Yet movement alone can misfire. Freire cautions that activism without reflection devolves into “activismism,” a churn that exhausts participants while changing little (Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 1970). Hannah Arendt’s On Violence (1970) adds a counterpoint: durable power stems from collective consent, not force; violence can win moments but squander legitimacy. Fanon’s metaphor thus cuts both ways: a hammer must strike true, guided by design, or it warps the very metal it seeks to shape. [...]
