is what he calls praxis a combination of reflection critical reflection and

2:27:12
action right which is absolutely necessary first step one could say
2:27:18
towards liberation okay then where we
2:27:24
are starting today there is a court by jose luis theory and i'm not going to
2:27:30
translate the court because i mean of course i don't have the linguistic skills to do that
but thankfully Freddy
2:27:36
himself unpacks the court within his discussion and we'll start our
2:27:41
conversation from that and i'm going to just put the main document on the screen
2:27:48
for a few moments as i read so that you can follow it and then i'll follow it up
2:27:54
with the conversation okay so after the court he goes on and it says in
2:28:02
affirming Dismas sorry i mean i think i i have skipped a little ahead I've gone
2:28:10
through instead but okay so we are
2:28:15
here at this code right now right and here is where we start making real
2:28:21
oppression more oppressive still by adding to it the realization of
2:28:28
oppression and that's a direct quote a translation of the code correspond to
2:28:33
the dialectical relation between the subjective and the objective only in
2:28:39
this interdependence is an authentic tracks as possible without without which
2:28:45
it is impossible to resolve the oppressor oppressed contradiction to
2:28:50
achieve this goal the oppressed must confront reality critically
2:28:57
simultaneously objectifying and acting upon that reality a mere perception of
2:29:03
reality not followed by this critical intervention will not lead to a
2:29:08
transformation of objective reality precisely because it is not a true
2:29:14
perception this is the case of a purely subjective is perception by someone who
2:29:21
forsakes objective reality and creates of false substitute
2:29:28
all right so there's quite a lot to unpack over here but but the important
2:29:36
point is that in order for the oppressed to know the oppression the oppressing
2:29:45
the structure of the oppression oppression must be made more culpable
2:29:51
right must be made tangible in a way
2:29:57
right and that can only be done through reflection and a practice based on that
2:30:02
reflection right more than that that he
2:30:09
goes on to say that as we had been in the previous lecture talked about this
2:30:15
dialectical relationship between objectivity and subjectivity right so
2:30:20
the objective reality is out there you know it exists we perform our identities
2:30:26
living right understanding that objective reality critically is crucial
2:30:35
to any praxis of liberation understanding it subjectively will then
2:30:40
lead to false perception what is subjectivity that I bring my own way of
2:30:46
looking at the world to its understanding and what that then does is
2:30:52
that I still look at the world from the ideology in which I am embedded or which
2:30:58
constructs my consciousness or which if even if you go through Althusser which
2:31:03
makes the world intelligible to us that's why there is this emphasis on subjective
experience but understanding
2:31:10
the reality critically so that we can see it beyond the subjectivity which has
2:31:18
been shaped already which the system in which we exist has created so why is it
2:31:26
crucial so think of it this way if you have internalized through religious discourse
religious ideology or cultural
2:31:32
assumptions that gender roles are defined that women ought to behave a
2:31:37
certain way men ought to behave a certain if you subjectively look at the world
2:31:43
around you then and employ that subjectivity then you won't see anything wrong with
the world because it matches
2:31:50
what you have already had internalized so understanding the objective reality
2:31:57
critically then encourages us to get out of this subjectivity that we inhabit
2:32:03
that has been constructed for us so that's their pedagogy comes in right
2:32:08
I'll continue reading the next paragraph that we put it there for you okay a
2:32:19
different type of false perception occurs when a change in objective
2:32:25
objective reality would threaten the individual or class interests of the
2:32:31
perceiver in the first instance there is no critical intervention in reality
2:32:36
because that reality is fictitious so this is if we follow the subjective way
2:32:42
of looking at objective reality there is none in the second instance because
2:32:47
intervention would contradict the class interest of the procedure in the latter
2:32:53
case the tendency of the perceiver is to behave neurotically the fact exists for
2:33:00
both the fact and what may result from it may be prejudicial to the person because it
becomes necessary not
2:33:07
