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

Context

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, 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. 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.

Movement The movement arose during the Second Separatist Congress celebrated in 1992 at Laguna, founded by , 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.

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.Movimento o Sul é o Meu Páis, Carta de Princípios Movimento O Sul é o Meu País.

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

Unofficial independence referendums

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. They were hoping to reach up to a million votes throughout the three Brazilian states.

+Results and participationStateYES votes%NO votes%Participation (absolute)TSE - Estatísticas da Eleição 2016Participation (relative)Paraná21,36188.822,69011.1824,0517,869,4500.31Rio Grande do Sul311,35697.218,9242.79320,2808,362,8303.83Santa Catarina257,94794.6314,6395.37272,5864,985,0485.47Total590,66495.7426,2534.26616,91721,217,3282.91

+Results and participation in the largest citiesCityYES votes%NO votes%Participation (absolute)Participation (relative)Curitiba4,70289.8453210.165,2341,289,2150.41Porto Alegre5,85992.304897.706,3481,098,5150.58Joinville12,39892.949427.0613,340372,5513.58Londrina1,08775.0736124.931,448353,3140.41Caxias do Sul8,65496.053563.959,010293,4173.07Florianópolis2,38185.9339014.072,771316,2610.88Maringá37484.816715.19441261,7170.17Pelotas3,11393.602136.403,326228,6341.45Canoas1,35096.98423.021,392247,7700.56Ponta Grossa1,16383.0723716.931,400222,7160.63Blumenau16,80094.061,0615.9417,861230,1677.76Cascavel35777.1110622.89463206,7140.22São José dos Pinhais1,26485.9320714.071,471170,7060.86Santa Maria79888.5710311.43901203,0430.44Gravataí1,06399.2580.751,071186,6990.57Foz do Iguaçu - - - -0165,7300.00Viamão1,07599.4460.561,081134,8270.80Novo Hamburgo4,69295.971974.034,889178,1382.74Colombo - - - -0128,6020.00São José1,46292.121257.881,587156,6171.01São Leopoldo4,42989.0354610.974,975164,1413.03Chapecó7,19392.325987.687,791140,5265.54Criciúma1,44296.13583.871,500141,6671.06Itajaí3,99393.692696.314,262143,1312.98Rio Grande51994.71295.29548154,5950.35Alvorada1,42993.221046.781,533119,2281.29Passo Fundo5,14395.222584.785,401142,3293.79

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. The participation target was set to the same as the previous referendum - 1 million voters.

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.

+Results and participationStateYES votes%NO votes%Participation (absolute)TSE - Estatísticas da Eleição 2016Participation (relative)Variation (relative)Paraná73,33294.084,6155.9277,9477,869,4500.99 + 224.09Rio Grande do Sul180,32997.165,2632.84185,5928,362,8302.22 - 42.05Santa Catarina96,97296.283,7453.72100,7174,985,0482.02 - 63.05Total350,63396.2613,6233.74364,25621,217,3281.72 - 40.96

Demographics of South Region

White Brazilians are the majority of South Region with 72% as of 2022. The Brazilian states with the highest percentages of whites are the three located in the South of the country: Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná. These states, along with São Paulo, received an important influx of European immigrants in the period of the Great Immigration (1876–1914).

Rio Grande do Sul: 78.4% white Santa Catarina: 76.3% Paraná: 64.6%

Skin color/Race (2022)White72.6%Mixed21.7%Black5.0%East Asian0.4%Indigenous0.3%

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.Arruda, Gilmar. " O Chão de Nossa História:Natureza, Patrimônio Ambiental e Identidade". Unesp – Fclas – CEDAP, v.2, n.2, 2006, página 11. Others claim there are cultural differences, such as in religion, literature, food, clothing, dances, music, etc.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 Some go as far as to say that Brazilians identify first with their home state, and only then as Brazilians.Nardi, J. B. Cultura, Identidade e Língua Nacional no Brasil: Uma Utopia?. In: 1. Caderno de Estudos FUNESA, Ararapica, AL, 2000. pg. 12, 18

See also Immigration to Brazil Independence referendum Juliana Republic Lists of active separatist movements Riograndense Republic Southern Cone Nordeste Independente White flight Irton Marx

References

External links Official website