Access to rural social security in Marajó quilombola territories: a case study of the Vila União Community in Salvaterra, Pará
Specially insured for Social Security; Social Rights; State Bureaucracy; Quilombolas; Marajó.
This research analyzed how special insured people in rural Amazonia deal with the bureaucracy involved in accessing rural retirement, based on a case study in the quilombola community of Vila União/Campina, in the municipality of Salvaterra, Marajó, Pará. By looking at the specificities that make up the untitled territory of Vila União/Campina, as well as the people who live there, the aim is to understand whether the bureaucratic requirements for access to rural retirement in the Amazon lead to the formulation of local strategies to make these workers' social security rights a reality. The work involved bibliographical and documentary research, as well as participant observation and data collection through questionnaires and interviews in the selected community. The data showed that the interviewees have few channels of information about the legislation governing access to social security rights, which leads to a specific scenario of how benefits are achieved, such as: the preference for identifying themselves as artisanal fishermen before the INSS, even if fishing is not their usual practice; the payment of contributions to the social security system even in cases where the insured person is not obliged by law to make this monetary transfer; holding a land lease contract to prove to the INSS their area of work; legal aid to make their applications effective. After rural retirement was achieved by the community's insured people, socio-economic improvements were noted that affected the beneficiaries as well as their children and grandchildren, but many continue to work in the fields, mainly because of the amount paid by the retirement, which guarantees monthly food and the purchase of medicines, but does not make it possible to buy other goods. Therefore, the research indicates that the realization of rights does not end with their inscription in legislation: subjects need to be familiar with what is legally guaranteed to them. The peculiarities of access to rural retirement in Vila União/Campina show how people socially mobilize their rights, which even through actions that are often considered to be non-legal, find legitimacy and meaning in the daily lives of those insured in the community.