Expressões vivas: a violência no campo no cotidiano do pré-assentamento Emiliano Zapata - PR

Abstract

The thesis aims to demonstrate how rural violence is experienced by peasants living in camps in the state of Paraná, having as research universe the pre-settlement Emiliano Zapata, located in the municipality of Ponta Grossa. Analyzing the impacts of this violence on the struggle for land. Violence is employed as a strategy to prevent and weaken the peasant class’s struggle for land ownership, perpetrated by landowners and with a support structure including the State, media, hitmen, and security forces such as the military police. This exploratory study used a qualitative approach. A case study was carried out, with methodological procedures consisting of literature review, documentary analysis and field research. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on-site using a script and recording data in a field diary. Data analysis was performed by categorical processes, with the software IRAMUTEQ (Interface de R pour les Analyses Multidimensionnelles de Textes et de Questionnaires) being used to structure the participants’ speech into networks of significant words. The results indicate that members of the Emiliano Zapata pre-settlement identify violence as a strategy to suppress the struggle for land, and that the majority of them (77%) have been in the pre-settlement since its occupation in 2003. They have experienced several forms of violence, including eviction by the military police, private action by the land grabber claiming the area, and prejudice accentuated by the view that members of the Movimento dos Tabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) are dangerous people. In spite of the difficulties faced such as rural violence, pre-settlers have resisted by developing strategies to keep on fighting and representing the condition of living in and from the land. In this sense, the research has found that rural violence was a strategy for causing fear and insecurity in order to impede the struggle for the land. However, the resistance and determination of these rural workers grew stronger in the face of adversity, thanks to the experience of living in the camps, which promotes collective development, cooperation, solidarity and a sense of belonging. These elements helped intensify the struggle for land, with sharpened collective perspective and political consciousness. The research concludes that the struggle for land develops from the collective experience of the encamped, who face violence and still resist in search of their right to the land.