No French, s’il vous plaît

A group of ten-year-old schoolchildren on the Mediterranean island of Corsica proudly raised their hands in class one morning this week to say they felt Corsican, not French.

Their teacher, Nathalie Lanfranchi, grew up speaking French at home but now talks with her daughters in Corsican and teaches in both languages in this school on the outskirts of the island's biggest city, Ajaccio.

In some countries, that would raise few eyebrows.

But for France, a centralised state with a single, national identity and only one official language, Corsica's demand for more autonomy is a challenge.

The children – 11 consider themselves to be only Corsican, one only French and one claims both identities – greeted visitors with a cheerful Corsican Bonghjornu rather than the French Bonjour.

But President Emmanuel Macron may face a cooler welcome when he visits the island next week after ministers infuriated Corsica’s nationalist leaders by refusing several of their demands, including official status for the Corsican language.

“Our goodwill has been taken for weakness by Paris but we are not weak, we are strong with the support of Corsicans,” said regional parliament speaker JeanGuy Talamoni.

“Corsicans want to be recognised as a nation,” he said, adding that a protest march today would show just that.

Unlike Spain and Germany, France has always been reluctant to give power to its regions, despite some decentralisation in the ’80s.

With nationalism on the rise, as in Catalonia and other regions of Europe, Corsicans elected nationalist leaders in December and Macron now faces demands for local powers over issues as varied as property buying.

While the French tricolour flies over official buildings throughout France, it was not seen in Talamoni’s office, or on the town hall in Granace, a tiny village in southern Corsica.

Instead, mayor Jean-Yves Leandri proudly displayed the black-and-white flag with a Moor’s head that symbolises Corsica.

Rather than the tricolour sash French officials wear for ceremonial duties, Leandri conducts weddings with one he had specially made, again adorned with a Moor’s head. “We took away the French flag, it’s got nothing to do here, it’s Corsica,” the 54-year-old mayor said. –