With, not for, the oppressed.

Oppression is domesticating. To no longer be prey to its force, one must emerge from it and turn upon it. This can be done only by means of the praxis: reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it.

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.

Recently I've been trying to read the famous "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" by Paulo Freire and while I expected to be inspired in the educational design of 1285, it challenged me to the core on my identity as an Iranian.

One of the basic elements of the relationship between oppressor and oppressed is prescription. Every prescription represents the imposition of one individual’s choice upon another, transforming the consciousness of the person prescribed to into one that conforms with the prescriber’s consciousness. [...] The oppressed, having internalized the image of the oppressor and adopted their guidelines, are fearful of freedom. Freedom would require them to eject this image and replace it with autonomy and responsibility. Freedom is acquired by conquest, not by gift. It must be pursued constantly and responsibly. Freedom is not an ideal located outside of human; nor is it an idea which becomes myth. It is rather the indispensable condition for the quest for human completion.

This was the last thing I expected to read within this book, but then it did not finish here:

The correct method for a revolutionary leaders hip to employ in the task of liberation is, therefore, not “libertarian propaganda.” Nor can the leadership merely “implant” in the oppressed a belief in freedom, thus thinking to win their trust. The correct method lies in dialogue. The conviction of the oppressed that they must fight for their liberation is not a gift bestowed by the revolutionary leadership, but the result of their own conscientização.

We have been through many layers of oppression. From within, U.S., Britain, Russia, China. Almost anyone who ever had a form of power used it to give us a harsh treatment. And I believe this is a verdict easy to be agreed upon that Iranians have so much doubt in themselves. We still look at the west as if they are gods, and as ourselves as the peasants. Our media is fully taken by anyone who as the means of taking advantage of us, I for one find no source of truth these days.

Reading the above mentioned quote:

Every prescription represents the imposition of one individual’s choice upon another, transforming the conscious- ness of the person prescribed to into one that conforms with the prescriber’s consciousness.

Made me shake to the core. I believe all of the efforts of myself and all around of me to have been to become what the west was and to finish the race on them. Recently I so believe that my identity has been taken of me as the direct result of my own effort to combat the supremacy of the west. And that was why "With, not for, the oppressed" changed me.

This can all be seen as ordinary talk, but then we have to make something truly ours. Our axiom, our most fundamental belief, our inner DNA has to be this and only this: "We are good enough and there is no need for us to follow anyone". And we must not import any form of education, this will be the effect of the oppression and no good will come out of it. We have to build it ourselves and make ourselves to believe in the thing "we" made.

Who knows, we may even change the whole planet someday.