Colonialidade do Poder na Mineração: uma análise a partir das narrativas de ativistas do Movimento pela Soberania Popular na Mineração

Abstract

The expansion of the neo-extractive development model has caused the worsening of the negative impacts and several corporate crimes in the context of mining. In addition, this model reproduces the coloniality of power, through forms of control that subordinate populations and their rights, in favor of corporate interests. In this context, this study aimed to analyze, from the perspective of the coloniality of power and the narratives of MAM activists, the social control strategies of mining companies, the impacts and conflicts produced by them, in the operationalization of a neo-extractive development model. Regarding the methodology, the research is characterized as a qualitative study, conducted through interviews guided by a semi-structured script with activists from the Movement for Popular Sovereignty in Mining - MAM. The analyzes were guided by the technique of narrative analysis and by the decolonial approach. The discussion and analysis of the data confirm the thesis presented in this paper that, the mining companies, as central agent of the neo-extractive development model, are the result of the coloniality of power and reproduce this coloniality through strategies that generate negative impacts, conflicts and the subalternization of the territories, strategies that are hidden as supposedly natural results of a development model defended as indispensable for Brazilian society. The results also show the corporate strategies of social control, the impacts generated by mining, the relevance of social movements in the construction of resistance against this model, as well as the reproduction of the dimensions of coloniality of power operationalized by this hegemonic model of development. Regarding the social control strategies adopted by the corporations, the narratives reveal the following practices: diffusion of the neo-extractive model of development and strengthening of mining-dependence, co-opt of actors from the public power, and co-opt and weakening of affected and social resistance movements. About the impacts, the interviewees highlight a diversity of social, economic and environmental implications, which directly and indirectly affect society. Regard to resistance actions, the interviewed actors reported that there is a search for strengthening resistance in relation to the patterns of mineral exploration and the asymmetric power relations established by capital. Finally, the research demonstrates how the dimensions of coloniality are reproduced by mining, reinforcing the conditions of subordination and vulnerability of the population front large enterprises and capital.