The João Pessoa Sustainable Project (BIRD) and the Struggle for the Territory of the São Rafael Community - João Pessoa/PB (Brazil)

Abstract

Abstract
This work focuses on the struggle faced by the São Rafael community in João Pessoa, within the framework of the João Pessoa Sustentável Program, a partnership between the municipal government and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Under the threat of land expropriation, this nearly century-old community, along with seven other communities in the “beira-rio complex” – located along the banks of the Jaguaribe River – is engaged in a dispute over the use and representation of an area of high real estate interest. In this text, an extension of a final course research project, a detailed analysis of this conflict is presented, depicting the São Rafael community as a synthesis of the main actors, of the persuasion strategies, of the popular organization that resists and creates new forms of Oresistance, establishing support networks and counter-hegemonic educational projects. Thus, we aim to contribute to the construction of resistance against the imposing actions of the municipal government and other entities that seek to expropriate the territory under the myth of sustainable development.