The Jequitinhonha Valley Sugar Cane Migrants: between overexploitation and resistance.
Name: CLAUDILENE DA COSTA RAMALHO
Publication date: 26/06/2014
Summary: Current subject of this dissertation is the overexploitation of rural workers from Jequitinhonha Valley, during the time they are migrating to the sugar cane cut. In the last decades in Brazil, the agribusiness has been prevailing as agricultural development model, with focus on the production of agricultural comodities to be exported, ruled on the overexploitation of work force and natural resourses. In this context, one of the brazilian sectors which has expanded the most was the sugaralcohol one, inserting Brazil in the world as one of the biggest sugar and agrifuel. Disseminating a speech of clean and renewed fuel production, the sugar cane agribusiness has the smallest costs on sugar and alcohol production in the world. However, its important to highlight that the clean and renewed hide the heavy social costs, mostly the the work conditions which sugar cane cutters are submitted on the sugar cane cropland. Therefore, It reproduces the position of a depent country on the International Work Division with a Strong presence of the government and foreign capital. In this sense, it was deduced that with the expansion advance and the sector modernization, the right violations, the degradation, the sickening and death of sugar cane cutters (mostly immigrants) have been intensifying. So, the objective of this research is to capture and reflect about the overexploitation of rural workers of Jequitinhonha Valley which temporarity migrate to cut sugar cane under the egideof dependence deepening. Through a wide analysis of data and information collected in documentar biographical research (reports, pictures, heaing minutes, among others), we tried to capture contradictions presente on sugar cane agribusiness. It was considered the context of the economy reinsoursing and deepening of work force over exploitation . I was also investigated how workers, sugar cane cutters, have been creating ways of resistence, having the Guaranésia strike as an example. Ono ne hande theres evidence of the expropriation deepening of its reproduction conditions and the overexploitation of work force, creating a mass of Jequitinhonha Valleys workers, which temporarily migrate to work as sugar cane cutters. On the other hand, in a crisis contexto of Capital dependence deepening, is the existence of these migrating workers mass, which enablesthe sugar cane expansion and put the agribusiness and sugaralcohol high on the export issue. This way, we can coclude that , nowadays, its been pushing up the over exploitation of sugar cane workers, mainly from migrants, from the place of origin and from destination , becoming indispensable strengthen and give visibility to the fighting and resistence mechanisms of these workers.
