DEMOCRATIC MANAGEMENT AND EDUCATION IN THE AMAZON: THE NEOLIBERAL OFFENSIVE AND THE CHALLENGES OF EMANCIPATION

Abstract

This article discusses the tensions surrounding the democratic management of public education in the Amazon, situating them within a broader context marked by the expansion of neoliberalism and the deepening ecological crisis. It is based on the understanding that the Amazon, historically incorporated into the capitalist system in a subordinate manner, has been treated as a strategic territory for wealth accumulation, often to the detriment of the populations that inhabit it. Drawing on a historical-dialectical materialist approach, the study analyzes the impacts of large-scale infrastructure projects, the financialization of the economy, and market-oriented educational reforms on school autonomy and community participation. It argues that, although Brazilian legislation formally guarantees democratic management, its implementation in the Amazon region faces structural, historical, and political obstacles. Finally, the article contends that the construction of a public education committed to human emancipation requires the strengthening of participatory practices rooted in local territories and responsive to the multiple forms of life that constitute the Amazon.