Teaching, a higly risky profession in Latin America. Is there a way out for the 21st
century?
Targeted by neoconservatives, either the university takes the lead in the process
of resistance and struggle with society, or we will all succumb to the
obscurantism that has been noisily settling in the world. In the last decade,
reactionary political forces have gained strength in various locations across the
continents. Consequently, we see growing xenophobia, violence against the
LGBTQ+ community, rising rates of feminicide and attacks on women's rights,
the
most
widely
manifestation
of
Nazi-fascist
movements.
In Latin America, the return of authoritarian governments, even under the
blessings of democracy, is more serious, as our history reminds us how little
value life has of those who dare to challenge power. The bold coups are behind
us, which robbed us of our freedom and made us afraid to go out in the streets
to protest. People, in apparent amnesia, have called for governments that
instigate hatred and encourage individualism in order to, beneath curtains of
smoke, steal everything that is possible. If in the last century the greatest
enemies were artists and intellectuals, today, the enemy is the teacher,
constantly identified as a communist doctrinaire. From the political leaders
themselves, the teacher shouts out: in Brazil, shortly after counting votes,
politicians were already telling students to film teachers and send videos to
denounce doctrinal practice. Nowadays, teachers are assigned adjectives like
communist,
tramp.
Being a teacher makes this profession even more difficult in the Brazilian
contemporary reality. Paulo Freire, relating education and society, wrote that "It
would be a naive attitude to expect the ruling classes to develop a form of
education that would enable the dominated classes to perceive social injustices
in a critical way." Considering that he died in 1997, we can sadly note that after
more than 20 years we have been governed by a so-called elite, who respond to
foreign interests, with a subservience never seen and who, in order to satisfy the
true owners of power, has every interest in keeping the masses away from a
knowledge that could free them. After years and years offering a cheap
education to people, Freire's maxim became reality: "When education is not
liberating, the dream of the oppressed is to be the oppressor." After years of
imperfect, but a democratic government and more committed to the people than
we had hitherto experienced, people voted for a government that promised to
end everything that was built. In an explicit act of masochism, people let
themselves be convinced that rights are harmful and that they, the people
themselves, need to cut back on those rights without charging first the cut back
of those who never knew what sacrifice is. And just as Pinochet persuaded the
people that the pension reform would lead them to a prosperous future,
Bolsonaro continues to promise people things they will never see. Within this
reality, we are haunted by a desperation that suffocates us, and a cry that is
impossible to be held back at the same time there is a mounting fear of
retaliation. We see right in front of us demands to end Freire’s legacy, to end
the public university, because, in the words of the president, it does not generate
an immediate return to society, even though it is the Brazilian public university
responsible for all research conducted in Brazil. We see, if you excuse the
informality, the cockroach applauding the insecticide and crying out for more.
As university professors, in face of this growth of fascism, what can we do?
What proposals can we present our students to prepare them for the future that
is being drawn? How to denounce this whirlpool that drags us all to the drain?
How do you find the bottom of the well for an impulse to return to the surface
if, in Brazil, the bottom of the well seems to have a basement? It is in the desire
to dialogue and exchange experiences that we propose this panel.