precisely to deny the fact but to see it differently this rationalization as a
2:33:14
defense mechanism coincides in the end with subjectivism a fact which is not
2:33:20
denied but whose truths are rationalized,loses its objective base it ceases to
2:33:27
be concrete and becomes a myth created in defense of the class of the perceiver
2:33:33
okay so this we could
2:33:38
argue is you know a further explanation
2:33:45
of the pitfalls of just looking at the reality in subjective terms because that
2:33:54
perception the way we receive the reality right if it is totally dependent
2:33:59
on our subjective thought on our subjective feelings then we will receive
2:34:06
it as it is right then it can hide its true nature this is deeply you know
2:34:13
dependent on this way of explaining is dependent on Marx's explanation of
2:34:22
ideology right but also as he mentions later Luke akshay's major work on this
2:34:30
alienation like how do the workers become aware of their own exploitation
2:34:35
now remember the classical Marxist solved this dilemma of how the workers
2:34:42
would become aware of their own exploitation through different means for
2:34:48
example Lenin believe that a vanguard would emerge so that's what we call the
2:34:54
Vanguard list approach so a vanguard would be intellectuals and workers who
2:35:00
will then train others to understand their own exploitation right there is
2:35:07
also at a certain point the Communist Party itself had taken it upon itself
2:35:13
that pedagogical role of teaching the workers about their liberation ok what
2:35:20
really is theorizing is not that someone from outside or someone from the top is
2:35:26
going to explain the objective reality to the workers or to the peasants but that aid
themselves can develop through
2:35:34
an informed pedagogy the critical methodology to read the reality as it is
2:35:41
instead of reading it in its mythologies in how it rationalizes itself right
2:35:47
that's the distinction that he is making in this paragraph so I'll move on this probably is
gonna
2:35:56
be a not a very long lurch okay so the problems of perception right
2:36:08
I read he realize one of the reasons for
2:36:14
the prohibitions and difficulties to be discussed at length in Chapter four designed to
dissuade dissuade the people
2:36:22
from critical intervention in reality the oppressor knows full well that this
2:36:29
intervention would not be to his interest but is to his interest is for
2:36:36
the people to continue in a state of submersion in the face of oppressive
2:36:42
reality of relevance here is Luke axes warning to the Revolutionary Party and I
2:36:50
am NOT going to dwell a lot on Luke acts maybe I'll do a little but so the
2:36:59
interest of the opressing class what is their interest their interest is to keep
2:37:05
the system intact right and to keep the oppressed from becoming critically aware
2:37:17
of the system of oppression itself because unless they become critical aware critically
aware of it they cannot
2:37:25
transform it they cannot change it so that so the system of power as it exists
2:37:31
is you can see that it perpetually constantly must keep that misperception
2:37:38
or that misrecognition functional how do we understand that
2:37:44
think of any world system or a national system or a religious system all the
2:37:51
people who are in the positions of dominance and who get to dictate reality
2:37:56
are constantly okay perpetuating the mythology's but are also
2:38:04
practically trying to deny the oppressed the poor and the weak the modes of
2:38:11
either mobilizing or even critically understanding the system in which they
2:38:16
exist and that's how the system normalizes itself now postal 2 sir we
2:38:21
can say that it's not necessarily done through depressive forces though repression is a
part of it but mostly
2:38:30
ideologically right so I mean think of what comes to your mind in my own home
2:38:36
country Pakistan right one of the most powerful ideological forces is religion
2:38:42
right so what do these religious
2:38:48
scholars or religious leaders do they constantly keep perpetuating the
2:38:54
mythology's of gender gender roles right or mythology's of what is permissible
2:39:00
and what is not right they police it sometimes militantly you know impose
2:39:08
their will but they are also very comfortable in telling you these are the
2:39:15
questions you ought not to ask and the fear behind is it is that if the people
2:39:20
if the students if the general public starts asking these questions then the
2:39:26
system that they are built right comes to crisis so there are different ways of
2:39:32
enforcing that you can make certain subjects taboo you can make certain
2:39:37
