written by Diogo Silva
Intro by C-Ron
This is a piece I commissioned Diogo Silva to write with the objective of globally broadcasting the ideals and traditions of the southern brazilian people. Here in North America Brazil is often perceived as the land of soccer and carnival, in this piece diogo displays a different side of Brazil, one that involves a politically conscience public that has fought hard to defend the ideals of equality, freedom, and hard work.
THE LONGEST REPUBLICAN REVOLUTION CONFRONTED BY THE EMPIRE
"On septemper the 20th of 2005 we celebrated 170 years of the begining of "Revolução Farroupilha" or Tatters Revolution, that during ten years, confronted the powerfull brazilian Empire - centralizated and sypmathetic towards slavery - and defended the flags of the Republic and the Federation. In the same way, this date marked the 160 years of the end of this bloody war and the pacification of Rio Grande do Sul."
POLITICAL ECONOMICAL AND SOCIAL ROOTS ON THE REVOLUTION
During this time "The center of the country, profited from a monopoly on coffee production and high export prices. Here, in the south we were forced to produce "charque"(dried meat) to feed the Northerners slaves. The president of the province was named by Rio de Janeiro, and governed on the interests of those who planted coffee, that marginalized political and economicaly the "Gaúchos". At the same time, the expansionist interests of the province made Rio Grande do Sul a constant battlefield against our neighbors, Argentina and Urugauy, which hampered our economic output. The government also placed economic constraints on the few goods we were able to produce, we paid 25% tax on our "charque" production while Uruguay only paid 4% tax. In 1835 they made even more taxes on spur, stirrup and rum. With this oppression from the federal government Rio Grande do Sul became a stronghold for republican ideas combined with federalists aspirations, as was the case in other provinces. Other provinces had Revolutions that began almost at the same time as Revolução Farroupilha as "Confederação do Equador"(1824), Balaiada(1830), Cabanagem(1835), Sabinada(1837) and Rebeliões Liberais of São Paulo and Minas Gerais(1842). All those factors lead to the revolt of september the 20th."
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I Hope you can make a good use of this information and start to see why the Brazilian "gaúchos" are the way we are!
Abração my friends!
Diogo
