The Overcoming of Violence: Paulo Freire on the Use of Violence for Social Transformation

Abstract

This paper explores the thoughts of Paulo Freire regarding the use of violence to attain social transformation. Contrary to some commentators, I argue that Freire's take on the role of armed struggle has taken a developmental mode. He has moved from a reformist to a revolutionary to a more critical stance. In other words, there is a movement of the overcoming of violence. The starting point of this evolution of his educational and political thinking is mainly reflected in his first book Education as the Practice of Freedom where he was convinced that social transformation follows smoothly from a "conscientized" populace. The next turning point is expressed in the pages of Pedagogy of the Oppressed where he was radical in saying that reality is not changed by changing the consciousness but by deliberately acting to change that reality. It implies further that the use of violence cannot be discarded as a remote possibility. Finally, the overcoming of violence is lucidly manifested in Learning to Question, where Freire contends that social transformation is not only gained by taking of power of the state because power permeates in the diverse elements of the state itself. In other words, power is located in small and probably, unexpected spaces. The critical educator must be sensitive enough to locate, recognize, communicate, and grab those cracks and openings.