Critical School is the school of unlearning. It empowers those who seek emancipatory knowledge employing dialectical materialism, critical theories and social justice action plans.
In a capitalist society, most of us assume our status to be ‘free’ when in reality we do not own the means to shape our respective lives. When confronted with this reality that permeates our everyday activities, we protest against injustice, and yet continue to duly serve the unjust masters.
Such internal, existential struggles in human lives have perhaps forever existed. Only rarely do they manifest in revolutionary mass actions - because the individual reconciliations with reality are far too tempting when a social consciousness is circumstantially disallowed. When the majority of people in every epoch of history has suffered at the hands of a small minority of owning class, consistent revolutionary engagements should be a no-brainer. And yet, not only does the ruling class keep the masses distracted with trivial, unconsequential news stories, the progressive intelligentsia also fail to adequately remind the world of the collective human struggles led by the economically poor to attain betterment for all. This is so because of the quest on part of progressive scholarship to conform to the capitalistic standards of success and fame, where the most illustrative figures crave awards from the elite institutions, not dialogues with the oppressed who are rendered little more than research data.
In such a time where we need to employ lenses of social locations that are not exclusive only to the observer, it is imperative that we address ourselves to the critical thoughts that have still not abandoned the majority of the world. Thoughts that are actionable, understandable and critically important - so that the protest against injustice is carried on with theoritical strength, and the newer thoughts of revolutionary tactics do not take form only inside the proverbial ivory towers.
Towards that end, this School is predicated upon the following:
1. An incisive and painstakingly critical understanding of history alone can lead us to create a better future world.
2. Many “left” thoughts have left out the majority of potential actors from their deliberately inaccessible scripts. It is therefore important to dismantle impenetrable theories with an aim to render them useful - to make critical education a tool of empowerment for the most.
Critical School is the school of unlearning. It empowers those who seek emancipatory knowledge.
Saswat Pattanayak
Critical School
