Artwork by Robbie Conal for the cover of Capitalists and Conquerors.
This website is developed as a resource for students of critical pedagogy. The critical pedagogy which I support and practice advocates non-violent dissent, the development of a philosophy of praxis guided by a Marxist humanism, the study of revolutionary social movements and thought, and the struggle for socialist democracy. It is opposed to liberal democracy, which only serves to facilitate the reproduction of capital. It advocates a multiracial and anti-imperialist social movement dedicated to opposing racism, capitalism (both in private property and state property forms), sexism, heterosexism, hierarchies based on social class, as well as other forms of oppression. It draws its inspiration from philosophers of revolutionary praxis such as Paulo Freire, Raya Dunayevskaya, and other philosophers, social theorists and political activists and supports all those who yearn and struggle for freedom. Critical pedagogy is opposed to both state terrorism and individual acts of terrorism. As Freire writes in The Pedagogy of Freedom, "Terrorism is the negation of what I call a universal human ethic." Critical pedagogy is driven by the engine of class struggle in both national and international arenas.
Este sitio web está desarrollado como una fuente de consulta para estudiantes de la Pedagogía Crítica. La Pedagogía Crítica que apoyo y practico se aboga por el disentimiento no violento, el desarrollo de una filosofía de la praxis guiada por un humanismo marxista, el estudio y pensamiento de los movimientos sociales revolucionarios y la lucha por una democracia socialista. Lo anterior se opone a la democracia liberal, la cual sirve únicamente para facilitar la reproducción del capital. Se aboga por un movimiento social multirracial, antiimperialista dedicado para oponerse al racismo, el capitalismo (tanto en la propiedad privada como las formas de propiedad del Estado), el sexismo, el heterosexismo, las jerarquías basadas en las clases sociales, así como otras formas de opresión. Se delinea con la inspiración de filósofos de la praxis revolucionaria como Paulo Freire, Raya Dunayevskaya y otros filósofos, teóricos sociales y activistas políticos y en todo aquél que anhele y luche por la libertad. La pedagogía crítica se opone tanto al terrorismo de Estado como a los actos del terrorismo individual. Como Freire escribe en la Pedagogía de la Libertad, “El terrorismo es la negación de lo que llamo una ética universal humana.” La Pedagogía Critica se ha conducido por el motor de la lucha de clases, tanto en arenas internacionales como nacionales.*
Click on the links below to discover how The Transformative Studies Institute, The Institute for Critical Animal Studies, and Thomas Paine's Corner are collaborating to do our part to create, invent, propose, and construct a culture of resistance that includes the human, animal and Earth liberation movements!
This Spring (2008) I gave talks in Vienna, Toronto, and Medellin, Colombia. This summer I gave talks in Finland, Portugal, Greece, and in several regions of Brasil, including Uberlandia and Salvador.
The Fall I give talks in China (September), in Canada (September), in Venezuela (October), Barcelona (October), Colombia (October) and Greece (November).
ClICK on picture to view Peter in China, Entrance to Forbidden City, September 2008
A photo of Peter in the town of Serifos, the site of the famous miners strike of 1916.
At the turn of the 20th century, Serifos emerged as a major mining site. The shafts which employed large percentages of the local male population were exploited by the German family of the Gromans. The working conditions in the mines scored amongst the poorest in Europe and though the exact number of in-site deaths is unspecified, historians estimate it in the thousands. In response to the appalling conditions and the legendary brutality of Groman's foremen, in 1916 the miners organized a strike calling for improvement in conditions and an 8 hour workday. The strike was effectively organized by Constantinos Speras, a local anarchosyndicalist with long experience of labor struggles in the mainland. In response to the strike, Groman asked for the help of he Greek authorities which sent a national guard detachment from a nearby island. Imprisoning Speras and the entire labour leadership, the guard turned its weapons against the striking workers demanding they return to work. When the latter refused, the guard opened fire, killing 4 workers and wounding scores. In response, the bystander wives of the workers took up stones and attacked the forces of repression, killing the entirety of the armed detachment and throwing the bodies in the sea. The freed leadership then proceeded to proclaim the island a workers' council commune, leading to an effort of collective proletarian self-organisation cut short by the arrival of a French warship, whose command made clear to the workers that despite them flying the French flag, the Republic had no jurisdiction to support them against the counterattack of the Greek State. Thus Groman was given once again the control of the mines, having however guaranteed improved working conditions and an 8 hours workday. Speras would return to Athens only to be assassinated years later by Communist Party (KKE) maximalists. I was told that Costas Speras was an anarchosyndicalist but not local. He was a central member of the National Trade Union. Unfortunately, he left the trade union and reportedly became an informer for the Greek police.
