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Martha Harnecker A Woman of the Revolution Por Peter McLaren * y Nathalia Jaramillo. Every generation a figure emerges from the clutter and din of the history of revolutionary struggle that stands both together and apart from everyday protagonists. A figure who, in assuming the distance of the scholar, both amplifies and illuminates the voices from below, those whom Paulo Freire referred to as the oppressed, and Frantz Fanon referred to as les damnés; and, in living the routines and habits of mind of la gente, a figure who lends coherence to revolutionary thought and action. One such figure is Marta Harnecker. >> Whether as a young woman working with Acción Católica, studying Marxism in France with Louis Althusser (who wrote the preface to her first book), struggling as a university professor in her native Chile, or as an activist with the Partido Socialista, or founding the publication, Chile Today, during the presidency of Salvador Allende, or directing in Havana, the institute Memoria Popular Latinoamericana (Latin American Popular Memory (MEPLA), Harnecker has always sought to read both the word and the world not only in order to interpret the world, but, as Marx instructs, in order to change it. Hence, her work has always embodied the struggle for socialism and a pedagogy of liberation. Searching for the most efficacious forms of popular organizations in her work with Venezuela’s communal councils, or exploring what it means to live in solidarity with others through actually living such solidarity, her life has been animated by a Marxist humanist philosophy of praxis. This has been true since the publication of her earliest work, Los conceptos elementales del materialismo histórico y Cuadernos de Educación Popular (The Basic Concepts of Historical Materialism) which instructed a generation of Latin Americans on the importance of Marxism and popular struggle. >> >> Harnecker’s work is illuminated by an insight made foundational in the work of Paulo Freire: that politics and pedagogy are not an exclusive function of having the right knowledge. Critical consciousness is not the root of commitment to revolutionary struggle but rather the product of such a commitment. And individual does not have to be critically self-consciousness in order to struggle. It is in the act of struggling that individuals become critically conscious and aware. This is the bedrock of Harnecker’s politics of solidarity and commitment. She understands that while radical scholarship and theoretical ideas are important, people do not become political and then take part in radical activity. Rather, participating in contentious acts of revolutionary struggle creates new protagonistic political identities. Critically informed political identities do not motivate revolutionary action but rather develop as a logical consequence of such action. And the action summoned by Harnecker is always heterogeneous, multifaceted, protagonistic, democratic and participatory yet always focalized anti-capitalist struggle.>> >> Walter Benjamin wrote a storied description of the Angel of History, his mouth open, his wings spread, his face turned towards the past, a storm from paradise catching in his wings with such a force that he cannot close them. As the wind of this storm propels him towards the future, to which his back is turned, he sees the wreckage of history piling up in front of his feet. The storm is what we call progress. Unlike Benjamin’s Angel of History, Harnecker has no wings and she is able to face the future with a firmness and a resolute optimism born of a lifetime of struggle. She faces the future without turning her back on the past, nor on the possibilities inherent in the present. Her vision is fully grounded in history, which she knows is never guaranteed but must be struggled for on a daily basis. Marta Harnecker is an international treasure. She belongs not to one nation, one people, but to all peoples struggling for emancipation from necessity, from injustice, from oppression. Marta Harnecker, presente! *Professor Peter McLaren B.A., B.Ed., M.Ed., Ph.D., F.R.S.A., Ed.D (honoris causa), Dip Tchg 64 9 623 8899, extensión 48597
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Critical Studies in Education, Te Kura o te Kotuinga Akoranga Matauranga Faculty of Education, The University of Auckland Te Kura Akoranga o Tamaki Makaurau Private Bag 92601, Symonds Street, Auckland 1150 New Zealand Docente Fundador Instituto McLaren de Pedagogía Critica y Educación Popular Ensenada, B.C., México
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