| National Liberation Front of Corsica | |
| Native Name: | Front de libération nationale corse |
| Native Name Lang: | co |
| War: | Corsican conflict |
| Active: | 4 May 1976 – active |
| Ideology: | Corsican nationalism Anti-French sentiment Anti-semitism (alleged)[1] [2] [3] Environmentalism Secessionism Factions: Left-wing nationalism Right-wing nationalism |
| Slogan: | A Francia Fora ! (France out!)[4] |
| Area: | Corsica, France French mainland |
| Predecessor: | Fronte Paesanu Corsu per a Liberazione (FPCL), Ghjustizia Paolina |
| Allies: | |
| Opponents: | |
| Battles: | Corsican conflict |
The National Liberation Front of Corsica (Corsican: Fronte di liberazione naziunale di a Corsica or Corsican: Fronte di liberazione naziunale corsu; French: Front de libération nationale corse, abbreviated FLNC) is a name used by many militant groups that advocate an independent state on the island of Corsica, separate from France. The organisations are primarily present in Corsica and less so on the French mainland. A Conculta Naziunalista was often considered to be the political wing of the original organisation.[7]
Typical militant acts by the FLNC were bombings aimed at public buildings, banks, tourist infrastructure, military buildings and other perceived French symbols, in addition to aggravated assault against civilians, armed bank robbery, and extortion against private enterprises through so-called "revolutionary taxes". The attacks were usually performed against buildings and the island's infrastructures, but it was also not uncommon for the FLNC to have individual people as targets, such as Claude Érignac, who was killed in 1998.
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)[8] 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 22 October, which announced in a press release of 21 March 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.[9]
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.[10] 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:[11]
In 2014,[12] the FLNC-Union of Combattants (FLNC-Unione di Cumbattenti, FLNC-UC), the largest successor to the original FLNC at that time, announced the cessation of its armed struggle. This was followed by the FLNC of 22 October (FLNC 22 di Uttrovi, FLNC-22U) in 2016.[13] Nevertheless, a number of minor splinter groups have so far emerged and are still active.[14] [15] [16] The FLNC-22U warned in 2016 that any attacks on Corsica by ISIL will be met with swift retaliation.[17]
On 2 March 2022, Yvan Colonna, a member of the FLNC that was arrested for his role in the 1998 assassination of Claude Érignac, was put in a coma in prison after being assaulted by an Islamic Cameroonian-born inmate for "disrespecting Muhammad."[18] Colonna would die of his wounds on March 21, 2022, resulting in rioting and unrest across the island. The French interior ministry then floated the idea of political autonomy to Corsica to defuse the situation, with the FLNC-22U and FLNC-UC announcing they would jointly resume their armed campaign if said autonomy is not granted.
In October 2023 explosions rocked secondary residences and under-construction villas across Corsica, with pro-FLNC slogans being spray-painted nearby.[19]
In 2024, antisemitic and anti-French graffiti appeared in Corsica, with the FLNC being allegedly responsible.[20]
See also: Corsican conflict.
