A grande seca de 1979-1983: Estado, oligarquias, frentes de emergência e resistência camponesa em São João do Cariri - PB.

Abstract

This paper discusses the emergence of "drought" in the Brazilian semi-arid region, particularly the one that occurred between 1979 and 1983, in the municipality of São João do Cariri-PB, observing how local oligarchies benefited from state public policies aimed at combating this phenomenon climate change. Specifically, this research sought: first, to study the "drought" in the Brazilian semi-arid, public policies aimed at combating it, the territory of São João do Cariri and its oligarchies; second, to analyze in detail the "drought" of 1979-1983 and its developments (public policies and their peasant resistance and irregularities) in Paraíba; and, finally, to understand the nuances of this "drought", of the oligarchies and of the Emergency Fronts in São João do Cariri-PB. We seek a theoretical contribution in Social History centered on historical materialism from the author E. P Thompson that brought us important lesson to study the universe of peasant resistance. Data collection was done through consultation of a general bibliography, as well as through several direct sources: newspapers and testimonials. The studies carried out allowed us to understand the various tensions and conflicts between the local oligarchies (Brito and Gaudêncio) and the peasants of the municipality of São João do Cariri-PB, as part of a complex network of power relations that guaranteed a process of resistance in that peasant world where agrarian and political oligarchies sought at all costs to become hegemonic.