Every judicial sentence is political. Fragments of Political Ecology from Mendoza’s Supreme Court
Abstract
In 2015 the Mendoza Province Supreme Court of Justice confirmed the constitutionality of Act 7722, which bans the use of toxic substances in metalliferous mining activities. The social conflict raised since 2003 by large scale mining projects in Mendoza gives this ruling a special historical significance. This paper analyzes the discoursive hegemony built by the state through the judicial branch, by means of a critical interpretation of the Court’s ruling, identifying the main references that support its legal arguments, organize its sense, and connect it to certain political ecology in so far it is an ideological fabric that gives support and organizes some rationality with regards to the social appropriation of Nature.
