Energy-driven Appropriation by Dispossession in Northeastern Brazil: The “Golden Rush” for Wind Parks

Energy transitions are not new; they have marked the phases in the history of humanity and the planet (Smil, 2017), shaping new sociotechnical paradigms throughout history as central pieces of changes in the capitalist mode of production (Peter & Swilling, 2014). The current transformation of energy systems, defined as energy transition by the hegemonic discourse promoted by the Global North, can be seen as a complex process based on the intensive exploration of minerals, and increasingly articulated value chains that develop based on technological and market-based solutions, however, that seek to respond and move the world economy away from the consumption of fossil fuels and towards the adoption of more renewable energy sources (ECLAC, 2023). This chapter scopes the impact of the geopolitical reconfiguration of the international division of labour in the area of wind energy generation with a focus on the states of Northeastern Brazil (Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte and Sergipe) (Traldi, 2021). The research design is twofold: one the one hand it scopes the academic, institutional and grey literature to contextualize and put together i) a state-of-the-art of these movements after the critical parenthesis of the right-wing government of former president Bolsonaro and ii) the most updated insights concerning the socio-environmental impacts of the penetration of solar and wind parks as a territorial reflection of the shifting geopolitics of energy. On the other hand, using the tool of semi-structured interviews, the chapter gives voiced to women and men activists who have fought at the forefront of processes of resistance, self-organization and political struggles against the predatory processes of appropriation by dispossession and land grabbing to install new solar and wind parks in the region.