Comunidade Lapa e as instituições de justiça: sentidos e disputas em torno do direito de uma comunidade tradicional

Abstract

The article presents the meanings and disputes surrounding the rights of the Lapa community, a traditional community affected by the Figueiredo dam, in the city of Potiretama, in the state of Ceará. The text contains part of the results of a doctoral research, carried out from 2017 to 2022, focusing on the public arenas established in the justice system and the mobilizing force of community leaders, in defense of the rights of those affected. Initially, it describes the actions developed by the Government of the State of Ceará and the Federal Government related to the construction of the dam, characterizing the impacted groups and the mobilization of leaders against the project. Then, it analyzes the public arenas established in the administrative and legal fields, covering the institutional clashes from the period of dam installation to the process of collective moral damages, which lasts until the present day. The administrative and legal disputes demonstrated the indispensability of the defense bodies to observe the strategies of litigation in human rights pertaining to each concrete case, since they are faced with the responsibility of guaranteeing the rights of a community. In addition, it demonstrated the evidence that it is necessary to strengthen the articulations of justice bodies with social movements and the entire organized civil society to effectively promote social inclusion of collectivities. The article also demonstrated the importance of the interfaces between Law and Sociology, in order to provide expansion of relevant rights and concepts for those who are researched, especially for traditional peoples and communities.