The behavior of the oppressed is a prescribed behavior, following as it does the guidelines of the oppressor.
Paulo FreireRead
Manipulation, sloganizing, depositing, regimentation, and prescription cannot be components of revolutionary praxis, precisely because they are the components of the praxis of domination.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True revolutionary practice cannot rely on manipulation or control, as those tactics lead to oppression.
In this quote, Paulo Freire emphasizes that authentic revolutionary action must be free from deceitful practices that aim to manipulate or control people. Such approaches, including propaganda and rigid structures, are indicative of oppressive systems rather than liberating ones. Therefore, revolutionary praxis should focus on genuine engagement and empowerment rather than domination.
Themes
RevolutionPraxisManipulationDominationEmpowerment
In practice
Example use cases
During a seminar on social justice, this quote could inspire discussions about authentic activism.
More from Paulo Freire
All quotes βHow can the oppressed, as divided, unauthentic beings, participate in developing the pedagogy of their liberation?
Paulo FreireRead
Critical and liberating dialogue, which presupposes action, must be carried on with the oppressed at whatever the stage of their struggle for liberation. The content of that dialogue can and should vary in accordance with historical conditions and the level at which the oppressed perceive reality.
Paulo FreireRead
This is the sense in which I am obliged to be a listener. To listen to the student's doubts, fears, and incompetencies that are part of the learning process. It is in listening to the student that I learn to speak with him or her.
Paulo FreireRead
This pedagogy makes oppression and its causes objects of reflection by the oppressed, and from that reflection will come their necessary engagement in the struggle for their liberation. And in the struggle this pedagogy will be made and remade
Paulo FreireRead
The oppressors do not perceive their monopoly on having more as a privilege which dehumanizes others and themselves. They cannot see that, in the egoistic pursuit of having as a possessing class, they suffocate in their own possessions and no longer are; they merely have.
Paulo FreireRead
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