The general assemblies of nationalist parties have in common an immutable scenario. The one which consists of taking a seat in one of the lecture halls of the University of Corsica, inviting journalists to take photos and shoot images, before taking leave for an internal debate by agreeing on a press point at the end of the meeting. This afternoon of Saturday June 14, Nazione was no exception to the rule. Except that this political meeting took place in a particular context.
A few hours earlier we received information according to which activists were leaving the movement, notably pillars of the Ajaccian branch of Nazione, and even Josepha Giacometti-Piredda, one of the spokespersons and the only elected official of the party in the Corsican Assembly. So many elements which called for verification before the opening of the debates. “We are not aware of any departure, of any divergence, we have not received any resignation,” a member of the executive assures us. “The general assembly is sovereign”, observes another frame of the movement in passing.
Absent, Josepha Giacometti-Piredda does not wish, “for the moment, to make any comments”
In any case, the so-called departing activists are not in the lecture hall. Josepha Giacometti-Piredda, who usually takes her place at the podium, is not there.“However, she was present on Thursday during the coordination which made it possible to prepare the working basis for this general assembly”, we are told. His absence could not be explained to us, as if the party executives took note of it this Sunday.
That said, the usual attendance at the ordinary general assembly of Nazione, the one which allows the Ribellu lecture hall of the faculty of letters to be filled, is there. A few weeks before the Ghjurnate internaziunale, the annual highlight of the independentists, it was essentially a question of debating and voting on a general orientation motion which, initially, only confirms a political line. Nazione activists remain fiercely opposed to the autonomy project, the text of which is submitted for the approval of deputies this Tuesday, June 15. For them, any development must favor the fundamentals of the nationalist fight: the recognition of a people and a language above all else. The novelty of this motion is that it reveals a movement which wants to project itself into the post-Beauvau process, considering that it will be a failure whatever the outcome.
The autonomy project, “a failure in all hypotheses”
“In this context which marks the failure of the autonomist strategy in all hypotheses, the independentist option must be the central option, estimates Petr’Anto Tomasi. It can only be built around the right to self-determination of the Corsican people, which is completely eluded today. It must also contain, in an essential manner, the provisional and transitional, conservatory measures which are the status of resident, the co-officiality of the language, the electorate and Corsican citizenship, everything which the autonomist political forces have renounced.
When Nazione projects itself towards these perspectives that it considers fundamental, the party does not project itself alone, but within the framework of a return to “the unity of the national movement”, “as part of a radically different project”, more…… “Those who are today accountable for what we consider to be a failure will no longer be legitimate to take a new approach,” trust Petr’Anto Tomasi“A political leader has the power to act, but he is also accountable for his actions.”
Obviously far from these debates, Josepha Giacometti-Piredda responded to our calls as the general assembly ended, contenting herself with writing in a very brief message that she did not wish, “for the moment, make no comment”.
