Theory in practice and practice in theory, in motion: that's the way!

We live amidst a social contradiction, the result of a heteronomous and unequal social organization, in a capitalist society that idolizes the market and the accumulation of capital at the cost of the blood of the majority of the people. It is practically impossible for someone to truly exist in today's society according to their own determinations, being a radical anarchist, because they will encounter countless barriers imposed by others who shape and dictate what becomes dominant.

In the struggle for land, territory, housing, and other socio-environmental rights, several concepts are formed by the Landless, Homeless, and Indigenous peoples, such as: complicity in the struggle, Landless, Homeless, militant, fighter, etc. These concepts express the 'fine flower' of the struggle for land, territory, and housing as an emancipatory pedagogy. 'Complicity in the struggle' refers to the conception according to which the success or failure of the struggle depends on everyone and not just the leaders. Through 'complicity in the struggle' co-responsibility develops, as well as the notion that "if you mess with any Landless, Homeless, Indigenous, Quilombola, etc., you mess with me," or the idea that victories depend on the dedication and commitment of everyone in the tasks assigned to them. "Landless" refers to the landless person who is not merely expropriated and exploited, but has become a protagonist in the struggle for land, one who defends their right to land in collective struggles, but never ceases to be in solidarity with those who have been expropriated from the land and have not yet engaged in the struggle for it. The same applies to the homeless. "Activist" refers to someone for whom the meaning of life is not only in participating in what has been instituted by the dominant class that mentors and reproduces the capitalist system, but in transforming what is already there, revolutionizing it; it is making history with one's own hands. "Fighter" refers to someone who is giving their own life in the struggle for fundamental human rights.

The engagement of the landless and homeless in the struggle for land, and their perseverance in the struggle, are directly linked to the size and quality of the support and assistance they receive. Activists from the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST), the Homeless Workers Movement (MTST), the Movement for Struggle in Neighborhoods, Villages and Slums (MLB), and many other social movements, pastoral agents from the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), and the people in the occupied areas always recognize that it is thanks to the support and assistance experienced as something concrete that people are mobilized for the collective struggle for rights and for perseverance in the fight.

The Cuban thinker Ovidio D'Angelo Hernández inspires our theoretical reflection on the struggle for land as a pedagogy of human emancipation. He analyzes the intimate relationship between integrative autonomy and social transformation, an emancipatory ethical challenge of complexity. Hernández advocates the construction of an integrative autonomy, which differs from autonomy according to the Enlightenment, as it is not merely about the enlightenment of consciousness. Hernández outlines a Latin American emancipatory theoretical praxis that uses participatory action research as a method and includes the articulation between micro and macro processes of social transformation. The aim is to integrate knowledge, seeking to construct an alternative thought to the single colonizing and neoliberal thought. Hernández distinguishes between social transformation and self-transformation, which is emphasized by the proactive and self-referential role of the social subjects themselves.

In Afro-Latin America, we are facing the emergence of new epistemologies, new forms of knowledge, such as those exercised in Liberation Philosophy, Liberation Theology, Liberation Pedagogy, and many other forms of knowledge built upon the collective struggle of the wronged. The pedagogy of human emancipation, for example, relies on popular education as a fundamental tool for social and cultural transformation. This is done much more outside of school than in school, more in collective struggles for land, territory, housing, and all other social rights than in formal education processes that…It looks more like a form of training, disciplining, and taming individuals than a means of social transformation and revolution.”, states Paulino José Orso (ORSO, 2008, p. 51).

For a pedagogy of human emancipation, there is no separation between theory and practice, but rather theory and practice, in movement, contradiction, and dialogue. Just as it makes no sense to separate the young Marx from the old Marx, the first and second Foucault, or the various phases of Paulo Freire's work, we must look at the work of these thinkers as a whole and interpret it in light of their fundamental intentions, within the dialectical and contradictory movement of reality.

For Ovídeo Hernández, the concept of 'awareness'designates a process of cultural and sociopolitical action in which men and women are involved “to transform reality and transform themselves” [...], it is – according to Freire's words in his book Cultural Action for Freedom – a continuous process that implies a praxis, in the sense of the dialectical relationship between action and reflection [...] that implies an insertion criticism in history” (HERNÁNDEZ, 2005, p. 17).

Therefore, in the next challenging period for the Brazilian people, it is urgent that we strengthen our commitment to socio-transformative struggles, articulating theory and practice in an emancipatory way, in movement, in contradiction and in dialogue. This is the path to making history with our own hands.

Reference

HERNÁNDEZ, Ovidio S. D'Angelo. Integrative autonomy and social transformation: The emancipatory ethical challenge of complexity. La Habana: Publicaciones Acuario Centro Félix Varela, 2005.

SANTOS, Ariovaldo. Globalization, education and human emancipation. In: ORSO, Paulino José; GONÇALVES, Sebastião Rodrigues; MATTOS, Valci Maria (Eds.). Education and class struggles. São Paulo: Expressão Popular, p. 39-47, 2008.

27/12/2022

Note: The video reports in the links below deal with the subject discussed above.

1 - Friar Carlos Mesters: CF/22 - Fraternity and Education. "Speak with wisdom, teach with love" (Proverbs 31:26)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_wRFXst35M

2 - "Let's plant trees in our environment! Environmental education and ecological practice" (Rosimeire Maria, from Arinos, MG)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXaN3j6PuCY

3 - Friar Gilvander at the Interreligious Act of Education. Education that liberates. Sind-UTE/MG, BH/MG - Video 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4LYEHKx9eY

4 - Interreligious Act of Education: Valuing and educating that liberates and humanizes. Sind-UTE/MG, BH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGW2kI3kpCM

5 - Friar Gilvander vs. Vale S/A Security Guards and Xukuru-Kariri Indigenous Education, in Brumadinho/MG. Video 7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQVHnJ9B0CA

6 - PA Terra Prometida of the MST in Felisburgo/MG produces healthy food and rural education. Video 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNgXp9d1TDk

7 - Friar Gilvander supports the strike of education workers in Betim, MG 12/2/2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBkXJRFdwt0