Em terra de especulação a expropriação é lei: uma análise do avanço do capital imobiliário na Vila de Ponta Negra, em Natal/RN

Abstract

The dissertation presented here deals with expropriation in the Vila de Ponta Negra (Natal-RN) as a central point of analysis. The field in question has important particularities that give relevance to the study because it is in this environment that we can analyze the phenomena of primary expropriation and the transformation of the space. Such phenomena not only refer to the conversion of the old Vila de Ponta Negra from agricultural to urban areas but also into its transformation into one of the most lucrative territories for real estate, financial and tourism capital investments. These, along with the state, now expropriate working class rights in order to expand their profit. In this sense, the research proposes a historical description of the process of occupation of the Ponta Negra neighborhood and the particularities of the Vila de Ponta Negra that is inserted there. Likewise, the research aims to apprehend and analyze the strategies of expropriation of real estate capital and the living conditions, work and political participation of its residents. Therefore questions were raised concerning the valuation of space and how much the exchange value of housing for capital overlaps with the utility value. Also noteworthy are the contradictions of the right to the city in its formal and legislative perspective, as it conflicts with the right to private property of the land, guaranteed by the state and hegemonically controlled by the elites. Such contradictions are reflected in the daily life of the residents of the Vila de Ponta Negra since, as one of the results of the research, it was possible to detect that they had their lands and properties expropriated. As a result of that was the compulsory change of profession and the whole dynamic in the method of production and reproduction of their lives. In addition, as a result of the study, there is the collection of data that indicates the permanence of this people in the disputed territory, as well as the continuity of a singular culture that becomes synonymous with challenge, struggle and resistance. All the data raised by the research were examined in the light of a critical theoretical framework, namely historical and dialectical materialism, whose structuring concepts and perspective of interpretation of reality greatly contributed to the understanding of tensions and disputes in and through that space. In conclusion, the study found that the transformations that come with urbanization reflect the class struggle and the logic of the ruling class that has operated in front of and at the expense of collective law with multiple consequences. However the city pulsates for a radical transformation and the overcoming of capitalist sociability.