment to subdue the people and maintain the oppression.

**What would Freire think about Bill Gates? Why does he still charge $200 per copy of ms windows, why not $100 or for free. Why not for free, a ’t have enough money, I heard he got 40 billion dollars, it means he could spend a million dollars a day and never go broke in his lifetime. Doesn’t his never satisfied desire prevent others from living a better life? (He takes $10 but donates

Korean Dr

/Prof. at Kaist Ahn Chul Soo, created anti-virus software and gave it away free for the good of the people. But Bill Gates doesn

 $1 – false charity, plus people, charities get dependent on him so it creates a vicious cycle of oppression) I don’t think he is a bad person but I think there needs to be a better distribution of wealth and a way to prevent one person from getting way too much so it hinders other people.

Activity : Let’s say - You’ve just had a successful revolution and now you’re wanting to establish a framework for a new society , what would you create that allows people to be human and at the same time doesn’t oppress anyone?

Options : Let’s divide into 2 groups.

Group A Just overthrew North Korean government, Group B Just overthrew U.S government.(70% are living in poverty), You have to make government reforms / policies, so what kinds of reforms/policies you are going to make?

So, who can free the oppressed? …… before we can liberate the oppressed, many obstacles must be overcome. Lets talk about some of the obstacles. What are the obstacles?

Who can free the oppressed? Can the oppressor do it? Can the oppressed do it? What are some obstacles of the oppressed? 1.     Fear of freedom – the prescribed behavior of the oppressor becomes their own behavior, they fear doing something else that they are not familiar with p29 2.     Duality of their innermost being – they are themselves but at the same time, the oppressor whose consciousness they have internalized. The conflict is being just themselves or being divided. P30 3.     Fatalistic attitudes – “What can I do? I’m only a peasant, a single person, a teacher.” (feel powerless to change anything) p43 4.     Self-depreciation – the oppressed believe that they are what the oppressor believes of them, ex. You are worthless, you are lazy, you are dumb…so you believe you truly are. P45 5.     Passivity – accepting their situation “fatalistically” p46 The oppressed are always yearning for freedom but just yearning is not enough. Freedom is acquired by conquest, not by gift. It must be pursued constantly and responsibly. P29.

We have to keep these things in mind because just as we learn history “ Not to repeat the same mistakes”, we must keep these in mind to prevent their repetition.

How do we make change? - A pedagogy must be made “with” the oppressed not “for” them. p49 Because someone else can’t do it for them ex, America cannot free Libyans without them being involved) - The oppressed must have reflective participation as they are not objects. They must see themselves as men and women in the fight to become more fully human. P47,48 - This is important because true reflection leads to action not just an armchair revolution. P48 - Have to trust in the oppressed and their ability to reason. P48 - Revolutionary leadership must have dialogue with the oppressed p49 (because, if not, then countries the same as N.K. or Libya will be formed again which could be more oppressive)

All these are needed because revolutionary leaders start off with good intentions in the beginning but once they get power they can easily become an oppressor.

In Conclusion: The only effective instrument is a humanizing pedagogy in which the revolutionary leadership establishes a permanent relationship of dialogue with the oppressed. In this way the presence of the oppressed will be what it should be: Committed Involvement. P50,51 In other words, leadership (teacher) must always have a dialogue with the oppressed (students). This way, the students will have true committed involvement.