things blasphemous right have punishment for them but all of that is meant to
2:39:43
keep the infrastructural aspects of power in place right and so those who
2:39:52
are in the oppressive condition or oppressive situation then since they have internalized
the logic of the world
2:39:58
eggs exist keep looking at that reality from that ideological point of view and the
2:40:05
only way they can change it is if they realize that the system within which
2:40:11
their identities and selves are created is itself unjust and that's where
2:40:16
critical pedagogy gee you know comes on so I'll move on to
2:40:23
the next and he's now discussing Luca in
2:40:29
affirming dis neccessity okay what is that necessity right Luca Luca is
2:40:39
unquestionably posing the problem of critical intervention to enter his
2:40:45
coding interest to explain to the masses their own action is to clarify and
2:40:51
illuminate the action both regarding its relationship to the objective acts by
2:40:58
which it was prompted and regarding its purpose the more the people unveiled
2:41:04
this challenging reality which is to be the object of their transforming action
2:41:09
the more critically they entered that reality in this way they are consciously
2:41:16
activating the subsequent development of their experiences there would be no
2:41:21
human action if there were no objective reality no world to be the not I of the
2:41:29
person and to challenge them just as there would be no human is action if
2:41:35
humankind were not a project if he or
2:41:43
she were not able to transcend himself or herself if one were not able to
2:41:49
perceive reality and understand it in order to transform it so as he draws on
2:41:58
Luke X Lucas's explanation of how the workers would come to consciousness
2:42:04
right as I so the idea is is that the
2:42:11
more the people developed the capacity to look at the objective reality
2:42:16
objectively and not subjectively because their subjectivity is already generated
2:42:24
by the system within which they exist right and the more the exploitative
2:42:30
conditions are highlighting made perceptible right only
2:42:37
then we will develop a subject I I who doesn't want to be like the oppressor
2:42:43
but who as a first step understands that the conditions in which he or she exists
2:42:51
are unjust and that will also require
2:42:57
you know a transcendence from the given what does that mean what does that mean
2:43:03
is to imagine a world beyond the world in which he or she or I exist
2:43:11
right and that can only be done if we understand how the reality works what
2:43:20
are its facts right who holds power right and then transcendence has to be
2:43:26
individual and collective towards more freedom to be more fully human so this
2:43:35
is on one pole this these are his thoughts like on the oppressed pole
2:43:41
right but also to understand that that
2:43:50
this entire the self is a project right project what is a project it has a beginning it has an
ending but you have
2:43:57
to work to finish it then I read in a
2:44:03
dialectical thought in dialectical thought word and action are intimately
2:44:08
interdependent but action is human only when it is not merely an occupation but
2:44:16
also a preoccupation that is when it is not dichotomized from reflection
2:44:22
reflection which is essential to action is implicit in luke Akshay's requirement
2:44:29
of explaining to the masses their own action just as it is implicit in the
2:44:35
purpose he attributes to this explanation that of consciously activating the subsequent
development of
2:44:43
experience right so is like another knowest lair on
2:44:48
explaining praxis you already know what dialectical thought is like when
2:44:53
competing ideas compete borrow from another create another one right dialectical
materialism is when the mode
2:45:00
of production changes a new kind of class structure emerges right but the
2:45:10
crucial factor in it is that action human action and words right they must
2:45:16
come together to form a praxis right but only when action is not just what we do
2:45:24
but what occupies our mind what constantly is at the back of our mind
2:45:30
that we need this praxis worlds and action to change the world right so
2:45:38
moving on to the next paragraph and I'll probably conclude here today and I read
2:45:44
for us however the requirement is seen not in terms of explaining - but rather
2:45:50
dialoguing with the people about their actions in any event no reality
2:45:57
transforms itself and the duty which Luke acts scribes to the Revolutionary
2:46:04
Party of explaining to the masses their own actions coincides with our
2:46:10
affirmation of the need for the critical intervention of the people in reality
