The use of education, learning, and training as a strategy to build movements and fight
oppression has a long history, especially in agrarian social movements. Sometimes referred to
as ‘popular education’, such approaches contrast with top-down approaches in that they seek
to empower learners rather than simply fill them with information. ‘Popular education’ is not a
rigidly defined practice, but rather an approach, often comprising the following principles:

• Horizontal
• Critical and political
• Pluralistic
• Grounded in experience