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Title: Liberatory Education 101 Author: Lee Shevek Date: 2021 Language: en Topics: pedagogy, education, guide Source: https://dogsection.org/liberatory-education-101/
Radicalising people towards liberatory politics is a challenging, deeply
rewarding, and vital component to building real political power towards
liberation. It is also emotionally taxing, difficult to navigate, and
often rife with conflict. I hope to offer some tools, tactics, and
frameworks for engaging in this process with others in ways that can
keep doors open for continued process, as well as protect the boundaries
and energies of my fellow militants who engage in this work.
First, attend to how you see yourself in the process of radicalizing
others. Are you treating other people as vessels in which you can pour
your “superior” knowledge into? If so, the radicalisation process, if it
proceeds at all, is likely to be an unnecessarily arduous one.
Liberatory education is a process of mutual growth and is fundamentally
about modeling and building liberatory relationships with people:
challenging them and letting them challenge you in turn. People will
rightfully resist being “taught” by someone who claims to know their
lives better than they do and has all the “answers” prepackaged for
them. If we’re here to be a part of the process of liberation, then we
have to be here to build up comrades. Learn from comrades. Grow with
comrades. Don’t lock people into new forms of the same old cultish
thinking because we live under the illusion that we know what’s “best”
for them. Even in the (rare) situation in which someone takes what you
say as truth or gospel, this is not the positive outcome it may seem.
Most people have already learned how to parrot someone else’s political
analysis without having one of their own, and that is not what
liberation looks like. What we want, when we engage people in liberatory
education, is to help them to think in new ways, to build their own
analyses, not just mimic our own. We need to help them build their own
political autonomy, not submit to the blanket will of another.
Radicalising people also requires holding compassionate space for them
in different parts of their process and communicating clear expectations
for growth. If you don’t strike the right balance, you’ll either
completely alienate people or entirely fail in challenging them to
change. Important here is to recognise that holding space for someone in
their process is not equivalent to allowing harmful behavior or beliefs
go unchallenged. People don’t learn how to treat others better if
they’re not given expectations for accountability. It is deeply
important to hold compassionate, but firm, boundaries in this process.
We’re not just out here trying to teach people economic theory, but,
rather, a whole new way to relate to one another outside of domination
and control. We will not make that possible if we’re not modeling and
practicing those ways of being with one another that are both
compassionate and boundaried. The “I understand why you came to believe
that but here’s the flaw in that argument/why it’s harmful” method works
wonders. Most people just want to know that you understand why they are
where they are and can be open to new ideas once you show them that
respect.
Allow opportunities for people to save face. Most people involve their
egos in their position. When you’ve communicated your message, know when
to ease up and let the conversation change without making them admit
“defeat.” It is often enough to have planted the seeds. That doesn’t
mean the conversation is over, but people need breaks. They need to have
an opportunity to sit and chew on new ideas and concepts. Check in on
those seeds later and tend to them, there will certainly be
opportunities to do so. Often, people will bring it up again themselves.
Sometimes, they’ll act like they never actually disagreed. Let them, if
you can, and be glad you can take the conversation further now. I say
“let them” here because I think we tend to undervalue the benefits of
letting people save face in this process. Sometimes it’s necessary to do
otherwise, but most of the time it’s better to mark it as a personal win
internally without lording our victory over them.
Everyone has their in. Everyone is crushed in some way by this system,
you just need to find it and leverage it to help reveal to them where
their interests actually are. Get to know someone, build a relationship
with them, and you will find they’re in. Does their boss suck? When they
talk about it, commiserate and also throw light on why they suck. Yeah,
their personality is trash but it’s trash because they get to profit off
of others who do the labour for them. We could all do a better job just
doing it together, couldn’t we?
Avoid politically charged words whenever possible: anarchism, communism,
socialism, etc. are all important terms that we should use and demystify
for people, but at the beginning of the process they will almost
certainly work against you. Be attentive to the connotations these words
have for many people, due to the massive propaganda machine they’ve been
put through their whole lives. There’s a time and place for those words,
but it’s certainly not at “hello.” Find ways to talk about the concepts
and values of anarchism without mentioning the word anarchism. If you
have a hard time with this, take some time to read more introductory
books on the subject, because those will help you find simpler language
to use. Do not underestimate the value of reading/listening to a lot of
theory/political books and podcasts that run through the basics. Even if
you already know the basics, hearing the language used to explain them
to those who don’t will help you do the same.
Finally, recognise the difference between someone who is open to growth
and someone who utterly refuses it. For the latter, you can leave the
door open for change but don’t let yourself get pulled into pointless
circular debates. Protect your energy. A key point to “holding
compassionate boundaries” is recognising that you can only do this work
with people who are willing and interested in engaging with it. You
cannot force change in someone: you can only support it. For folks
determined to continue to do harm, a compassionate boundary might mean
cutting them off.
Be compassionate to yourself in this process too. You’re not perfect,
you’re still learning. If you get into a conversation with someone and
you don’t know how to answer a question, that’s okay. Take it as a
lesson on what you need to learn more about. Ultimately, there are no
specific steps on exactly how to radicalise people, because everyone is
different. This is why I speak to process, rather than giving a
step-by-step how-to. Liberatory education is, ultimately, relationship
building. Take your time, develop your own analysis, learn how to set
and maintain compassionate boundaries and relational norms for change.
Have patience. Some people are slow going, others pick it up right away,
but regardless it is an amazing, fulfilling, and vital process to be a
part of.