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In that quote I think Friere's main point was that activism is not true action when the subjects of a leader are not allowed to think or reflect upon things for themselves. If subjects are merely manipulated by an more powerful class to perform certain actions, then that is no road to this ideal revolution that Friere envisions. 

I think this idea ties in nicely to the issue of superficial charity that you brought up.  I think superficial activism has become a big part of our culture today and it causes more problems than it supposedly solves. I think that a chairty or welfare program should not be judged its intentions (because all charities are supposed to have good intentions), but by its actual results. For example, KONY 2012 was such a big campaign and many people bought into it because it seemed like the moral and responsible thing to do. But once people started questioning whether their goal-- to send US troops into Northern Uganda-- would actually promote peace in the area of the world, some people were more wary of donating money to this cause. I think a truly charitable and genuinely sympathetic person cares enough to carefully research the actual consequences of the actions of a certain program or charity that was meant to benefit the oppressed in society. 

I think TFA is another example. TFA, while their intentions are good in the sense that they want to supply teachers to low-income schools, creates a number of problems that only play into the broken system we have today. The fact that their teachers are untrained, and barely educated in the field of education lowers the standards of teachers. Their 2-year minimum commitment program only worsens the teacher retention rate in these low-income schools. 

I think Friere is right when he says that we must not simply do things for the sake of activism, but also reflect and truly think about the real consequences of the various charities and welfare programs we have today. 

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