“A práxis revolucionária somente

Paulo Freire

During the XI Social Sciences Week of USP (University of São Paulo), which theme has been “To Learn, Questioning, Transform: the ways of education”, a homage has been held to Paulo Freire.

A documentary has been shown called “Paulo Freire contemporary”, directed by Toni Ventury, to a public of almost 30 students, including secondary students. After the exhibition, a group of students started a talk around the generative theme: what does the pedagogical political project of Paulo Freire has to do with the University?

Many ideas have been shared, like the relation teacher-student that, following the students, happens in a very distant way and very hierarchical also. Many important questions have also been approached like the conception that knowledge must be connected to transformation of reality and the fundamental contribution of the ideas and actions of Paulo Freire, taken by the students as orientation to formulate popular extension projects in the University, looking towards dialogue between who is “inside” the University with who is “out”, considering this one as one of the principle tools capable to make the relationship between the University and the society.

Photo available in Paulo Freire Collection. Available in: http://acervo.paulofreire.org/xmlui/handle/7891/3438

At the end of the dialogue, it has been concluded that the Brazilian Public Universities are each time more elitists, as focused by the students who participated of the meeting they said “there’s a lot to learn and teach about the perspectives of education of Paulo Freire”. To dispute the University, with a more popular project for education, it means also a dispute of a more fair society project, more human, more democratic.

May the University be full of Popular People!
Paulo Freire present!

Text sent by Guilherme Akira Nishio. Member of CeUPES – Ísis Dias de Oliveira (Academic Center of Social Sciences of USP)
Contact: ceupes2015@gmail.com

At the moment we have 180 organizations registered in the “Freirean Community mapping” (http://www.paulofreire.org/mapeamento-da-comunidade-freireana), distributed in 49 countries. Each one in his way tries to turn the world “less ugly and easier to love”, living Paulo Freire’s legacy and reinventing the world.

The objective of the Unifreire Bulletin, little by little, step by step, is to share these experiences, and doing so, start weaving ways and strengthening relationships.

Which actions Paulo Freire’s legacy has inspired? In which manner it has focused in different territories where it is practiced? This sixth edition gives one more step in order to answer these questions.

In this perspective, we share here actions accomplished by the Paulo Freire’s Institutes from United kingdom, Portugal, Austria, from Argentina and Brazil, besides socializing the inauguration of Paulo Freire Institute in Chile, in our Memory section, where we profit to recover a bit of Paulo Freire’s trajectory in that country, during his exile.

Also make part of this edition important actions that are being developed in Italy, where the ties between Freire and Boal have been strengthening; in Mexico, with the project Peasants Schools in Movemnt; in Cabo Verde, where happened the first workshop of the Popular University and Social Movements and, in Brazil, with the IX Freirean Seminar Edition in Joinvile and with the Forum of Studies “Readings of Paulo Freire: Popular Education in Debate”, that will happen in Manaus.

The strengthening of these ties that this publication proposes itself, is only possible with the involvement and participation of those men and women that, committed with the same causes and principles, decide to interlace their stories and paths.

We highlight the important contribution of the Notebooks of Cultural Action (IDAC), which images due to their history, quality, creativity and diversity, will continue being source of inspiration for this periodical. This edition counts, once again, on creations of Claudius Ceccon, to whom we thank effectively.

We thank all of you and commemorate your participation.

Let’s continue to go on. Let’s keep dreaming, sowing and constructing, together

Sheila Ceccon
Unifreire Coordinator

Angela Antunes and Paulo Roberto Padilha
Pedagogical Directors of Paulo Freire Institute-Brazil

Participate of the following editions of the UniFreire Bulletin sending contributions for one or more sessions trough the address secretaria@unifreire.org

Argentina: Lilians Miretha López of the Paulo Freire Investigation Institute of Rosário

Austria: Nadine Mittempergher from the Paulo Freire Zentrum.

