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Press Representation of Social Movements: Brazilian Resistance to the Candonga Hydroelectric Dam

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2011

PATRÍCIA PEREIRA DA SILVA  and
FRANKLIN DANIEL ROTHMAN
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Abstract

This article analyses how the Brazilian Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens (Movement of Dam-Affected People, MAB) has been represented in the press, in the context of networks of resistance to large hydroelectric dams in Latin America. We analyse how the press deploys linguistic-discursive resources in producing and constructing meaning and focus in its presentation of news about anti-dam protests. The study analyses print media reporting on anti-dam protests in Minas Gerais between 1998 and 2005, and shows how, at different moments and in different political contexts, representations of social protest have changed and newspaper reports have either ignored, criminalised or provided visibility to MAB in this region.

Spanish abstract

Este artículo analiza cómo el movimiento de resistencia contra las represas (Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens, MAB) es representado en la prensa, en el contexto de las redes de resistencia a los grandes proyectos de represas en Latinoamérica. Analizamos cómo los recursos discursivos lingüísticos dirigen el enfoque de la prensa en la producción y la construcción de las noticias. El estudio muestra cómo, en momentos y contextos políticos distintos, las representaciones de protestas sociales cambian y los reportes de prensa excluyen, criminalizan o dan visibilidad al movimiento de resistencia contra la hidroeléctrica en esa región.

Portuguese abstract

Este artigo analisa como o Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens (MAB) é representado no discurso da imprensa, no contexto de redes de resistência às grandes barragens na América Latina. Investigaram-se os recursos linguísticos-discursivos e como esses recursos direcionam o enfoque da imprensa no processo de produção e construção das notícias. A análise mostra como, em momentos e contextos políticos diferentes, as representações do protesto social mudam e como a imprensa exclui, criminaliza e dá visibilidade ao MAB nessa região.

Keywords

newspapersmedia framessocial movementsBrazilian dam resistance movementcriminalisation of social protestprensaencuadres en los medios de comunicaciónmovimientos socialesmovimiento brasileño de resistencia contra las represascriminalización de la protesta socialimprensamedia framesmovimentos sociaisMovimento dos Atingidos por Barragenscriminalização do protesto social
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 43 , Issue 4 , November 2011 , pp. 725 - 754
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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References

1 Barros, Juliana and Sylvestre, Marie-Eve, Atingidos e barrados: as violações de direitos humanos na hidrelétrica Candonga (Rio de Janeiro: Justiça Global, 2004), pp. 45–6Google Scholar.

2 The campaign was coordinated by the Brazilian NGO Global Justice – with participation by MAB, the Catholic Church's Pastoral Land Commission and the Núcleo de Assessoria às Comunidades Atingidas por Barragens (Advice Centre for Communities Affected by Dams, NACAB) – which used the publication Atingidos e barrados and the testimony of MAB leaders at the UN in Geneva, in 2005, as part of a broader project, involving Canadian and US NGOs, to research and document human rights violations by ALCAN in developing countries in various regions of the world.

3 AIDA, ‘Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Examines Impact of Large Dams in Latin America’, 29 Oct. 2009, available at www.aida-americas.org/en/IACHR_examines_large_dam_impacts.

4 For additional information on the origins of MAB see McCormick, Sabrina, ‘The Governance of Hydroelectric Dams in Brazil’, Journal of Latin American Studies, 39: 2 (2007), pp. 227–61CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Rothman, Franklin Daniel and Oliver, Pamela E., ‘From Local to Global: The Brazilian Anti-Dam Movement in Southern Brazil, 1979–1992’, Mobilization, 4: 1 (1999), pp. 41–57Google Scholar.

5 Gustavo Castro Soto, ‘El Plan Puebla–Bogotá: la geopolítica del agua y la energia’, paper presented at II Encontro Brasileiro Ciências Sociais e Barragens e I Encuentro Latinoamericano Ciencias Sociales y Represas, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, 19–23 Nov. 2007.