2:46:16
through the praxis so we have already understood what practices we are trying
2:46:23
to understand Lou Cox who history and class consciousness is his major book
2:46:28
who is theorizing the role of an oven of a vanguard a stroll for the Communist
2:46:36
Party in training not just the workers but in explaining to the masses their
2:46:41
own actions why are they doing what and why must they do it
2:46:47
krei is connecting it to the issues of pedagogy right so what he goes on to say
2:46:53
is the pedagogy the of the oppressed which is the pedagogy of people engaged in the
fight for their own liberation
2:46:59
has its roots here in this learning process that Lukesh lays down for for
2:47:07
for the political workers for the proletariat right that not only we need
2:47:14
to rethink the reality objectively and develop a praxis but we need to
2:47:21
critically understand that praxis itself why are we doing what we're doing right
2:47:27
and that's also one of the functions of the pedagogy of the oppressed oppressed
2:47:33
the pedagogy of the oppressed which is the pedagogy of people engaged in fight
2:47:38
for their own liberation has its roots here and those who recognize or begin to
2:47:44
recognize themselves as oppressed must be among among the developers of this
2:47:51
pedagogy no pedagogy which is truly liberating can remain distance from the
2:47:59
oppressed by treating them as unfortunate and by presenting for their
2:48:05
emulation models from among the oppressors the oppressed must be their
2:48:11
own example in their struggle for their Redemption right here is where thus
2:48:21
where we get you know another layer on what pedagogy of the oppressed ought to
2:48:30
be right but with what I just read right that it must be by the people who are
2:48:43
engaged in the struggle for liberation for their full you know humanization
2:48:52
and they're the ones who must develop this pedagogy it cannot be a pedagogy
2:49:00
developed at a distance from the oppressed and then offered as a remedy
2:49:08
to them right because that would still be top-down and it wouldn't be
2:49:15
transformative and it will carry within it right the seed of the oppressive
2:49:21
system in which that remedy is created right and so this is also another
2:49:27
gesture towards false generosity right that you can't keep the unjust system
2:49:32
intact and then say oh here we're going to create a school system for you here
2:49:39
are the skills you can impart to these people because all that does is then
2:49:44
gives you the skills to just be the cog in the machine of capital so the that
2:49:50
kind of charity I'm not saying it doesn't do well in the world but it's not transformative
right think of all
2:49:57
the things government's do individuals are doing with immense with their
2:50:03
immense wealth all of it is these cosmetic measures all of the things
2:50:10
maybe sometimes experts in the area do you inform them but these are technologies
and modes of delivery ways
2:50:18
of doing things educating people you know in the poorer parts of the world developed
so far removed from them and
2:50:27
most of the times people who are being helped have no say in the process of
2:50:34
their own education in their own learning right and what really is
2:50:40
suggesting here is that the pedagogy of the oppressed is aimed at enabling the
2:50:47
oppressed to see their own situation critically develop a practice based in
2:50:52
reflection that can change it but they are the ones who will develop this
2:50:58
pedagogy of the oppressed they are the ones who must create it through their
experience through their reflection
2:51:05
and that it cannot be implemented from outside especially from the top but it
2:51:13
must be developed implemented and created by the oppressed themselves and
2:51:20
those in solidarity with them those who have entered the world of the oppressed
2:51:25
so this is where I'm going to stop today I think we are somewhere on page 53 he
2:51:32
will go on to explain the two stages of development of pedagogy of the oppressed
2:51:37
remember we are still on chapter 1 and as more time is available to me I will
2:51:46
continue recording these lectures and posting them online I hope these are
2:51:51
useful to you if you find these useful please post some comments on the videos
2:51:58
and let me know what you think also if you have a few moments do subscribe to
2:52:04
the channel but most importantly please do send me your questions and I will try
2:52:10
to address them and hope you all are staying safe and taking care of each
2:52:16
other that is all I have today I will now see you next time and until then as always
2:52:23
peace endure