Conjunto São Miguel: a history of struggle for the right to the city (1978-1980)

Abstract

The article reflects on the movement of resistance to the removal by the inhabitants of the old favela José Bastos, in Fortaleza, between 1978 and 1980, based on a confrontation between the “official history” and the propaganda that came from the administrative documents of the municipality and from the publications of newspapers O Povo and Correio do Ceará and the memory of the subjects directly involved and the target of the Integrated Program for the development of urban development. The objective was to understand how the government used the media (and the favorable tendency to “remove” producers from these media) to build a positive image of the underdevelopment and how this control of public opinion affected collective memory, including that of the socio-spatially excluded, so that they recognize themselves as beneficiaries. The objective is to analyze the reasons that motivated them to resist and to know some of the emblematic subjects of this episode of claim and struggle for the permanence in the area and, above all, for the right to housing.