Revolutionary symbol and future pop icon?

His face, frozen in paint, populates countless walls on the island. Yvan Colonna, who died a year ago as a result of his attack in prison, has certainly become a Corsican symbol. “He was already a hero, he has become a myth”, explains a man in his forties on the evening of a vigil in tribute to the independence activist organized in Cargèse, his native village.

The paradox of cultural objects

From there to making “the shepherd of Cargèse” a romantic revolutionary symbol in the Che Guevara way, there is only one easy step. At the risk of soon finding his portrait on tote bags or beach towels with questionable patterns. “There will be and there are already forms of commodification of the Corsican identity”, notes Sébastien Quenot, lecturer at the University of Corsica. Fact, shops already offer t-shirts and other accessories with slogans and images playing on this register. “Often conquered, never submitted”, ” The Corsican clementine, an explosive taste since 1976 » [année de création du FLNC, avec une clémentine représentée en grenade], “You wouldn’t have a fire?” » [avec une bombe à mèche figurée]. As many t-shirts as it is possible to buy today.

This folklorisation, even “popculturisation”, of the struggle led by the FLNC for mercantile ends feeds on many fantasies and is part of a paradox: “If there is no cultural identity without cultural objects, those these also contribute to restricting its image”, continues the academic. On the side of the Corsican students, we are not really thrilled with the idea of ​​FLNC goodies or t-shirts bearing the image of Colonna.

“This damages the image of protecting our heritage for which the FLNC is fighting. But even the Corsicans play on it and that can bring a little economic dynamism, ”said Liam, an art student at Corte. Jade, her classmate, “frankly disagrees. It would be more a product for tourists but it would mark a terrible lack of culture”. Dominique, an eco-management student, concludes lapidally: “It would piss me off”.

Still, the figure of Yvan Colonna has now become despite itself the mythical face of the Corsican nationalist struggle, the incarnation of the revolutionary martyr. “With his death, he became the victim, the martyr. He was already a symbol since his escape, but today it is even stronger and somewhere more complex. Because, with the slogan “Gloria à té Yvan”, we do not know if we are celebrating the innocence of Yvan Colonna (who has always denied the assassination of prefect Erignac) or the death of the prefect. And if need be, it doesn’t really matter anymore,” observes Sébastien Quenot.

Thus are born the myths that are rooted in a revolutionary collective imagination, with a form of idealization and nostalgia specific to them. Not sure this helps, ultimately, to resolve a conflict between Corsica and the French State. “To move forward, it would probably be necessary to succeed in getting out of this sacrificial logic, to find other symbols than that of the martyr to offer to young people”, understands the researcher. And reducing the struggle of the FLNC and the figure Yvan Colonna to a cultural consumer object activating the spring of a certain revolutionary romanticism does not seem to be a solution either.

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