Paulo Freire 100 years: the centenary of an untimely thought

Abstract

The fascinating book Paulo Freire 100 anos: o centenário de um pensa-mento intempestivo (Bagai, 2020) is reflected in the exquisite chapters collection that recalls a famous legend presented at the beginning of the work The Thorn Birds (published in Portuguese by Bertrand Brasil, 1994), a best-seller by Colleen McCullough, which narrates the story of a bird that sings only once in its life. When the bird sings, it follows a tragic fate of launching himself against sharp thorns and,  by doing so, the whole world stops just to listen to it. It is a singular, soft, superlative chant, whose price is existence itself. Thus, it is Freire’s untimely thought: it is a song of humanity, ethics and hope for the world to understand the ontological sense of a liberating education.