Separatism Totally Explained

Everything about Separatist totally explained

Separatism refers to the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial or gender separation from the larger group, often with demands for greater political autonomy and even for full political secession and the formation of a new state. Depending on their political situation and views, groups may refer to their organizing as independence, self-determination, partition or decolonization movements instead of, or in addition to, autonomy, separatist or secession movements. While some critics may equate separatism and religious segregation, racial segregation or sexual segregation, separatists argue that separation by choice isn't the same as government enforced segregation and serves useful purposes.

Motivations for separatism

Groups may have one or more motivations for separation, including:

emotional resentment of rival communities
justified resistance by victims of oppression, including denigration of their language, culture or religion
propaganda by those who hope to gain politically from intergroup conflict and hatred
the economic and political dominance of one group that doesn't share power and privilege in an egalitarian fashion
economic motivations of seeking to end economic exploitation by more powerful group or, conversely, to escape economic redistribution from a richer to a poorer group
preservation of threatened religous, language or other cultural tradition
destabilization from one separatist movement giving rise to others
geopolitical power vacuum from breakup of larger states or empires
continuing fragmentation as more and more states break up.

Governmental responses

How far separatist demands will go toward full independence, and whether groups pursue constitutional and nonviolent or armed violence, depend on a variety of economic, political and social factors, including movement leadership and the government’s response. Governments may respond in a number of ways, some of which are mutually exclusive. These may have little effect, satisfy separatist demands or even increase them.

accede to separatist demands

improve the circumstances of disadvantaged minorities, be they religious, linguistic, territorial, economic or political

adopt “asymmetric federalism” where different states have different relations to the central government depending on separatis demands or considerations

allow minorities to win in political disputes about which they feel strongly, through parliamentary voting, referendum, etc.

settle for a confederation or a commonwealth relationship where there are only limited ties among states.

Types of separatist groups

Separatist groups practice a form of identity politics - “political activity and theorizing founded in the shared experiences of injustice of members of certain social groups.” Such groups believe attempts at integration with dominant groups compromise their identity and ability to pursue greater self-determination. However, economic and political factors usually are critical in creating strong separatist movements from less active identity movements. The Pilgrims who established the first successful colony in New England were separatists.

Zionism sought the creation of the state of Israel as a Jewish homeland.

Muslim groups may seek to separate from each other, especially the Sunni and Shiite sects in Iraq and Lebanon.

Russia, China, India and the Philippines have Muslim-separatist groups.

Some British Muslims seek to have Sharia law recognized in predominantly Muslim areas of Britain.

Indonesia currently has both Christian and Muslim separatist groups. Predominantly Christian East Timor separated from Indonesia in 2002.

Members of animist and Christian tribes in Sudan seek to separate from the Muslim-dominated govenrment.

Sikhs in India have long sought an independent nation of Khalistan.

Ethnic

Ethnic separatism is based more on cultural and linguistic differences than religious or racial differences, which also may exist. Notable ethnic separatist movements include:

the Kurdish people whose lands and peoples were divided between Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran after World War I.

Great Britain’s Scottish and Welsh separatists, who have won greater local autonomy

Spain’s Basque and Catalan separatists

the Soviet Union’s dissolution into its original ethnic groupings which formed their own nations of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Czechoslovakia’s split into ethnic Czech and Slovakian republics

the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia dissolution into ethnic (and religious)-based Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo.

Switzerland’s division into cantons largely formed along ethnic and linguistic lines.

Belgium granting Dutch-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia greater autonomy.

French-speaking Quebec debating and voting on separation from Canada over several decades.

Africa’s hundreds of ethnic groups are subsumed into 53 nation states, often leading to ethnic conflict and separatism, including in Angola, Algeria, Burundi, Congo and The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

the Nigerian civil war (also known as the Biafran war) during the 1960s among Igbos, Hausa-Fulani and Yoruba; today’s ethnic and oil-related conflict in the Niger Delta of Nigeria.

conflicts in Liberia between African-Liberians and Americo-Liberians, Africans who immigrated from the Americas after being freed from slavery.

conflicts between Zulus and Xhosa in South Africa during and after apartheid.

the 1994 Hutu campaign of genocide against minority Tutsis in Rwanda.

Indian and Pakistani ethnic and linguistic groups seeking greater autonomy.

China’s Han majority dominance, including immigration into previously independent Tibet, Xinjiang or Uygur regions leading to renewed separatist efforts in those regions.

Racial

Some groups seek to separate from others along racialist lines. They oppose inter-marriage with other races and seek separate schools, businesses, churches and other institutions or even separate societies, territories and governments.

Black separatism (or black nationalism) is a reaction to slavery in the United states and has been advanced by black leaders like Marcus Garvey and the Nation of Islam. Critical race theorists like New York University's Derrick Bell and University of Colorado's Richard Delgado argue the American legal, education and political party systems are rife with racism. They support efforts like all-black schools and dorms and question the efficacy of government-enforced integration. In 2008 statements by Barack Obama’s former pastor Jeremiah Wright, Jr. revived the issue of the current relevance of black separatism.

Latino separatism, as embodied in the Chicano Movement (or Chicano nation ) in the United States sought to recreate Aztlán, the mythical homeland of the Aztecs comprising the Southwestern United States. They drew on the Latin American concepts of racial identity such as the bronze race and La Raza Cósmica. Today a small Raza Unida Party continues with that goal.

White separatism in the United States and Western Europe seeks separation and survival of the white race and limits to immigration by non-whites. Most separatists now reject any ideology of white supremacy, though most still are demonized by advocacy groups.

Gender

Separatist feminism is women’s choosing to separate from male-defined, male-dominated institutions, relationships, roles and activities. Lesbian separatism advocates lesbianism as the logical result of feminism. Some separatist feminists and lesbian separatists have chosen to live apart in intentional community, cooperatives and on land trusts.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Separatist'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://separatism.totallyexplained.com">Separatism Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.