Last Blog Post :( (How Difficult It is to be God)
AHHHHH eegads, I have fumbled yet again, woe is me. I AM A BLOG POST SHORT AND DID NOT REALIZE (perhaps two blog posts, I am not a numbers guy, never have been, never claimed to be), anyway let’s cut to the blog post, enough dilly dallying, tom foolery and other such silly acts of idling.
The quote I would like to focus on for this final blog post is from “How Difficult It Is To Be God” by Carlos Iván Degregori: “To this deception, which goes back to the moment of the Conquest, is contrasted with the “objective truth” that one achieves through education. The quote’s argument against the notion that education leads to objective truth can be seen as aligning with the Shining Path’s ideological stance that what is often presented as “objective truth” through formal education is actually a continuation of colonial and, by extension, capitalist ideologies. They believed that these so-called truths served to maintain the power structures established during the Conquest and reinforced by successive governments that had arisen since then. For the Shining Path, “real” truth (there’s that word again) and liberation could only be achieved through revolutionary struggle and the overthrow of the existing social order. The shining path essententially saw themselves as the vanguard of this revolutionary change, aiming to dismantle the deceptions entrenched in society since the Conquest. Rather than traditional education, which the shining path viewed as inherently flawed and biased, serving the interests of the ruling class.They advocated for a forms of education that would instead serve to awaken the masses to the true nature of their oppression and inspire them to push back collectively and relentlessly. In many ways this perspective played a large role in the justification of the groups many acts of violence as a means to achieve a “true” revolution such as this, believing that only through radical change could the deceptions of the colonial era and all subsequent governments to be be fully revealed and rectified. I think this was probably one of my favourite books of the course thus far. It certainly gave me a much better idea of the shining path than the tour guide at the LUM did, bless her soul though.
Anyway, I’m so sad that the program is over. I wll remember this forever and ever. You are all amazing people in your own special ways. I miss you all so much already and hope to see many of you back in Vancouver.
FUZZY LITTLE HEAD SIGNING OFF 4EVER, BYE BYE (not actually 4ever, just 4now 😉 )
Nice blog post fuzzy little head. I also like the book and found it better than the LUM tour. When our guide said that the two police officers who helped catch the leader of Shining Path saved democracy I was like well did they also get rid of the government that has also been killing people? No? Well I think those officers still have some work to do then.
Hi Fuzzy Little Head,
The topic of education is a loaded one for sure. We’ve also discussed how colonialism in general is a sort of pedagogical process. It’s hard to believe that a standardized education would convince the masses to what the shining path believed at that time, and its interesting that they would choose a method with a potentially problematic history when used for ideological ends. I think there’s maybe an idea about unlocking a social unconscious going on. But this is itself at odds with their covert methods- Sendero doesn’t really present itself on the battlefield of public ideas, they’re too private for that. A very difficult topic to break into, but I agree that this quote is informative.
Gabo