6 Ibid., p. 8.

7 Peter Bosshard, ‘Global Grassroots Movement in Action at “Rivers for Life” ’, 8 Oct. 2010, available at www.internationalrivers.org/en/blog/peter-bosshard/2010-10-8/global-grassroots-movement-action-“rivers-life”-meeting.

8 www.forumsocialpanamazonico.org (no longer available).

9 Franklin Daniel Rothman, ‘A expansão dos projetos de barragens e mineração na Zona da Mata: articulando as lutas de resistência a favor da agricultura familiar’, in Andréa Zhouri and Klemens Laschefski (eds.), Desenvolvimento e conflitos ambientais (Belo Horizonte: Editora UFMG, 2010), p. 367.

10 Ibid., p. 367.

11 All data from Minas Gerais. Secretaria de Estado de Desenvolvimento Econômico (State Secretariat for Economic Development, SEDE) and Secretaria de Estado de Meio Ambiente e Desenvolvimento Sustentável (State Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainable Development, SEMAD), Avaliação ambiental estratégica: programa de geração hidrelétrica (PGHMG) 2007–2027 (Belo Horizonte: SEDE and SEMAD, 2007).

12 Arsênio Oswaldo Sevá Filho, ‘Problemas intrínsecos e graves da expansão mineral, metalúrgica, petrolífera e hidrelétrica nas Amazônias’, in Zhouri and Laschefski (eds.), Desenvolvimento e conflitos ambientais, p. 135.

13 Ibid., p. 129.

14 Castro Soto, ‘El Plan Puebla–Bogotá’, p. 5.

15 Henri Acselrad and Gustavo das Neves Bezerra, ‘Inserção econômica internacional e “resolução negociada” de conflitos ambientais na América Latina’, in Zhouri and Laschefski (eds.), Desenvolvimento e conflitos ambientais, p. 35.

16 Ibid., p. 35.

17 ‘Large Dams in the Americas: Is the Cure Worse than the Disease?’, available at www.aida-americas.org/en/project/largedams, Executive Summary, p. 4.

18 Gitlin, Todd, The Whole World is Watching: Mass Media in the Making and Unmaking of the New Left (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2003)Google Scholar.

19 Rodríguez, Esteban, Caravelos, Sofía, Moras, Juan Martín González, Axat, Julián, Cardelli, Mariano, Villaruel, Fabio, Reszes, Eduardo and Pinedo, Jerónimo, La criminalización de la protesta social (La Plata: Ediciones Grupo La Grieta – HIJOS, 2003), p. 48Google Scholar. Also see Buhl, Kathrin and Korol, Claudia (eds.), Criminalización de la protesta y de los movimientos sociales (São Paulo: IRL and Rede Social, 2008)Google Scholar, for case studies from six countries, including press criminalisation of the MST in Brazil.

20 Boaventura de Sousa Santos, ‘A contrarrevolução jurídica’, Folha de São Paulo, 5 Dec. 2009, p. A3; also see Peter Houtzager, ‘The Movement of the Landless (MST), Juridical Field, and Legal Change’, in Boaventura de Sousa Santos and César A. Rodríguez-Garavito (eds.), Law and Globalization from Below: Towards a Cosmopolitan Legality (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 218–40.

21 Hagopian, Frances, Traditional Politics and Regime Change in Brazil (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

22 Andréa Zhouri and Franklin Daniel Rothman, ‘Assessoria aos atingidos por barragens em Minas Gerais: desafios, limites e potenciais’, in Franklin Daniel Rothman (ed.), Vidas alagadas: conflitos socioambientais, licenciamento e barragens (Viçosa: Editora UFV, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, 2008), pp. 122–67.

23 Pereira, José Roberto, Diagnóstico rápido participativo emancipador (DRPE) da comunidade de São Sebastião do Soberbo, município de Santa Cruz do Escalvado, MG (Viçosa: Universidade Federal de Viçosa, 2004)Google Scholar, p. 5 (unpublished report).

