O teatro do poder e o contrateatro dos posseiros : estratégias e resistências na luta pela terra no norte de Goiás 1950/1964

Abstract

The late 1950 s and beginning of the 1960 s, Goiás North region was marked by a series of conflicts among squatters and grabbers. Those moved by the possibility in having access to useless lands in this region migrate from different states and from the south of Goiás in the eagerness to gain a piece of earth were they can live with dignity and have work autonomy, supporting themselves in the argument that the land belongs to whom works on it. The grabbers, social group that seeks to explore the land rent is attracted by the land speculation caused by the transfer of the federal capital to Goiás and by the road axis which is built in order to promote the development of this interface with the regions of the country that are more industrialized and developed. Both groups with their different understandings and purposes are going to star in harsh disputes over land ownership in the state. We will analyze these social conflicts from the Theatre perspective and the power counter-theatre thought by the English Historian Edward Palmer Thompson. Noting the domination mechanisms used by grabbers and by the state to expropriate the squatters and the strategies and the resistance of these subjects in the land struggle, starting of the understanding that the historical subjects and the social classes are not predetermined by a theory, but by their mobilization ability and pressure under the ruling power. In this sense, our concern is deconstruct the very common idea in Marxist historiography of underestimate the peasant struggles once they adopt as a benchmark the workers organizing model and political actions. This way, we try to understand the squatters fight from its peculiarities; rejecting paradigms that do not fit into their reality and that when applied tend to characterize them as pre-political or traditional movements. The sources used in this research are: literature, newspapers and interviews.