Education and Social Justice in Neoliberal Times: Historical and Pedagogical Perspectives from Two Postcolonial Contexts

The dystopian future imagined by Orwell in his infamous masterpiece,1984, it should be remembered, was borne of the hypocrisies that Orwell[Eric Blair] witnessed as a volunteer during the Spanish Civil War and later described in Homage to Catalonia. Spain, as the international frontline against fascism, offered clear purpose for the young men who answered the Republican call to arms. Yet, the war unfolded in ways that shattered many ideals, with ideologically fragmented and disorganized militias on the left as prone to attacking or sacrificing each other as they were to engaging with their fascist enemies on the right. It was a historical setting in which language was mobilized to do many things: to paper over uncompromising differences, to demonize those who once were compa-triots and to proclaim unassailable ‘truths’ when few were readily apparent in sum, the essence of what we often call propaganda when deployed by opponents.