On the permanence of exception

The case of the state of Goiás

Abstract

This article aims to address the suppression of fundamental rights and the escalation of police violence in Goiás during the post-dictatorship period. For this, we rely on central concepts of Walter Benjamin’s, Michel Foucault’s and Giorgio Agamben’s political philosophy. From the perception of the permanence of dictatorial repressive mechanisms in marginalized regions of Goiás, we intend to discuss the scope and the effectiveness of the political and social rights affirmed by the 1988 Constitution, as well as to address the political effects of the impunity inheritance left by military dictatorship, especially with regard to the criminalization of marginalized people and the extermination of vulnerable groups by the repressive state apparatus.