Da ilusão do desenvolvimento ao risco da desnacionalização: o caso Salgema-Braskem e a dívida ecológica e social

Abstract

The aim of this monograph is to investigate the entire trajectory of the implementation of the Salgema - Braskem company and the extension of the chlor-alcohol-chemical complex in Alagoas. It focuses on the entire process of metamorphosis between the nationalization and privatization of the chemical company and the consequences left by the exploitative use of natural resources between 1976 and 2023. This research is organized in two stages. The first part consists of tracing a timeline of the entire process that took place to establish the chemical industry in Alagoas, highlighting the participation of the federal and state governments through tax incentives. The first chapter covers the evolution of the state's economic development, from the first sugarcane monoculture activities and the agro-industrial mills to the arrival of the first chemical industry and the extension of the chloro-alcohol-chemical hub, which was supported by financial incentives from the II PND, and through external loans acquired by the state government in order to establish this hub in the region. In the second section, the history of Braskem S/A's emergence is retraced, showing the discovery of the salgema deposits, the first soil drilling activities and the first shareholders. It also highlights the metamorphosis that took place between the transition stage from the state-owned company to the private sector. This chapter also discusses the main tax and financial benefit programs that were granted to industrial projects set up in the Northeast, such as the 34/18 system, PIN, PROTERRA and FINOR. It also highlights the privileges of the state's tax waivers for Salema-Braskem and the company's participation in Alagoas' public debt. The second part focuses on the results that the whole process of setting up the mining company and exploiting salgema has brought to the state of Alagoas. The third chapter looks back at the main catastrophic events caused by Braskem's mining activities from 2018 to 2023, which caused the exodus of more than 55,000 people and generated five ghost neighborhoods in the capital of Alagoas. The fourth section highlights the participation of the capitalist mechanism of predatory use of the environment by developed countries in South American countries, emphasizing mass exploitation, irreparable damage to the environment and ecological debt. The final considerations reflect on all the conflicts and contradictions that have arisen around the expectations that were created by the government during the period when the company was set up in the state of Alagoas, and highlight the current result, which is the largest active urban disaster in the world.