Pedagogy of the oppressed

A classic from the Patron of Education, Pedagogy of the Oppressed is one of the most cited works on social sciences and humanities in the world. Presenting objective reflections on the relationship between oppressors and the oppressed, Paulo Freire presents us with a revolutionary book that reaffirms the hope for human liberation through dialogue and practice.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed , written between 1964 and 1968, when Paulo Freire was exiled in Chile, was banned by the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship, where it remained unpublished until 1974. Anchored in concrete situations, this book reveals the relationships that sustain an unjust order, responsible for the violence of the oppressors and the fear of freedom felt by the oppressed. It is a radical book about solidary knowledge, ontological vocation, love, dialogue, hope, and humility. It addresses the struggle for disalienation, for free labor, and for the affirmation of human beings as persons, not things.

Furthermore, Freire encourages debate on alternative ways for us to become more human beings. In other words, capable of establishing a genuine, world-transforming dialogue. This work is essential in the library of all those who have faith in humanity and in "the creation of a world where it is easier to love"—as the Patron of Brazilian Education notes in the final lines of this masterpiece. It is a work intended for revolutionaries, committed to the oppressed, to fight with them and alongside them to build a world where it is easier to love.

In 1963, in Angicos, in the interior of Rio Grande do Norte, three hundred rural workers were taught to read and write in just 40 hours using the method proposed by Paulo Freire. This was the result of the pilot project of what would become the National Literacy Program under the government of João Goulart, the president who would later be deposed in March 1964. In October of that same year, Freire left Brazil to protect his own life. He only returned to the country in 1979, with the democratic opening.

Throughout his career, Paulo Freire has received more than one hundred honorary doctorates from various national and international universities, as well as numerous awards, including the UNESCO Education for Peace Award and the Brazilian government's Order of Cultural Merit. He is a member of the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame and the Reading Hall of Fame.

"The oppressor only shows solidarity with the oppressed when his gesture ceases to be a sentimental and sentimental gesture, of an individual nature, and becomes an act of love for them. When, for him, the oppressed cease to be an abstract designation and become concrete human beings, wronged and robbed. Robbed of their word, and therefore of their purchased labor, which means their person is sold. Only in the fullness of this act of love, in its existence, in its praxis, is true solidarity constituted. To say that human beings are people and, as people, are free, and to do nothing concretely to make this statement objective, is a farce." - Paulo Freire