Politicization of rural youth in socio-environmental activism (Mendoza, Argentina)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is the recent process of youth politicization of the self-convened children (LPA) in a rural territory within the framework of the socio-environmental struggle. Specifically, the department of San Carlos in the province of Mendoza (in the Uco Valley) where almost two decades of struggle and resistance against polluting mega-mining have been taking place there, using Provincial Law 7722 as a legal shield. The law, threatened since its enactment, brings together the great Assembly for Pure Water (AMPAP) supported by various social organizations "united for water". We will deal with LPA as an autonomous group and generator of claims that come to renew the field of socio-environmental activism, specifically feminism and a new debate on natural commons. This is an exploratory work, carried out in a pandemic, with a qualitative design, which is part of youth studies, also rural and with contributions from political ecology. We will analyze central aspects of the politicization process, mainly its deployment until its advance in the local government of San Carlos with the achievement of the creation of an Environmental Observatory in 2021, a pioneering experience in Mendoza.

Keywords

• rural youth
• activism
• natural commons.