Paulo Freire - Oppressors Quotes

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The oppressed, instead of striving for liberation, tend themselves to become oppressors

Paulo Freire
Revolution is born as a social entity within the oppressor society.

Paulo Freire
But almost always, during the initial stage of the struggle, the oppressed, instead of striving for liberation, tend themselves to become oppressors, or sub oppressors. The very structure of their thought has been conditioned by the contradiction of the concrete, existential situation by which they were shaped. Their ideal is to be men; but for them to be men is to be oppressors

Paulo Freire
In order to have the continued opportunity to express their "generosity" the oppressors must perpetuate injustice as well.

Paulo Freire
It is only the oppressed who, by freeing themselves, can free their oppressors.

Paulo Freire
The behavior and reactions of the oppressed, which lead the oppressor to practice cultural invasion, should evoke from the revolutionary a different theory of action. What distinguishes revolutionary leaders from the dominant elite is not only their objectives, but their procedures.

Paulo Freire
This work deals with a very obvious truth: just as the oppressor, in order to oppress, needs a theory of oppressive action, so the oppressed, in order to become free, also need a theory of action.

Paulo Freire
Certain members of the oppressor class join the oppressed in their struggle for liberation.

Paulo Freire
As long as they live in the duality in which to be is to to be like, and to be like is to be like the oppressor, this contribution is impossible.

Paulo Freire
No pedagogy which is truly liberating can remain distant from the oppressed by treating them as unfortunates and by presenting for their emulation models from among the oppressors. The oppressed must be their own example in the struggle for their redemption.

Paulo Freire
Even revolution, which transforms a concrete situation of oppression by establishing the process of liberation, must confront this phenomenon. Many of the oppressed who directly or indirectly participate in revolution intend - conditioned by the myths of the old order - to make it their private revolution. The shadow of their former oppressor is still cast over them.

Paulo Freire
The task of revolutionary leaders is to pose as problems not only this myth, but all the other myths used by the oppressor elites to oppress.

Paulo Freire
In order for this struggle to have meaning, the oppressed must not, in seeking to regain their humanity (which is a way to create it), become in turn oppressors of the oppressors, but rather restorers of the humanity of both

Paulo Freire
It is accomplished by the oppressors depositing myths indispensable to the preservation of the status quo.

Paulo Freire
As the oppressor minority subordinates and dominates the majority, it must divide it and keep it divided in order to remain in power.

Paulo Freire
The oppressed, having internalized the image of the oppressor and adopted his guidelines, are fearful of freedom.

Paulo Freire
The oppressors, who oppress, exploit, and rape by virtue of their power, cannot find in this power the strength to liberate either the oppressed or themselves.

Paulo Freire
The behavior of the oppressed is a prescribed behavior, following as it does the guidelines of the oppressor.

Paulo Freire
Indeed, the interests of the oppressors lie in 'changing the consciousness of the oppressed, not the situation which oppresses them';

Paulo Freire
Discovering himself to be an oppressor may cause considerable anguish, but it does not necessarily lead to solidarity with the oppressed.

Paulo Freire
The oppressed find in the oppressors their model of 'manhood.'

Paulo Freire
The oppressed want at any cost to resemble the oppressors.

Paulo Freire
Money is the measure of all things, and profit the primary goal. For the oppressors, what is worthwhile is to have more—always more—even at the cost of the oppressed having less or having nothing. For them, to be is to have.

Paulo Freire
It would be a contradiction in terms if the oppressors not only defended but actually implemented a liberating education.

Paulo Freire
The former oppressors do not feel liberated. On the contrary, they genuinely consider themselves to be oppressed.

Paulo Freire
Dehumanization, although a concrete historical fact, is not a given destiny but the result of an unjust order that engenders violence in the oppressors, which in turn dehumanizes the oppressed

Paulo Freire
The oppressors develop a series of methods precluding any presentation of the world as a problem and showing it rather as a fixed entity, as something given—something to which people, as mere spectators, must adapt.

Paulo Freire
The oppressors do not favor promoting the community as a whole, but rather selected leaders.

Paulo Freire
The oppressor, who is himself dehumanized because he dehumanizes others, is unable to lead this struggle.

Paulo Freire