This was a dark page of the history of communist movement in Greece. The communist guerrillas killed Speras during the German Occupation in 1943. According to my friend, Costas Therianos, in 1916 the first soviet was created in Serifos.
Peter at Institucion Educativa La Independencia, a
preschool, primary and secondary school in the barrio of El Salado, San Javier sector, comuna 13 in Medellin, Colombia. The school has established itself as a zone where no illegal armed groups are permitted to wield their influence. The goal is to keep students alive, and to help them heal and repair in the midst of the civil war. The bottom picture is amural in honor of Colombian educators who have been assassinated by the paramilitary death squads.
"Pedagogy, Human Development and Socialism: The Bolivarian Revolution."
Please click on the image to the left to view selections from a conversation between Peter McLaren and Michael Lebowitz (video recorded September 14, 2006).
E-BOOK AND PAPERBACK NOW AVAILABLE. Please click on the image to the left for the details for getting the new book Pedagogy and Praxis in the Age of Empire.
For a listing of my upcoming engagements,
please click here.
For a fantastic image created by Roy Carter for the book Teaching Peter McLaren, please click here.
For recent news regarding my inclusion on UCLA's "dirty thirty" list of professors, please click here, or here, or here.
For a description and trailers of a new film by Juli Jiyoung Kang, in which I play a Marxist professor turned spiritual guide, please click here.
For a stirring 7 minute video depicting the revolutionary legacy of Che Guevara, please click here. (Note: 38 MB) And here is a link to the lyrics of The Internationale.
The Fundacion McLaren is a new organization created by a number of scholars and activists based in Tijuana, Mexico. Access the website they have created for their events, writings, and announcements (in Spanish, some English).
See also: FUNDACION MCLAREN DE PEDAGOGIA CRITICA EN SONORA
Venezuela suffered a US-backed coup d'etat on April 11, 2002. This is the story of the youth of the barrios who fought to restore democracy and president Hugo Chávez.
Nathalie Cardone sings "Hasta Siempre"
New Book from Siglo Veintiuno Editores-Mexico available
"The worker becomes all the poorer the more wealth he produces, the more his production increases in power and range. The worker becomes an ever cheaper commodity the more commodities he creates. With the increasing value of the world of things proceeds in direct proportion to the devaluation of the world of men. Labour produces not only commodities; it produces itself and the worker as a commodity -- and does so in the proportion in which it produces commodities generally." - Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (1844)
The Journal
for Critical Education Policy Studies is
published by the Institute for Education Policy
Studies, an independent Radical Left/ Socialist/
Marxist institute for developing analysis of
education policy. The Institute, and this Journal,
also seek to develop Marxist education theory,
analysis and policy development.
* (La traducción ha sido hecha por el Mtro. Sergio Velasco Yáñez, integrante del Cuerpo Académico “Procesos de Educación de Personas Jóvenes y Adultas” de la Unidad 011, Aguascalientes, de la Universidad Pedagógica Nacional, quien ha gestionado su participación en el Seminario Internacional: “El Poder de Educar: La Pedagogía Crítica a debate”. 28, 29 y 30 de Enero de 2009 en la Sala Audiovisual.)
Statement of Purpose
