The South Is My Country

The South Is My Country (Portuguese: O Sul é o Meu País) is a separatist movement that claims the independence of Brazil's South Region, formed by the states of Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina.[1] The group claims the region is under-represented by Brasília.[2][3]

The South Is My Country
O Sul é o Meu País
Formation1992 (1992)
TypeNGO
Legal statusActive
PurposeConduct studies on the possibility of political and administrative emancipation for South Brazil
HeadquartersCuritiba, Paraná, Brazil
Official language
Portuguese
Websiteosuleomeupais.org

Context
Main article: History of Brazil
Claimed territory.

During the Empire of Brazil, several separatist movements existed in the region. Among the main reasons for secession, the groups complained about high taxation of dry meat, the main export product of the region during the time. Armed conflict broke out in the Ragamuffin War,[1] when Rio Grande do Sul unsuccessfully tried to gain independence. During the transition to the republic, federalist groups formed in the region, culminating in the Federalist Revolution.

In the context of the Brazilian República Velha (Old Republic), the so-called coffee with milk politics were in practice, favoring the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, the largest in terms of population and wealth - producers of coffee and dairy products, respectively. Rio Grande do Sul, among other states, joined the political opposition, forming the Liberal Alliance (Portuguese: Aliança Liberal) and launched Getúlio Vargas as candidate for president, who lost to Júlio Prestes. Vargas had almost 100% of the votes in Rio Grande do Sul. The Liberal Alliance refused to accept the results of the election, claiming that Prestes' victory was fraudulent. This led to a coup d'état known as Revolution of 1930, which made Getulio Vargas the new president, ending the Old Republic.[4] After this, only two presidents linked to the states Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina came to power democratically: Getúlio Vargas and João Goulart. Both presidents lost their mandates.[5]

Movement
Training course for leaders in Brusque, SC.

The movement arose during the Second Separatist Congress celebrated in 1992 at Laguna, founded by Adílcio Cadorin, freemason and former mayor of the city. It upholds the concept of self-determination of the peoples and does not constitute a political party, despite its founders being directly involved with politics. The movement is headquartered in Curitiba and the President is Celso Deucher.[1]

Its defenders allege that the states of Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina have particular and distinct characteristics from the rest of Brazil, and thus they claim the right to political, economic, social and cultural self-determination, based on the expectation of self-sufficiency to direct better the resources of the state to attend to its regional peculiarities.[1][6]

The official symbols of the movement includes three stars which represent Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina.

Unofficial independence referendums
See also: Independence referendum

First edition

On 1 October 2016, Plebisul - an unofficial referendum - was held. Voters were asked if they wanted to secede from Brazil, forming a new country with the three states. A total of 616,917 votes (which represents less than 3% the number of registered voters in these states) were counted according to the organizers of the ballot, 95% voting yes.[7][1][8] They were hoping to reach up to a million votes throughout the three Brazilian states.[9]

Results and participation
State YES votes % NO votes % Participation (absolute) Registered voters[10] Participation (relative)
Paraná 21,361 88.82 2,690 11.18 24,051 7,869,450 0.31
Rio Grande do Sul 311,356 97.21 8,924 2.79 320,280 8,362,830 3.83
Santa Catarina 257,947 94.63 14,639 5.37 272,586 4,985,048 5.47
Total 590,664 95.74 26,253 4.26 616,917 21,217,328 2.91
Results and participation in the largest cities
City YES votes % NO votes % Participation (absolute) Registered voters[10] Participation (relative)
Curitiba 4,702 89.84 532 10.16 5,234 1,289,215 0.41
Porto Alegre 5,859 92.30 489 7.70 6,348 1,098,515 0.58
Joinville 12,398 92.94 942 7.06 13,340 372,551 3.58
Londrina 1,087 75.07 361 24.93 1,448 353,314 0.41
Caxias do Sul 8,654 96.05 356 3.95 9,010 293,417 3.07
Florianópolis 2,381 85.93 390 14.07 2,771 316,261 0.88
Maringá 374 84.81 67 15.19 441 261,717 0.17
Pelotas 3,113 93.60 213 6.40 3,326 228,634 1.45
Canoas 1,350 96.98 42 3.02 1,392 247,770 0.56
Ponta Grossa 1,163 83.07 237 16.93 1,400 222,716 0.63
Blumenau 16,800 94.06 1,061 5.94 17,861 230,167 7.76
Cascavel 357 77.11 106 22.89 463 206,714 0.22
São José dos Pinhais 1,264 85.93 207 14.07 1,471 170,706 0.86
Santa Maria 798 88.57 103 11.43 901 203,043 0.44
Gravataí 1,063 99.25 8 0.75 1,071 186,699 0.57
Foz do Iguaçu - - - - 0 165,730 0.00
Viamão 1,075 99.44 6 0.56 1,081 134,827 0.80
Novo Hamburgo 4,692 95.97 197 4.03 4,889 178,138 2.74
Colombo - - - - 0 128,602 0.00
São José 1,462 92.12 125 7.88 1,587 156,617 1.01
São Leopoldo 4,429 89.03 546 10.97 4,975 164,141 3.03
Chapecó 7,193 92.32 598 7.68 7,791 140,526 5.54
Criciúma 1,442 96.13 58 3.87 1,500 141,667 1.06
Itajaí 3,993 93.69 269 6.31 4,262 143,131 2.98
Rio Grande 519 94.71 29 5.29 548 154,595 0.35
Alvorada 1,429 93.22 104 6.78 1,533 119,228 1.29
Passo Fundo 5,143 95.22 258 4.78 5,401 142,329 3.79

