O rompimento da barragem de rejeitos de Fundão e a ascensão do capitalismo de desastre no Brasil

Abstract

On November 5th, 2015, the Fundão iron mining tailings dam, owned by Samarco (Vale S.A. / BHP Billiton), collapsed causing the death of 19 individuals, thousands of affected people, and a trail of destruction along the Rio Doce basin. It has been considered one of the worst disasters of this sort not only in Brazil, but also worldwide (FREITAS & SILVA, 2019; MPF, 2016a; OLIVEIRA, 2016; MILANEZ et al., 2015). This catastrophe is especially relevant considering its extent, magnitude and complexity of the damages and losses brought about, and most importantly, the extralegal and institutional architecture utilized by corporations to manage the disaster. Based on these findings, this study aims at grasping the connection between the Fundão dam‘s failure and rise of disaster capitalism in Brazil. Data have been collected from primary and secondary sources as well as from fieldwork and studied in compliance to the literature on the standpoint of neoliberalism, (neo)-extractivism, disasters, disaster capitalism and torture. The conclusion is that the breaching of the dam provided for the first experiment of major disaster capitalism in Brazil. As observed in other crisis scenarios, the rise of this capitalism became possible after three shock therapies. The first one was the failure itself of the dam, a physical effect — although inevitable — which took place both abruptly and violently. The rupture of the dam made it possible for the next stage of the therapy: an ambitious neoliberal, anti-democratic and unpopular economic program to repair and compensate for the damages and losses brought about. This program allowed the corporations to set up a new trend and seize the latest State‘s strongholds. As if these two therapies were not enough, the affected members have been subjected to several mechanisms and techniques of collective torture, which helped reduce social spending, neutralize opposition, and consolidate the rise of disaster capitalism in Brazil. All in all, these three shock therapies provided a brand-new proposal of ―normality‖ — more ailing, brutal, and perverse, — only to benefit a small global corporate elite.