In preparation of People's Health Assembly II - part 29 (3)
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Dear Dr Banerji,
Thank you for excellent and perceptive note on the importance of
what I call "relevant education" -- the learning process for
building a more equitable and healthy world. As I see it, "rele-
vant education" is that which provides an open-ended learning
environment whereby oppressed peoples (and I would like to think
the oppressors and decision makers as well) can analyze the
forces, policies, power structures, and belief systems that de-
termine the relative justice and injustices of our social order,
and then enables people to collectively explore a healthier,
fairer, and more sustainable alternatives.
I think your mention of the pioneers of this empowering "educa-
tion for change" process is right on the mark: certainly Feire
and Illich -- along with Gandhi's and Vinoba Bhave's "Nai Talim"
learning-by-by-doing schools for Dalit children. Indeed, it was
my visit to India, to one of these incredible Nai Talim schools
near Bangalore when I was in my 20's, that got me started on a
path of alternative education that eventually evolved into the
approach we took with Community Based Health Care in Mexico --
as documented in our book "Helping Health Workers Learn." Like-
wise, Rabindranath Tagore has long been one of my heroes in the
area of "education of liberation" (My mother studied under Ta-
gore when he was at Harvard, and read me his "Crescent Moon" po-
ems when I was a child.)
I am sorry to learn that you won't be at PHA2, because your
voice and vision are very important to keeping the priorities of
the Assembly duly focused on the essential issues. Unfortu-
nately, I will not be there either.
I am glad that you continue to receive our "Newsletter's from
the Sierra Madre." The last two issues explore the health situa-
tion in Cuba, from which the rest of the world could learn a
great deal (but probably won't). Our newsletters, along with all
our/my books are now completely and freely accessible online on
http://www.healthwrights.org. Also take a look at our Politics
of Health Knowledge Network: http://www.politicsofhealth.org,
which now covers a lot of important new ground. Among the 400 or
so articles the site now includes, a number have been taken from
the PHA Exchange -- which is a wonderful resource!
In solidarity,
David Werner