“Pensarse juntxs”

El río Chubut como articulador de luchas sociales

Abstract

This article analyzes the production of political alliances between part of the Mapuche-Tehuelche People and a faction of the environmental movement in Patagonia, especially neighbourhood assemblies and ecological organizations. For this analysis, we took the case of the Parliament in defense of Chubut river, held in El Maiten (Chubut) in February 2020, where the actors mentioned above met, debated and thought about different strategies and community actions to promote the preservation of water and other ways to inhabit the territory. We examined the efforts made by these actors to understand themselves, and analyzed the agreements, disagreements and the production of the language of contention in the debates about the stereotyped image of the “ecological native”. We intend to understand the importance of this articulation in an adverse regional reality for the Mapuche-Tehuelche People, who are being target of a delegitimizing campaign by political, legal and mass media spheres.