24 Barros and Sylvestre, Atingidos e barrados, p. 31. ALCAN, which in 2005 changed its name to Novelis, is the largest producer of aluminium in the world. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company has subsidiaries and associates in Asia, Europe, North America and South America involved in bauxite mining, aluminium refining, production of primary aluminium, aluminium lamination and recycling, and hydroelectric power generation. In 2007, Novelis became part of Hindalco Industries Limited, the largest integrated producer of aluminium and leading producer of copper in Asia. Novelis owns operational installations in 11 countries.

25 Interview with resident Maria das Graças Reis, cited in Barros and Sylvestre, Atingidos e barrados, p. 30.

26 Ibid., p. 30.

27 Anthony Oliver-Smith (ed.), ‘Introduction: Development-Forced Displacement and Resettlement – A Global Human Rights Crisis’, in Oliver-Smith (ed.), Development and Dispossession: The Crisis of Forced Displacement and Resettlement (Santa Fé, NM: School for Advanced Research Press, 2009), pp. 3–23.

28 Barros and Sylvestre, Atingidos e barrados, p. 79.

29 Ibid., p. 42.

30 For example, Tarrow, Sidney, Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, notes that movements are affected by the media's preference for dramatic, visible events. In McCarthy, John D. et al. , ‘Assessing Stability in the Patterns of Selection Bias in Newspaper Coverage of Protest during the Transition from Communism in Belarus’, Mobilization, 13: 2 (2008), pp. 127–46Google Scholar, the authors, discussing selection bias, state that ‘protest event research relies mostly on newspaper reports that are inevitably subject to the common problems of selection bias’. The authors classify problems which include: ‘(1) media bias in the selection of but a few of the many possible events to observe and report (selection bias); (2) bias in the media's description of the events they do select to report (description bias)’ (p. 129).

31 Rodríguez, et al. , La criminalización de la protesta social, p. 48Google Scholar.

32 Citing Goffman (1974), Gitlin states that, ‘Frames are principles of selection, emphasis, and presentation composed of little tacit theories about what exists, what happens, and what matters. In everyday life, as Erving Goffman has amply demonstrated, we frame reality in order to negotiate it, manage it, comprehend it, and choose appropriate repertories of cognition and action’ (Gitlin, The Whole World is Watching, p. 6).

33 Ibid., p. 7.

34 Traquina, Nelson, O estudo do jornalismo no século XX (São Leopoldo: Unisinos, 2001)Google Scholar.

35 Ibid., p. 107.

36 Gitlin, The Whole World is Watching. Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky present a similar analysis in Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (New York: Pantheon Books, 1988).

37 Gitlin, The Whole World is Watching, pp. 259, 269.

38 Ibid., p. 269.

39 Ibid., p. 270. According to MAB-ARD's adviser, Padre Antônio Claret Fernandes (interview, 2 Jan. 2008), the most accurate and in-depth news items about MAB's campaigns were published in the newspaper Hoje em Dia in 2000 and 2001. However, the journalist responsible later left the newspaper.

40 Gitlin, The Whole World is Watching, p. 273.

41 França, Veiga, Jornalismo e vida social (Belo Horizonte: Editora UFMG, 1998), p. 109Google Scholar, citing Carrato.

42 Email interview with editor of Folha de Ponte Nova, 30 Nov. 2007.

43 Names of the editors and reporters are omitted for purposes of confidentiality. Positions are as specified at time of interview.

44 Fairclough, Norman, Discourse and Social Change (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992)Google Scholar.

45 Leeuwen, Theo Van, ‘A representação dos atores sociais’, in Emília Ribeiro Pedro, Análise crítica do discurso: uma perspectiva sociopolítica e funcional (Lisbon: Editorial Caminho, 1997), pp. 169–220Google Scholar.

46 Ibid., p. 180.

47 Martins, José de Souza, Os camponeses e a política no Brasil (Petrópolis: Vozes, 1986)Google Scholar.

48 Andréa Zhouri and Raquel Oliveira, ‘Paisagens industriais e desterritorialização de populações locais: conflitos socioambientais em projetos hidrelétricos’, in Andréa Zhouri, Klemens Laschefski and Doralice Barros Pereira (eds.), A insustentável leveza da política ambiental: desenvolvimento e conflitos sócio-ambientais (Belo Horizonte, Autêntica, 2005), pp. 49–62.

