A movement against the violation of rights: Estrada do Engenho resists

Abstract

The article discusses the guarantee of the right to housing starting from a reflection on a Public--Interest Civil Action aimed at the removal of the Estrada do Engenho community, in the municipality of Pelotas (Southern Brazil). Based on a movement rooted in the critical dialectical method and on militant research, the State’s action is problematized, and the history of the community, the transformations that have taken place, and the tactics developed by the real estate market and the government are recalled. The article also questions the historical production of excluding rationalities and the problems arising from the poor management of public policies. As a result, collective work is developed and lines of action are built, enabling the destabilization of the process, protecting and preserving the ways of living of the local community.

right to housing; housing public policy; resistance; Pelotas; Estrada do Engenho