From the introduction of French rule, Corsican government institutions had largely been run by small, local families of politicians called “clans”.

Regardless of his attempt, real power in Corsica remained with the local Conseil Général and the mayors, who often acted in their own interests and were hostile, sometimes even physically violent, to French authorities such as the prefect and the deputies.

Many Corsicans, despite the wish to remain French, largely still didn’t feel a national connection to mainland France due to a separate linguistic, historical, and cultural identity.

General Charles de Gaulle sent Corsican Fred Scamaroni to unify the maquis under his leadership, but he was captured by Italian police and tortured until he commited suicide on 19 March 1943.

Policies of de Gaulle’s government led directly to the founding of the Muvimentu di 29 Nuvembri (November 29th Movement, M29N) in Ajaccio and Bastia on 4 October 1959.

[1] On 5 May 1976, the FPCL and GP met, along with many ARC dissidents, in a conference held in Saint-Antoine de Casabianca, a church where Pasquale Paoli declared the Corsican Republic’s existence in 1755.

[14] A manifesto appeared that morning as well, found printed on leaflets and put into mailboxes, thrown onto streets, taped or stapled onto walls, and in many other places.

[17] A large wave of public support to the FLNC came on 24 September 1976, when soldiers of the French Foreign Legion shot and killed two Corsican shepherds in the town of Bustanico.

[19] In August 1977, the FLNC attacked the Serra di Pigno transmitter, bombing it so heavily that most of northern Corsica lost access to most television channels for 18 months.

In the 90 minute speech, Filidori urged the French government to negotiate with the FLNC as representatives of the Corsican people and outlined the reasons for armed struggle.

[25][26] After Bastelica, the FLNC issued the “white paper”, in which it harkened back to the speech delivered in court by Mathieu Filidori, claiming to represent the Corsican people and calling for legitimacy and negotiations with the French government.

[27] On 14 May 1980, an FLNC commando led by then Paris brigade leader Alain Orsoni committed an attack targeting gendarmes guarding the Iranian embassy, causing four injuries.

[28] On 3 April 1981, presidential candidate François Mitterand visited Corsica, where he announced his support for Corsican autonomy and a peaceful agreement with the FLNC.

Mitterand and his defense minister Gaston Defferre led the negotiations for the French side, and almost immediately began work to compromise on a number of issues important to the FLNC.

They demanded the release of two notable inmates: Alain Orsoni, future leader of the FLNC-Canal Habituel who at the time led the Paris brigade of the FLNC, and Serge Cacciari, a former ARC militant arrested for the murder of a gendarme during the Aleria standoff.

[34] On 1 January 1984, the Corsican Workers’ Trade Union (Sindicatu di i Travagliadori Corsi, STC) was formed as a labour extension of the FLNC.

[35] On 14 January 1985, the FLNC sent a message of solidarity to the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front after the murder of Éloi Machoro, an FLNKS militant shot by French gendarmes and left to bleed out.

In response, the FLNC began to engage CFR members in armed conflict at the university grounds, as well as assassinating their leader, Jean Depuy.

[37] On 1 April 1985, a delegation of FLNC representatives visited Puerto Rico, where they connected with the Corsican diaspora on the island, holding information meetings and accepting donations for support.

Pierre Joxe, the new interior minister under Mitterrand, “scolded” the dissidents, and proposed plans for the development of the town of Corte, Corsican language rights, and tourism.

Resistenza was formed as an armed wing for the Corsican National Alliance, a political party founded by former FLNC leader Pierre Poggioli.

[46] On 17 October 1990, the FLNC officially became the FLNC-Canal Habituel (Canale Abituale, FLNC-CA) after Alain Orsoni dissolved the congress and created his own political wing, the Movement for Self-Determination (Muvimentu per l’Autodeterminazione, MPA).

The dissident brigades would unite on 25 November 1990, invading the town of Borgo and proclaiming the creation of the FLNC-Canal Historique (Canale Storicu, FLNC-CS).

The direzione was a sort of congress, made up of elected representatives from 8 regions: Ajaccio, Balagne, Bastia, Casinca, Corte-Niolo, Fiumorbo, Porto-Vecchio, and mainland France.

Due to the arrests, the northern regions of Capocorso, Bastia, and Casinca were almost entirely cut off from the rest of the FLNC as police investigations severely hindered their ability to operate.

The revolutionary tax system shed light on the largest internal issue within the FLNC, that of centralization and the autonomy, financial and political, of the individual brigades within their own regions.

Starting in late 1988, numerous brigade leaders withdrew from the ghjunta and left the FLNC entirely, beginning a dissident campaign that would turn into a full-scale civil war in 1990.

Orsoni was removed from power in the FLNC’s political wing, A Cuncolta Naziunalista, and replaced with François Santoni, who had withdrawn the Gravona brigade.

[15] French colonialism has deprived us of: our independence and our freedom; it repressed our people with the greatest ferocity; it tried to denationalize us; it tried to erase our language and our culture by authoritarian francization; it had nothing but contempt and racism towards us; it economically crushed our island; it dispersed (or rather deported) our people; it destroyed our homes; it used our country as a human reservoir of cannon fodder for his wars and his colonial expansion; it sent us to act as policemen in his empire in order to stifle the national liberation movements in blood; it tried to sow discord between Corsicans, helped in this dirty work by the clans;

[51] Negotiations with Fatah were discovered in 1984, revealing a “bridge man” between the FLNC and Palestinian militants, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.