National Liberation Front of Corsica

The National Liberation Front of Corsica (Corsican: Fronte di liberazione naziunale di a Corsica or Fronte di liberazione naziunale corsu; French: Front de libération nationale corse, abbreviated FLNC) is a militant group that advocates an independent state on the island of Corsica, separate from France. The organisation was primarily present in Corsica and less so on the French mainland. A Conculta Naziunalista was often considered to be the political wing of the organisation.^[6]

Typical militant acts by the FLNC were

Ideology

The FLNC is based on the idea that Corsica is a nation which was a sovereign nation-state: the Corsican Republic from 1755 to 1769, the first constitutional democratic republic in the history of humanity guaranteeing universal suffrage and the right to vote for women (at least for certain women, considered heads of household, particularly widows or single women)^[7] and this 200 years before France which was then an absolute monarchy by divine right. Pasquale Paoli's legacy on the FLNC is very significant, particularly through the name Ghjustizia Paolina.

The defense of the Corsican language, traditions, the re-opening of the University of Corte closed in 1769 by the French army and re-opened in 1982 following the demands of the FLNC, the fight against the concreting of the coast, against second homes, against "settlement colonization" (massive installation of continental French), the organization of a referendum on self-determination, the departure of the French army from Corsica (and in particular the dismantling of the NATO military base in Solenzara as well as the legionnaire regiment of Calvi) are central demands of the FLNC.

Environmentalism and defense of the land (incorporating a form of agrarianism or peasant socialism and the protection of grazing lands, mountains, forests, and marshes) have always been very important in the ideology of the FLNC, particularly in connection with the popular struggles of the 1970s against the pollution of red mud and the allocation of remediated lands of the Aléria plain (originally subject to malaria and now the only land on the island suitable for intensive agriculture) to pied-noir farmers rather than Corsicans.

With the dissolution of the Canal Habituel and the formation of the FLNC-Union des Combattants (FLNC-UC), led by Charles Pieri, the FLNC returned to a hardline independence line of protest against French colonialism as well as the monopoly economy, launching for example a campaign against supermarkets in the late 2000s (without adopting an explicitly Marxist discourse, but declaring itself to be "in line with the social and union struggles of our people in the face of the multiple relays of French colonialism in Corsica"). The FLNC of October 22, which announced in a press release of March 21, 2023 that it would now operate in concert with the Union of Combatants, claimed in the 2000s to embody an even more radical independence line than the FLNC-UC.

At the international level, the FLNC supports the causes of Irish and Basque nationalists and supports the Palestinian national movement.^[8]

History

Foundation and objectives

The FLNC was created from a merger of Ghjustizia Paolina and the Fronte Paesanu Corsu di Liberazione, the two largest Corsican armed organizations. It was an offshoot of the political party A Cuncolta Independentista which had members in the Corsican Assembly and some support among the locals.

The FLNC carried out its first attacks on the night of 4 May 1976 with 21 bombs exploding in Ajaccio, Bastia, Sartène, Porto-Vecchio and other Corsican towns.^[9] The majority of the targets were public buildings and offices of civil servants. On 5 May the FLNC formally announced its existence when it issued a bilingual manifesto which also claimed responsibility for the previous night's attacks.

The manifesto contained six demands:^[10]

• The recognition of the national rights of the Corsican people.
• The removal of all instruments of
  French colonialism – including the French Army
  and colonists.
• The setting up of a popular democratic government which would express the will and the needs of the Corsican people.
• The confiscation of "colonial" estates.
• Agrarian reform to fulfill the aspirations of farmers, workers and intellectuals and rid the country of all forms of exploitation.
• The right to self-determination of the Corsican people.

2014 to present

In 2014,

In 2024, antisemitic and anti-French graffiti appeared in Corsica, with the FLNC being allegedly responsible.[17]

Armed campaign

Notes