Thousands of attacks, an internal war, hooded press conferences and a recent reactivation. Forty years to the day after its dissolution by decree in the Council of Ministers, on January 5, 1983, the FLNC (Corsica National Liberation Front) returns to what remains of the armed struggle movement, its influence and its political role played with political scientist Thierry Dominici, from the University of Bordeaux and specialist in Corsican nationalism.
Forty after its dissolution by decree, what remains of the FLNC?
Even today there are groups who claim it and carry out attacks. The question is therefore: what is meant by FLNC? From press conferences to attacks, the FLNC has built an image in the collective imagination. An image of a social bandit. And the FLNC is not the first, nor the last, movement of armed struggle. But he is the first to have imposed himself in the collective imagination. And we saw it with young people recently in the urban violence that followed the assassination of Yvan Colonna and who claim it.
What consequences did this dissolution have?
The dissolution by decree legitimized the movement and made it the enemy of the state. It is also what caused the movement to go underground and become a nebula that practices terrorism. Afterwards in terms of political impact, the FLNC is more in the spectacle, a controlled violence which made few victims if we compare to the ETA or the IRA. Most of the human victims were cannibal victims – that is, internal to the movement itself. In fact, the FLNC did not support its democratic conversion and exploded into three movements, three channels (historical channel, usual channel, union of combatants), and multiple small groups from the very end of the 1980s. This marked the end of its effectiveness. To tell the truth, it would be more accurate to speak of FLNCs in the plural.
By announcing to lay down their arms and enter into a democratic process in 2014, did the FLNC not acknowledge its defeat?
By laying down its arms in 2014, the FLNC reached its political maturity. In fact, the movement realized after the 2010 elections that the nationalists could have won the elections and that the only sticking point to that was violence. In a sense, they act on the fact that their objective of politicizing the Corsican question was achieved. Thus, laying down arms is more a political strategy than a defeat. And that, the leaders will have difficulty explaining to grassroots activists.
The big victory of the FLNC through its struggle from 1976 to 2014 is to have achieved institutional nationalism. Without this fight and without having laid down their arms at the right time, they would not have obtained this victory, even if Gilles Simeoni stole it a little. And this was possible through the compromise of autonomy and the end of violence. This is what allowed the alliance of nationalist and separatist leaders, Jean-Christophe Angelini (Partitu di a Nazione Corsa aka Corsican Nation Party), Paul-Félix Benedetti (Core in Fronte) and Petru Antone Tomasi (Corsica Libera) with the autonomist Gilles Simeoni (Femu a Corsico) for the term of office 2015-2021.
But at the end of the last elections (in 2021), Gilles Simeoni became the only master on board and governs without the separatists. He thus ended the post-2014 compromise and according to him, this forces the government to act now that the condition of no longer having former supporters of violence in the coalition is met.
A strategy that has not yet allowed the island to gain independence or more autonomy….
Gilles Simeoni is the only one who has defeated the two traditional camps – the left and the right called government – those who have governed the island since the Third Republic. One could say today there is no autonomy, no Corsican nation, it is a failure. But in the last election, the nationalists won 70% because voters clearly want more decentralization. Basically, the question is more administrative than political. Because we can defend autonomy, officially recognize the Corsican people, their language, their culture but without having autonomy in skills. I believe that regardless of the status, what matters is that the Corsicans have access to more autonomy and more decentralization.
How then to interpret the return of about fifteen attacks claimed this year?
This is, according to the claims, the FLNC grouping the Union of Combatants and October 22, groups that have never announced that they have laid down their arms. In view of the constitution of the new assembly, where Gilles Simeoni got rid of the separatists, one can think that this return to action is a way for them to recall their capacity for action, their existence. As I said, the FLNC has not dematerialized. When we look at the targets and the methods of these attacks – second homes, tourist places set on fire or targeted with gas canisters – we see that even in these actions, they play with the imagination of the FLNC which, in matter of level of violence, is capable of more. An attack by fire instead of explosives is in a way, a way of recalling the beginnings of the FLNC, that of social bandit.
And the arrests made in December?
These arrests are a little disturbing because the Corsican question is supposed to be in the pipes. But at the same time, the State resumed its policy of repression following these attacks. In these arrests, the Pieri family was affected. Charles Pieri is one of the actors of the Corsica Libera party, one of the former leaders of the historic FLNC canal, FLNC that he may be trying to reactivate. His son was also arrested and charged. At 78, I can’t imagine Charles Pieri carrying out attacks again. But he has an image, he is a tutelary figure of violence. From simple militant, he had become from 1998 and the imprisonment of the two leaders of the FLNC, the chief.
Should we fear or believe in a return of the FLNC, especially among young people, since the assassination of Yvan Colonna?
We could have believed it at first seeing the young people very organized. But very quickly, what we could observe was that this urban violence comes from popular nationalism. So they can use the symbols of the FLNC, these tags “French out [I Francesi Fora] “, or the small bombs tagged on the walls. But for me, it’s more folklore. That said, if discussions with the State remain essentially political, without real progress in decentralization, if young people continue to be unable to find housing, work and remain in this misery, we could have new violence. But I don’t think it’s in the form of an FLNC-type organization, their mode of action is more of a black bloc type.