Outlaw Culture: Bell Hooks

Great book. Some thoughts:
"The assumption that domination is not only natural but central to the civilizing process is deeply rooted in our cultural mind set"
We make excuses not to live as humans. Because it is the incapable human that must acheive not on his own but ontop of the back of another. domintation is the excuse of the weak. To be civilized is to be better than another. To disrespect another. To not understand the other.... domination is contra everything to be valued in mankind.
power over is not acheived through mutual respect of humanity.

"What would it mean for us to look at biography not from the standpoint of peoples accomplishments, but from what people desired"

"how can you work to end one form of domintation, but not the other... examining these blind spots, i conclude that many of us are motivated to move against domination soley when we feel our self interest directly threatened"

" untill we are all able to accept the interlocking interdependence and nature of systems of domination and recognzied specific ways each system is maintained, we will continue to act in ways that undermine our individual quest for freedom and collective liberation struggle.

Bell Hook{s writing has helped me to understand oppression better. No matter what kind it is, it is dehumanizing. and we must always interrogate ourselves do understand how we have incorporated this into our daily lives, both as victims and perpetrators.
It is impossible therefor for me to denounce crimes against women without denouncing the crimes against the masses of poor people here in Colombia. Or to only acknowledge the suffering of a specific people. Suffering is suffering.
Ill have to write more later because i am hungover and cant think very well.

The thoughts i had on my mind were on education. I quit my spanish course because the classes were authoritarian, focused on grammar, and not an environment conducive to learning. I was so excited to be involved in a language program after studying by myself for so long. At one of the most radical Universities in Colombia. Complete with protests, lectures, student assasinations, police raids, craziness! not meant to be. my teacher was disrespectfull and i was hoping it was just her. But the next professor was just the same. even if they had let me into the higher level his methods were the same as hers. And i cant understand the idea that a student comes to them and says " i want to learn! i want to be challenged! put me in a higher level." no. you can´t because your grammar isnt good enough. But i want to learn......

Pedagogy of Education: if it doesnt change the way you view life, it is not education. To undertand what, must be coupled with understanding Why.
The area inside the classroom is very important. Respect for students (and teacher), democracy, nonjudgemental, interrogating ideas,

"another task of the university and its triad of activities -teaching, research, and community work - is to create, live, and search out the passion of curiosity. This passion cannot be taught if it is not also lived or if the conditions for its development are not provided"
- paulo freire

I consider myself full of curiosity and love learning, and understanding more and more about the world. To be in a classroom, with people with the same passion, guided by a teacher who can can facilitate the process of learning would be such a wonderful experience.
Some day....

I just got three new books for the next two weeks. One is absolutely fabulous. Selected essays about nonviolence. Not only is there passionate pleas for peace to appeal to the conscience, but essays pleaing for our rationality to understand the absurdity of government. i am in a private war with the state...

I also found another book `anthem` by Ayn Rand. The more i read her books the more similar they become to socialism to me. ha. she is probably turning in her grave with that. I think socialism and communism has been perverted by society and by the states that pursue it. The principal idea is to live out your talents with out other inhibiting, and working together in a community that allows this to be possible. In Atlas Shrugged she creates a utopian society where everybody works the work that is which they love. work is the meduim of exchange. And the tradegy of `We the Living` is to watch the degredation of a man who would have been perfect if not for the oppression of the state the cripples people`s ability to be human. ... if they only knew, what this life meant to me...` The same ideas i encounter in Nelson Mandela`s autobiography: what these men could have been if they were respected as men, and allowed to live... as men. My favorite authors all have the same principle`s. To pursue creative talents, to use your mind! I`ll have to write more later comparing Ayn Rand`s capatalist society to that of Che Guevara`s idealistic society. But i am running out of time...