Corsican Separatism

THE STORY OF CORSICAN separatism rightfully begins in the history of France. In 1768, the island was acquired by King Louis XV from Italian Genoa. Under the dynastic politics of the era, it was only another transfer of territory, much as France had earlier ceded its colony of New France (Canada) to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris in 1763.

However, to the Corsicans, they themselves were the citizens of a free republic. Pasquale Paoli declared that on “January 30, 1735, … Corsica is declared independent by Cunsulta of Orezza which voted the first Corsican constitution, the first modern democratic constitution. The legislative power is entrusted at an assembly made up of deputies selected by the people and the executive power is entrusted to a junta of six members elected by the assemblée [assembly].” Corsicans thus rightfully consider themselves to have had one of the first republics in Western political history.

From the time of the meeting of the Cunsulta, Corsicans fought for their freedom against Genoese rule. But, to paraphrase the English historian Hillaire Belloc, the Genoese had the maxim gun, and the Corsicans did not. Giacintu Paoli became the leader of the Corsican resistance, and was forced to flee the island under persecution from Genoa in 1739. By 1768, Genoa had had enough of attempting to suppress the Corsican desire for freedom and representative government. Thus, the Genoese transferred authority to France.

King Louis sent large forces to suppress Corsican independence, and soon Paoli's forces were compelled to withdraw. As Emil Ludwig writes in Napoleon, “there was a terrible retreat through the dense forests and the rugged mountains.” Paoli was forced to flee his beloved island in June. His adjutant, Carlo Buonaparte, made peace with the conquerors. In August 1769, his son Napolione was born. Carlo became a loyal servant of the French and was duly rewarded with the title of count. His son Napolione was sent to France for education in the military and studied artillery. The son now took on the name by which he is known to history: Napoleon Bonaparte.

The “Little Corsican,” as he would always be known, seized power in France in November 1799, 30 years after his native Corsica had surrendered to the French. Ironically, the extreme centralization that Napoleon imposed on France made Corsican independence even more of an impossibility. It was now just one of the départements (provinces) of France, ruled from Paris, with none of the sense of respect for the institutions or traditions for the regions of France that still marked the old monarchy until it fell in the French Revolution of 1789. However, the Corsican people jealously kept alive memories of their independence and celebrated their own culture, writing in their own language, Corsu.

In the 1970s, however, the desire for Corsican independence—or separatism—took a dangerous turn. The Corsican National Liberation Front (CNLF) allied itself with terror organizations like the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Thus, it became a target for French intelligence, the SDECE, the Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionage, and the DST, the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire, which was concerned more with French internal security. Ironically, most of the members of the special Action Branch of the SDECE were Corsicans, and some [Page 604]would form the anti-independence movement Francia. Beginning as early as July 1960, Radio Corse had transmitted Corsican nationalist views. However, the identification of Corsican nationalism with anti-French terrorist acts caused the government in Paris to take drastic action against it.

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