Brazil: Aline de Cássia Martins Maia, Almeck Massari de Lima, Deisy Boscaratto, Fernanda Soares de Campos, George Santos Silva, Janaína Abreu, Lutgardes Costa Freire, from the Paulo Freire Institute Brazil.
Carolina Rezende de Souza and José Pereira Peixoto Filho from the State University of Minas Gerais.
Gabriela Janini and Guilherme Akira Nishio from the CeUPES – Ísis Dias de Oliveira – Academical Center of Social Sciences from the State University of São Paulo – USP
José Eustáquio Romão from the Nove de Julho University (UNINOVE)
Regiane Cristina Ferreira Braga from the Educational Complex FMU – São Paulo
Vilde Luzia Dalmônico from the Superior Institute of Teaching FMU – São Paulo

Cape Verde: Florenço Mendes Varela, President from the Education University Institute

Colombia: Maria Alicia Agudelo Giraldo from the Education University of the Atlantic of the Sciences Faculty

France: Joëlle Tremblay da from the University Laval of School of Visual Arts

Italy: Roberto Mazzini from the Giolli Cooperative

Mexico: Bernadino Mata García from the Paulo Freire Free Chair

Portugal: Eunice Macedo from the Paulo Freire Institute of Portugal

United Kingdom: Penny Jane Burke, from the United Kingdom Paulo Freire Institute

SPECIAL COLLABORATION: Moacir Gadotti, President of honor of the Paulo Freire Institute – Brazil

Paulo Freire

The first Forum from the North of Brazil of Studies, will be held in 2016, with the theme “Paulo Freire Readings: Popular Education in Debate”. The event will happen in the city of Manaus, Amazonas State, between the days 18 to 30 April.

One of the themes that will be debated during the Forum will be PAULO FREIRE AND THE UNIVERSITY. Following their organizers, to retake “ the melting conception of Popular University in the freirean perspective allows us to reinvent Freire in the actual formative processes in our universities. For this reason, this axis of dialogue is presented as a space of affirmation of the freirean debate in superior education, promoting theoretical discussions, analysis of empiric experiences and diagnosis that approach Popular Education of the university, weaving for the “viable-inedit” of Popular University.”

The first Forum from the North of Brazil of Studies.

More information about the event can be accessed by the electronic address: https://www.facebook.com/paulofreire2016

Paulo Freire

The Paulo Freire Institute – United Kingdom & Inequalities Research, Societies and Education and the School Education held the 10th Biannual Conference about Gender Association and Education (GAE), held in the University of Roehampton, in London, from June 24 to 26.

At the beginning a Pre-Conference has been held, as a workshop, for doctorates and researchers with recent career and articles published in periodicals. The Conference held afterwards, has been organized by Professor Debbie Epstein and Dr. Marie-Pierre Moreau together with Dr. Kate Hoskin, Professor Gill Crozier, Professor Penny Jane Burke, Dr. Sarah O’ Flyn and Katja Jonsas, nevertheless the succes of the event happened, in great part, due to the support and commitment of Julia Noyce and her team from the Roehampton Conference Office.

The 245 participants of the conference came from different continents around the world and all of them agreed that the meeting was the biggest one held between all the ten Conferences of the Association of Gender and Education. Under the spectrum of Feminism, Power and Pedagogy, the articles included such diverse topics as the capacity to teach and learn, queer pedagogies, the inclusion of students with difficulties in the regular teaching and post-humanist methodologies, just to make reference to a few.

The complete program and the abstract of the articles may be found in: http://www.gendereducation.com/conferences-and-events/2015-gea-conference-programme/

The opening of the Conference has been done by Marilyn Holness, Director of the School of Education, with a moving talk, expounded about the commitment of the University and from the School with the questions regarding gender and equality. The first panelist was the Teacher Marília Pinto de Carvalho (USP) that talked about the domination of creation of knowledge by the North hemisphere and challenged the participants to think about the subject.

Professor Marília Pinto de Carvalho (USP) at Gender Conference and Education: experience of success.

Other panelists were present: Professor Lois Weis (SUNY), addressing the heteronormativity and work committed of mothers of students of elitist schools in the United States to help their children to get in the universities of the Ivy League 1; Professor Penny Jane Burke (Roehampton) talking about qustions of gender, emotions, pedagogical relationships of difference; Professor Farzana Shain talking about the impact of the “War to Terror” in the schools and in the subjectivity of educators and the teacher Katarina Brajas Eriksson (Linköping University), who talked about how films may be used pedagogically, and are, themselves, an instrument for the promotion of discussions of gender and other diversities, in public schools.

The plenary session had the presence of a group of activists that discussed the work they do and the relation of their practice with the academy. They also inspired those who were present showing presentations of Amaranta Thompson (Initiative of the International Women) and Anke Adams (Camfes). The top of the session has been the presentation of Ifra and Muna Hassan showing the work done by the Integrate Bristol, an institution of charity, managed by young people that fight against feminine genital mutilation and other forms of gender violence.