49 Email interview with news editor of Hoje em Dia, 23 Aug. 2007.

50 Ibid.

51 According to Van Leeuwen, in ‘Representação dos atores sociais’, exclusion by concealment occurs precisely when the social actors are not cited, even though we know who these actors are.

52 Social actors can be referred to as individuals (what Van Leeuwen terms ‘individualisation’) or as groups (‘assimilation’). Newspapers whose readership is middle-class tend to individualise people belonging to the elite and assimilate ordinary people. Van Leeuwen distinguishes between two main types of assimilation: ‘aggregation’ and ‘collectivisation’. Aggregation quantifies groups of participants, treating them as ‘statistical data’: ‘communities’, ‘population’, ‘people’ and ‘thousands of people’. Ibid., p. 195.

53 Email interview, 2 Jan. 2008.

54 Email interview, 8 Oct. 2007.

55 Email interview with news editor of Hoje em Dia, 23 Aug. 2007. This observation corroborates Tarrow's analysis: ‘When protests escalate, the media … are quick to give priority to their violent or bizarre aspects’ (Tarrow, Power in Movement, p. 116).

56 Rodríguez et al., La criminalización de la protesta social.

57 Gitlin, The Whole World is Watching, p. 4.

58 Email interview with the editor of the Minas Gerais section of the Estado de Minas, 22 Oct. 2007.

59 The worst Brazilian electricity crisis occurred in 2001, when the population was subject to blackouts and electricity rationing. The media blamed this apagão on lack of rain, but according to one expert, Luiz Pinguelli Rosa, the cause was the instability of the power grid; this was due to insufficient installed capacity and transmission capability resulting from lack of government investment because the state electric power companies had been included in the privatisation plan. Rosa, Luiz Pinguelli, O Apagão: por que veio? Como sair dele? (Rio de Janeiro: Revan, 2001), p. 118Google Scholar.

60 Article number eight reveals strategies employed by the Estado de Minas to avoid opposing the state government, as staff were well aware of the close relationship between the newspaper's management and the state government (França, Jornalismo e vida social), which supported construction of the Candonga Dam. Journalists were fired by the newspaper under pressure from then-governor Aécio Neves, something made public by the Minas Gerais Journalists’ Union and a video produced by journalism graduate student Marcelo Baeta. The only occasion on which the newspaper did not support the state government was when former governor Newton Cardoso boycotted by the newspaper and founded his own, Hoje em Dia.

61 Email interview, 2 Jan. 2008.

62 Baratta, Alessandro, Criminologia crítica e crítica do direito penal: introdução à sociologia do direito penal (3rd edition, Rio de Janeiro: Revan and Instituto Carioca de Criminologia, 2002)Google Scholar.

63 Rodríguez et al., La criminalización de la protesta social.

64 Email interview, 23 Aug. 2007. The incident occurred in 2006, in Belo Horizonte. Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais (CEMIG) is a large electric power company, based on public–private capital and controlled by the government of Minas Gerais.

65 Email interview, 2 Jan. 2008.

66 Van Leeuwen, ‘Representação dos atores sociais’.

67 Barros and Sylvestre, Atingidos e barrados, p. 35.

68 According to Van Leeuwen (‘Representação dos atores sociais’), social actors are categorised by collectivisation when they are represented as unspecified and ‘anonymous’ individuals or groups.

69 Barros and Sylvestre, Atingidos e barrados, p. 35.

70 Ibid., p. 46.

71 According to Fairclough, ‘The news media can be regarded as effecting the ideological work of transmitting the voices of power in a disguised and covert form’ (Discourse and Social Change, p. 110).

72 Andréa Zhouri, Klemens Laschefski and Angela Paiva, ‘Uma sociologia do licenciamento ambiental: o caso das hidrelétricas em Minas Gerais’, in Zhouri et al. (eds.), A insustentável leveza da política ambiental, pp. 90–1.