“Mesmo com essas coisas ruins que o dendê trouxe, eu não saio daqui”: resistência a agroindústria do dendê na comunidade do Castanhalzinho em Concórdia do Pará

Abstract

Palm oil production on the world stage has gained momentum in the last decades, in the main palm oil producing countries of Indonesia and Thailand the production of raw material for agrofuels has not been accompanied by a strict environmental policy, triggering conflicts with local communities and drawing the attention of ONGs and movements linked to the defense of the environment. In 2010, the National Biodiesel Production Program (PNPB) created by the Federal Government was launched in Brazil as a way to promote the production of alternative fuels to oil from palm oil, providing for the creation of salaried employment and the inclusion of agriculture through production contracts (BRASIL, 2010). The development of palm oil agroindustries, such as the company BIOPALMA S / A, which in its area of coverage has acquired large tracts of land around the Castanhalzinho Community, provoked changes in the living conditions of the residents due to the opening and extensions within the community and by the effects of the chemicals used in planting maintenance. The objective of this dissertation is to analyze the forms of resistance to the oil industry in the Castanhalzinho Community, located in the municipality of Concórdia do Pará. Scott's concept of daily resistance (2013) and theoretical foundations of Collective Action are used as the theoretical focus of this study because it helps us understand forms of resistance produced both in the daily life by the residents, as well as by the local quilombola associations. The study was constructed through case study and qualitative research, using participant observation, open and semi-structured interviews with community residents and with quilombola leaderships from associations and entities such as Malungu and Cedenpa. The results of the research pointed to forms of resistance by quilombola associations and daily resistance by community dwellers as a denial of the sale of land for monoculture, wages, the effects of palm oil cultivation in the quilombola community and resistance to the access to the environment by the opponent's devaluation. Elements of the social organization of the community such as kinship, religiosity and reciprocity guarantee solid social relations among the inhabitants and of them with the territory guaranteeing greater possibility of resistance in the place.