We are: revisiting Freire’s call for communion

Purpose This essay argues that Paulo Freire’s (2005) pedagogy of dialogue and conscientization largely unites critical pedagogy and decolonization, but that the prerequisite of communion between critical pedagogues and the oppressed has been made more difficult because of the separation of people through the global capitalist system. I argue that this separation is partly to blame for the metaphysical catastrophe in critical education (Maldonado-Torres, 2016), which is dialectically connected with the physical catastrophe of imperialism. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper. Findings The essay concludes with two possible solutions to the quandary of communion: those in the global North migrating to the global South or creating their own semi-autonomous and semi-sustainable communities. Originality/value This paper seeks to resituate the conversation surrounding education for decolonization in the broader imperial economic system of the world. By doing such, it can help position the dynamic, yet concrete situations of the oppressed in order for educators to refine their revolutionary praxis.