Conflitos argumentativos: água mineral, entre bem comum e mercadoria

Abstract

This dissertation is the result of a qualitative research carried out based on information collected in documents published, in the last 20 years, regarding mineral waters in the municipalities of Caxambu and Cambuquira. Mineral waters in Brazil have a legal nature of ore, and the rules that regulate the subject do not recognized it as a water resource. Consequently, the legal protection is milder compared to other environmental resources, giving rise to various conflicts arising from the clash between the interest of exploitation and the need for preservation, as occurs in the spa towns of Caxambu and Cambuquira. The right to explore its mineral waters belongs to the Companhia de Desenvolvimento de Minas Gerais (CODEMGE), which published, on 11/30/2017, a notice for the selection of a private partner to explore the mineral water business of the units located in those municipalities. In this context, we sought to investigate how the argumentative structures that conceive mineral waters on one side as a common good and on the other as a commodity are constituted and related to each other over the past 20 years. To achieve this objective, the conflictual context of exploitation of mineral waters was made explicit. On the one hand, we analyzed the republican ideals that gave rise to the concept of public interest, which served as a basis for the perception of water as a common good, for collective use. In this sense, an attempt was made to systematize and interpret the argumentative structure of public interest manifested by civil society organizations that favor water as a common good. On the other hand, the notion of private interest was analyzed as a basis for the marketing logic, which conceives mineral waters as merchandise, subject to exploration and commercialization by a certain group. In this sense, we sought to systematize and interpret the argumentative structure that stands in favor of water as a commodity. Judicial decisions involving the exploration of mineral waters were also analyzed, seeking to identify in these decisions the presence of argumentative structures of water as a commodity or as a common good. The results achieved demonstrate that in the discourse of civil society organizations, several elements are identified that converge towards the conception of mineral water as a common good linked to the public interest, including as an important element in the formation of the historical aspect, cultural and self-identity of communities that is inserted. On the other hand, the discourse that brings mineral water closer to private interest and to the notion of commodity is based on the Brazilian legal regime that classifies it as a mineral resource, claiming that the ownership of the respective mine manifest justifies its exploitation. It was also found that in the analyzed judicial decisions, only the indirect presence of argumentative features of each of these two structures was identified, without there being a direct analysis of the arguments presented. Finally, a bill is proposed that recognizes mineral waters as a common good, and which is intended to be submitted to the Federal Senate e-Citizenship Portal, through the Legislative Idea tool, which allows citizens to send and support legislative ideas, as suggestions for changing current legislation or creating new laws.