Considering that England is leader in the European ranking of feminine mutilations, the sisters Hassan, courageous, amusing and intelligent, have been activists since the age of thirteen (today they are 21 years old). Together with other companions of the Integrate Bristol, confronted Michael Gove and convinced him to send letters to all schools of England saying that they had the responsibility to provide education about the feminine genital mutilation and to give support to the students that were afraid to suffer this violence or those who already had went trough, as a matter of fact, suffered this violence. This first plenary was followed by many workshops, with different activists, during the two other days of the event.

Generally speaking, the Conference has been a success for the Roehampton and for the Gender Association and Education. The commentaries in the social nets included: “It was a wonderful conference and the work that you accomplish to make it possible in order to happen was profoundly admirable”; “Thank you for such a wonderful week”; “It has been an impressive meeting among activists, intellectuals, feminists and teaching professionals”.

Content submitted by Penny Burke of the Institute Paulo Freire England: P.Burke@roehampton.ac.uk

1. The Ivy League is a group of eight private universities of Northeast of the United States. At the moment the denomination has a meaning above all of academic excellence.

Paulo Freire

The Paulo Freire Institute in the UK and the Center for Research on Inequality, Societies and Education will host the next International Meeting of Paulo Freire Forum.

Photo available in: http://www.roehampton.ac.uk/Research-Centres/Paulo-Freire-Institute-RISE/

This important opportunity for dialogue among Freirian people around the world, will take place at the University of Roehampton, London, between 5 and 7 September 2016.
The theme will be: Banking Education: “Who has it? What counts? “.

The event will be widely publicized in due course.

For more information about the Institute Paulo Freire UK, visit: http://www.roehampton.ac.uk/Research-Centres/Paulo-Freire-Institute-RISE/

To contact the Institute Paulo Freire UK: p.burke@roehampton.ac.uk

Regularly follow the Fanpage of Unifreire.
Event Information will also be shared in that space: https://www.facebook.com/universitas.paulofreire

Paulo Freire

The Union organizations, national and international, are challenged to try to accomplish more effective actions to struggle the disrespect to the human and worker rights and the aggression to the environment, practiced by the companies. Beyond the themes directly linked to the working environment, we can observe, each time more, the necessity for the Unions to get involve with social questions, with the defense of the human rights, with the construction of a more sustainable world and to guarantee a Decent Work.

It has been in this perspective that, trough an advice, from Paulo Freire Institute – Brazil and the GUW have been working together during the last months, working on a formation course of Union formers. Almost 30 professional participate of the formative process, leaderships of different States of the country.

Participants of the Training of Formers Course UGT

The formations happen trough face meetings and distance activities, using for this an electronic platform of Distance Education (DE). The formative processes use the dynamics and languages cultural-artistic, mobilizing the different dimensions of the formative process, like the cognitive ones, affective ones, emotional and aesthetic.

The Formers Formation course of the GUW have been amplifying knowledges related to the philosophical-ethical-political-pedagogical principles of Paulo Freire. The study of theories and the dialogue about conceptions and practices, have been “wet” with the reality with each one of the different contexts lived by the participants, offering the joint construction of new knowledge and strengthening the commitment of the Union leaderships with new challenges of the transformation of the local and national reality.

The results of the formative process accomplished have already been perceived in the formations held by those who are involved with their basis, since they are already inspired by the freirian methodological practices.

Contact of Paulo Freire Institute Brazil: ipf@paulofreire.org

Ninguém liberta ninguém

Paulo Freire

The Popular University of Social Movements (PUSM) in Cabo Verde held its 1st workshop as a residential seminar, inside Santiago Island.

The PUSM has as central objective to share knowledges. This project is about an amplification process, articulation and strengthen of the forms of struggle against the neoliberal globalization, capitalism, colonialism, sexism, and other relations of domination and oppression. The idea is to rethink and renew the knowledge of political and social struggle, developing, starting from the South, new paradigms of social transformation.

The workshop happens during the moment of commemoration of the 40 years of independence of Cabo Verde. The event brings as central theme Education and the Social Movements that, following Florenço Mendes Varela, member of the Organizing Commission, is one of the historical motes of development in the country. For him: “the important moment convokes the necessity to reflect the meanings of education for development, the possibilities of emancipating alternatives.”