Second edition

In 2017, a second edition of the referendum was announced, to be held on 7 October of the same year. The edition had an estimated cost of R$ 25,000.[11][12] The participation target was set to the same as the previous referendum - 1 million voters.[13]

In its second edition, the organizers also collected signatures for a popular initiative bill to hold an official referendum in 2018, with the same question and answer options as the informal popular referendum held so far.[14][15]

Results and participation
State YES votes % NO votes % Participation (absolute) Registered voters[10] Participation (relative) Variation (relative)
Paraná 73,332 94.08 4,615 5.92 77,947 7,869,450 0.99 + 224.09
Rio Grande do Sul 180,329 97.16 5,263 2.84 185,592 8,362,830 2.22 - 42.05
Santa Catarina 96,972 96.28 3,745 3.72 100,717 4,985,048 2.02 - 63.05
Total 350,633 96.26 13,623 3.74 364,256 21,217,328 1.72 - 40.96

Criticism

Some academics claim that the movement bases its separatist claims in "natural differences", such as the region's climate, and that although these might create an "identity" for the region, the people and their culture are not much different from the rest of the country.[16] Others claim there are cultural differences, such as in religion, literature, food, clothing, dances, music, etc.[17] Some go as far as to say that Brazilians identify first with their home state, and only then as Brazilians.[18] On the other hand, it is argued that it's impossible to identify each state's identity due to a shared "Brazilian" culture, which includes the Portuguese language, sport preferences, etc.

See also

References
  1. "Insight - No Country for Southern Men". Wide Orbits. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  2. "Líder de movimento "O Sul é o meu País" defende a independência dos três estados do Sul: "Somos diferentes"". A Gazeta Web (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  3. JAMES BROOKE (12 May 1993). "Santa Cruz Journal; White Flight in Brazil? Secessionist Caldron Boils - New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-10-09.
  4. "History of Brazil Republic". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  5. "Dilma cita Getulio e Jango e diz: 'Luta não tem data para terminar'". 23 August 2016.
  6. Movimento o Sul é o Meu Páis, Carta de Princípios Movimento O Sul é o Meu País.
  7. "In Informal Referendum, 95% Vote for the Separation of the South Region from the Rest of Brazil". Folha de São Paulo. 5 October 2016.
  8. "Resultado" [Results] (in Portuguese). Plebisul. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  9. "'Sim' vence consulta para criar país com três estados do Sul do Brasil" ['Yes' wins vote to create a new country with three states from the South of Brazil] (in Portuguese). Jornal do Comércio. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  10. TSE - Estatísticas da Eleição 2016
  11. Paula Sperb (5 October 2017). "Movimento fará plebiscito informal sobre separar o Sul do Brasil". Veja.
  12. "Grupo separatista organiza novo plebiscito sobre independência do RS, SC e PR". G1. 3 October 2017.
  13. Celso Deucher (16 July 2017). "Cartilha Explicativa". Archived from the original on 4 October 2017.
  14. "Movimento separatista faz plebiscito informal nos três Estados do Sul". Folha de São Paulo. 6 October 2017.
  15. Paula Sperb (7 October 2017). "Plebisul: Corrupção e crise motivam votos na consulta separatista". Veja.
  16. Arruda, Gilmar. "O Chão de Nossa História:Natureza, Patrimônio Ambiental e Identidade". Unesp – Fclas – CEDAP, v.2, n.2, 2006, página 11.
  17. Alencar, M. A. G. Cultura e Identidade nos sertões do Brasil. In: III Congresso Latinoamericano de la IASPM, 2000, Bogotá. Resumos do III Congresso Latinoamericano de Músicas Populares, 2000. pg. 2
  18. Nardi, J. B. Cultura, Identidade e Língua Nacional no Brasil: Uma Utopia?. In: 1. Caderno de Estudos FUNESA, Ararapica, AL, 2000. pg. 12, 18
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