Book, Educator, The: a profile of Paulo Freire[LS]

At a time of ideological radicalization in the country, a sober book that shows Paulo Freire beyond stereotypes. “Enough with Marxist indoctrination, enough with Paulo Freire!” It was common to find phrases like this in demonstrations against the Dilma Rousseff government in 2015. With Jair Bolsonaro's victory in the 2018 elections, criticism of Freire gained sharp reinforcement. The educator, biographical profile of Paulo Freire, brings sobriety to this debate contaminated by ideological polarization; recovers the successful literacy experience in Angicos, in Rio Grande do Norte, on the eve of the 1964 coup; and tells in detail the persecution that Freire suffered from the military. Then came prison, exile, international fame, experiences in Africa, return to Brazil after the amnesty, resumption of his academic career and his experience as Secretary of Education in São Paulo. The book illuminates little-known aspects of Freire's life. He was never a communist. It is still read more in universities abroad than in Brazilian ones. He never preached partisan education in schools. With discretion and generosity, Sérgio Haddad, one of the most important scholars of Paulo Freire's work in Brazil, retraces the educator's journey without joining the ideological dispute, revealing the many facets of a complex and decisive intellectual for Brazilian culture.