With the Catalunya referendum taking place, some governments and the UN will have to make a choice: Recognize the Catalunya as an free state and, as a consequence, recognize possible separatist movements in their own country; or get in the “Spain train” and deny freedom and basic human rights with the use of brute force.
One of these situations is the Brazilian separatist movement The South is My Country (O Sul é o meu País). The purpose of this movement is to make feasible the political and administrative emancipation of the three southern states of Brazil.
The history of the this movement is full of controversy. The states of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) and Santa Catarina (SC) already have separatist history. The Ragamuffin War (Guerra dos Farrapos, 1835) was an separatist uprising that took place in both states. It is considered one the longest wars and bloodiest war in the Americas. For reasons that I will not explain here, mostly land and cattle lords rebelled against the Brazilian Empire, declaring independence and fully taking over RS and parts of SC. Eventually the separatist forces surrendered the the imperial forces.
To this day, those who live in the south or have a very strong southern culture remember the this moment in their history, and even schools teach the history of the war, making a background to today’s situation.
The official The South is my Country organization advocate for an diplomatic and democratic way of doing secession, and boy, they are doing it well.
National Board of Directors is very organized and passionate about it, as well as 95,74% of the south population, according to the unofficial plebiscite made by the movement. The plan is doing these plebiscites every year mostly in the national election month. In fact, this year’s plebiscite is in 5 days. They are also sending to congress an request for doing an official referendum, just like in Spain, but they are hitting an unfortunate legal wall.
The Brazilian constitution prohibits the secession of any part of the country, making the goal of the movement not likely. Those who oppose the separatist organizations in Brazil (yes, there are others), generally use this constitutional “argument” and accuses the separatists of being xenophobic and racists with the other parts of the country, even thought the reasons of the secession are merely economical, cultural and historical.
The national board of directors also aims to implement the municipalism once seceded from Brazil, giving more power to local governments and decentralizing the power. This is basically the opposite of what is happening in Brazil right now, where basically you need to go to the federal government to ask anything and obey theirs laws.
(Federal tax collection in the states of the south. From left to right columns: State, Collection, Return, Difference, %Return. All in Brazilian Real(BRL))
The South is my Country movement it isn’t as nearly as close to get their independence as Catalunya, but is sure in the right track.