The oppressor is solidary wit the oppressed only when he stops regarding the oppressed as an abstract category and sees them as persons who have been unjustly dealt with, deprived of their voice, cheated in the sale of their labor -- when he stops making pious, sentimental, and individualistic gestures and risks an act of love. True solidarity is found only in the plenitude of this act of love, in its existentiality, in its praxis. To affirm that men and women are persons and as persons should be free, and yet to do nothing tangible to make this affirmation a reality, is a farce. Paolo Freire
About This Quote

The idea that people can be oppressed and do nothing about it is scary. The idea of doing nothing to help people you know who are struggling is even scarier. This quote comes from the work of Paulo Freire and speaks to the power of education and raising awareness of the world around us. Paulo Freire is a Brazilian educator who spent many years in the slums of Brazil trying to teach children there how to read and write. His message was that we must learn how to be part of the solution instead of just being part of the problem.

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  1. I think that we have to create in ourselves, through critical analysis of our practice, some qualities, some virtues as educators. One of them, for example, is the quality of becoming more and more open to feel the feelings of others, to become so sensitive...
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  3. Never in history has violence been initiated by the oppressed. How could they be the initiators, if they themselves are the result of violence?
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