The focus of the discussion of the Workshops are: to reflect about the historical experience of education in Cabo Verde during the process of struggle for independence, post-independence and the actual moment; about popular education as an incentive of the communitarian development and its relation with social movements, working in net and social economy and with solidarity; the position of a committed education and participative guided by the perspective to accomplish wealth for all; the decolonization of minds and the contribution of Paulo Freire and Amilcar Cabral in the process of construction of dignity and human emancipation; education as a human right and dignity condition in the discussion context of the 2015 post agenda.

The workshop of the (PUSM) in Cabo Verde, in construction with national and international partners, presents itself with the intention to dialogue the strengthen of the interaction between the movements and civil organizations and militant intellectuals to amplify knowledge about the reality of Cabo Verde, contributing to strengthen the formation of the participants and the commitment of the same ones in the development of agendas and political actions in commun.

Florenço Mendes Varela authored text, President of the University Institute of Education
Contact: Florenco.Varela@iue.gov.cv

Paulo Freire

Sculpture set in stone in a square in Stockholm, Sweden, where Paulo Freire is next to Pablo Neruda, Tse-Tung Hand and others. Tribute of the artist Swedish, Pye Engstrom, seven names that she considers the greatest personalities of the twentieth century.

Photo taken from: http://www.projetomemoria.art.br/PauloFreire/biografia/popup/homenagens_17.html

Paulo Freire

The Cultural Action Institute (CAI) in Portuguese IDAC, was founded by Paulo Freire, Claudius Ceccon (cartoonist), among other Brazilians who lived in Geneva Switzerland, during the 70s, and that had as objective to do advisories in the educational area, specially in African countries that were struggling for their independence during the 70s and 80s.

IDAC used humor and art to express the reality of the country they were working, or the world reality as well, that they were struggling against. In one of his notebooks “ Le Dessin d’ humour comme instrument d’ éducation politique (Drawings as political educational instrument), the institution gathered a great quantity of cartoons and charges problematizing the world.

“One of the characteristics of the urban-industrial civilization, in which we live in, is that she is constituted as a visual civilization. (…) The ensemble of information transmitted by all these messages [visual] have a choking homogeneity in the models that are given us, the ideas and the way of life. To understand that this is a fact, and why is it like that, it is the first indispensable step in order not to fall in a trap much more dangerous that is veiled under an apparent innocence and gives us, a real aesthetic pleasure”, introduced Claudius Ceccon in the relative notebook.

See below an example of comic, elaborated by Ceccon, that reflects the words of the drawer about innocence, the aesthetic pleasure and the comprehension of the world by means of art.

First Line:
1 – Hi! / 2 – Hi!
1 – Can you give me a piece of cake?/ 2 – No, I can’t.
1 – Why? / 2 – Because if I give you a piece, I’ll be hungry.
Second Line:
1 – But Lili, I’m hungry too.
2 – And? / 1 -And you can give me half of the cake.
2 – But if I give you a half, I will not be totally satisfied, neither will you.
1 – But, at least, I’ll be less hungry than before.
Third Line:
2 – Listen, if we both are hungry, that means that 100% of people are hungry, if I eat it, the hungry cuts in 50%.
1 – It’s true, but the 50% that are still hungry it’s me! That’s a violence!
2 – Sorry, but statistics are neutral and have no feelings.
1 – So if the problem is the statistics, i had a better idea!
2 – Better? What?
Fourth Line:
1 – I’ll eat the cake!
1 – Like this, the neutrality of statistics are by my side…
1 – And remember: violence creates violence!

“A meta deste cordel
que vou vos apresentar
é divulgar Paulo Freire
seu dom de alfabetizar
ir reto sem fazer dobra
mostrando a vida e a obra
de quem viveu para ensinar.”
(…)

Jardineiro da utopia
nunca parou de regar
letras, sílabas, palavras
frases para educar
neste pesquisar profundo
as linguagens do mundo
sempre soube respeitar .

(…)

Por tudo o quanto fez
este nobre menestrel
sua luz está na terra
e com as estrelas do céu
desfrutando eterna glória
e um pouco da sua história
eu transformei em cordel.”

The publication has been illustrated by the artist Francorli, that portrayed Paulo Freire through woodcut.

Contact: costasenna@gmail.com