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The National Liberation Front of Corsica 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.
Armata Corsa was an underground separatist terrorist organization in Corsica, founded in 1999 and disbanded around 2001.
Léo Battesti is a Corsican chess enthusiast, activist, and retired politician and militant.
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the French mainland, west of the Italian Peninsula and immediately north of the Italian island of Sardinia, the nearest land mass. A single chain of mountains makes up two-thirds of the island. As of January 2024, it had a population of 355,528.
The history of Corsica goes back to antiquity, and was known to Herodotus, who described Phoenician habitation in the 6th century BCE. Etruscans and Carthaginians expelled the Ionian Greeks, and remained until the Romans arrived during the Punic Wars in 237 BCE. Vandals occupied it in 430 CE, followed by the Byzantine Empire a century later.
An Islamist insurgency is taking place in the Maghreb region of North Africa, followed on from the end of the Algerian Civil War in 2002. The Algerian militant group Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) allied itself with al-Qaeda to eventually become al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The Algerian and other Maghreb governments fighting the militants have worked with the United States and the United Kingdom since 2007, when Operation Enduring Freedom – Trans Sahara began.
Yvan Colonna was a Corsican nationalist convicted for the 1998 assassination of the prefect of Corse-du-Sud, Claude Érignac. He was beaten to death in prison by an inmate, sparking riots.
Corsican nationalism is the concept of a cohesive nation of Corsica and a national identity of its people. The Corsican autonomy movement stems from Corsican nationalism and advocates for further autonomy for the island, if not outright independence from France.
The Italian occupation of Corsica refers to the military occupation by the Kingdom of Italy of the French island of Corsica during the Second World War, from November 1942 to September 1943. After an initial period of increased control over the island, by early spring 1943 the Maquis had begun to occupy the hinterland. In the aftermath of the Armistice of Cassibile, the Italian capitulation to the Allies, the Germans evacuated Sardinia via Corsica and occupied the island with the support of Italian units who had defected to them. Italian troops under Giovanni Magli, the Maquis and Free French Forces joined forces against the Germans and liberated the island.
The Corsican conflict is an armed and political conflict on the island of Corsica which began in 1976 between the government of France and Corsican nationalist militant groups, mainly the National Liberation Front of Corsica and factions of the group. Beginning in the 1970s, the Corsican conflict peaked in the 1980s before Corsican nationalist groups and the French government reached a truce with one of the two main splinters of the FLNC, the FLNC-Union of Combattants in June 2014. In 2016, the other main splinter, the FLNC-22nd of October also declared a truce. It is currently ongoing following the 2022 Corsica unrest and the return to arms of the FLNC-UC and FLNC-22U.
The 2015 Corsican protests were a series of marches by several hundred Corsican nationalists that began on 25 December, in Ajaccio, capital of Corsica. During the initial demonstrations, a Muslim prayer hall was burned down and Qur'ans were set alight. Further protests were organised after the initial march despite a government ban on protests until 4 January 2016. The protesters claimed to be acting in revenge for an incident that occurred the day prior when firefighters and police were assaulted in the neighbourhood of Les Jardins de l'Empereur; however, outside observers labeled the ensuing riots as anti-Arab and anti-Muslim. The Corsican nationalist politicians have claimed their view does not legitimise xenophobia, blaming the protest on French nationalism instead. Scholarly opinions on this claim are divided.
Pè a Corsica was a Corsican nationalist political alliance in France, which was calling for more autonomy for Corsica. More specifically, it was a coalition of the two Corsican nationalist parties active on the island; that is, the moderately autonomist Femu a Corsica and the strongly committed separatist Corsica Libera. The party was led by the autonomist Gilles Simeoni. The alliance was renewed for the 2017 territorial election. However, the alliance was dissolved for the 2021 territorial election.
In March 2022, the island of Corsica, France, saw protests in response to a prison attack on nationalist leader Yvan Colonna. There were rallies in the main cities of Ajaccio, Calvi and Bastia that descended into violent clashes between police and protestors. Protestors threw stones and flares at gendarmes.
Corsican autonomy is the idea and movement supporting the status of an autonomous region for the island of Corsica within the French Republic. Most supporters of greater autonomy are Corsican nationalists. The ruling Femu a Corsica party supports an autonomous status for Corsica.
The Aleria standoff was a confrontation between members of the French Gendarmerie and Corsican nationalist militants who entrenched themselves in a wine cellar at Aleria, Corsica, on 21 and 22 August 1975. The armed activists belonged to the radical nationalist party Action Régionaliste Corse (ARC). The occupation resulted in a strong reaction of the French government and is regarded as the precursor of the Corsican conflict.
Alain Orsoni is a Corsican politician and former FLNC militant and former president of AC Ajaccio. Founder of the FLNC-Canal Habituel and its political wing, the Movement for Self-Determination, Orsoni led the organization until its dissolution in 1997.
The FLNC-Canal Historique was an armed paramilitary and guerrilla organization created in 1990 from a split within the command structure of the original FLNC. The organization was created to be a radically militant force, rejecting the idea of ceasefire with the French government. During Corsica’s “Lead Years”, a violent period of intense guerrilla warfare in the 1990s, the FLNC-CS was the most violent and active organization, engaging in intense conflict with both the French government and armed forces, but also with other nationalist organizations, engaging in a war with Alain Orsoni’s FLNC-Canal Habituel. In 1999, The FLNC-CS became one of the founding members of the FLNC-Union of Combattants, a guerrilla organization which remains active today following the end of a nine-year long ceasefire.
References
- 1 2 "16 injured in Riviera bombing | World news". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-07-20.
- 1 2 "BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Corsica militants 'admit' blasts". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-07-20.
- ↑ "La piste corse " confirmée " après deux explosions à Nice - 21/07/2003". ladepeche.fr. Retrieved 2018-07-20.
- ↑ "Partager sur Facebook". nouvelobs.com. Retrieved 2018-07-20.
- ↑ "KUNA : Bomb explodes at French military facility in Nice - Military - 10/10/2003". kuna.net.kw. Retrieved 2018-07-20.
- ↑ "Attentat de Nice: la piste corse". Libération. Retrieved 2018-07-20.