Mark Russel D.

Bumatay October 15, 2019

BSCE 2-4 FIL-KOM

The Struggle for Cultural and Ethnic Justice in the Age of Neoliberal Capitalism: The Case of
Indigenous Education Among the Aetas of Botolan, Zambales

Introduction

Poverty is not having enough material possessions or income for a person's needs.
Poverty may include social, economic, and political elements. Absolute poverty is the complete
lack of the means necessary to meet basic personal needs, such as food, clothing and shelter.
Being poor is a challenge, how will you surpass this challenge if you have no enough knowledge.
They say education is the key to become a success in life, but the education is just a system gives
us a knowledge of the world around us. The most important is “Do you really learn? Do you really
understand?”

Social psychologists point out that prolonged exposure to insufferable situations

gradually de-sensitizes people. Constant exposure to violence, poverty, and hopelessness
destroys our capacity for human compassion and solidarity. All forms of social suffering brought
about by the neoliberal capitalist assault on indigenous communities.

Neoliberalism characterized by the free market trade and removing of financial markets.

“Fear of Liberation” in the Age of “Audit Culture”

McDonaldization

The process of is whereby the values inherent in fast-food restaurants —efficiency,

rationality, and mass production.

Audit Culture

This culture “requires the constant production of evidence that you are doing things
‘efficiently’ and in the ‘correct’ way.” There is a constant pressure to perform and out-perform
one’s performance so as to justify one’s existence in the market.
 They don’t trust the oppressed whom they pretend to liberate... they fear liberation. And
in fearing liberation, they dare not risk constructing it in a brotherhood with those who are
deprived of freedom. (Paolo Freire 1985: 119)

This “fear of liberation” among leaders and the people must be overcome if the
community is serious in emancipating itself culturally and economically from the clutches of
neoliberal capitalist education. But this is difficult to accomplish because these elite leaders are
the only ones who are literate and trained as leaders. However, leaders must be truly
representatives of the people. They should act in consultation with the people, empowering
them to take charge of the affairs of the community.

Moreover, the fear of liberation is conducive to the new culture of “knowledge

capitalism” that promotes individualistic and institutional competitiveness. In “knowledge
capitalism,” the need for rapid institutional responses allows managers to make quick decisions
and strategic responses often at the expense of internal deliberation and debate. Thus, it is
important for those involved in teaching to find new ways of working collaboratively which
challenge the individualism promoted by marketization, and to recognize the need to connect
with local and global communities. (Harris 2005: 421-433)