You can't be neutral on a moving bus: Critical pedagogy as community praxis

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that a major task for Leftist activist academics is to be accountable for the "real world" political implications of theory by working out ways to connect education with community struggles for social justice. Here, the action potentiality of critical pedagogy is revealed in the recent writings of Marxist educators, who offer insights into how concrete political struggles can be waged in the sphere of reproduction (labour power) and against the imposition of an alienated life. Operating from the starting point that mutually mediated and collectively enacted struggle activates capacities, ideals and solidarities capable of challenging the lived conditions of social and economic injustice, this article provides a concrete account of academic/activism . I specifically focus on efforts to bridge the gap between theory and practice at the Bus Riders Union in Los Angeles. Under class struggle conditions today, the focus of my involvement at the Bus Riders Union (BRU) was my personal commitment to critical/revolutionary praxis organized around the need for individual and social transformation, which is the aim of revolutionary critical pedagogy.