There are 260,000 people living in Corsica. In 1900 there were 300,000. Corsica is losing its indigenous people fast, to the lure of European markets and a mainland urban lifestyle. Meanwhile, the Corsican economy is weakening, dependent as it is on agriculture and tourism.
Erosion of tribal culture in Corsica began with loss of language in the 1950s and 1960s, when school children were forbidden to speak Corsican, of which there are several different dialects on the island. Today the language paradoxically has a high status, and is used by the elite of the island to exclude poorer natives and migrants - kind of a secret password language for the upper echelons of Corsican society. However, these few Corsican words always exist within a colonial context - playing second fiddle to the French language of the island's invaders.
Corsica's cultural renaissance seems to consist mostly of exotic and colonial-friendly symbols of native "culture", with native icons being romanticised in much the same way as the didgeridoo in Australia. Corsica's leading families use language and culture in this way to foster a dominant tribal elite, designed simultaneously to exclude peripheral classes and minorities, and to stir nationalistic pride in the hope of attracting home prodigal sons and daughters who have enjoyed financial success on the mainland .
26,000 immigrants, making up ten percent of the population, are marginalised by this colonial-style tribalism. Unemployment among male immigrants is over twenty per cent, and is even higher for Arabic immigrants. Racists attacks against the Maghreb Arab community (6% of the island's population) are a regular feature. Arab immigrants are not represented at all in the Corsican media. As a result the Maghrebim minority is not merely underepresented, but invisible.
Maintaining tribal identity is essential for the survival of indigenous peoples, but arguably a people's indigeneity is compromised if it is constructed using colonial ideologies involving the exclusion and domination of minorities. The situation in Corsica highlights the need for decolonisation - otherwise in struggling for Aboriginal rights we merely internalise the colonial power structures of those who oppress us.
