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FKNG ! (Independentist organization, Guadeloupe)

Fòs pou konstwi nasyon Gwadloup

Flag of FKNG ! - Image by Ivan Sache, 21 October 2012

Presentation of FKNG !
Flags of FKNG !

See also:

Presentation of FKNG !

FKNG ! (Fòs pou konstwi nasyon Gwadloup - Forces to build the Guadeloupe nation) is an independentist organization aimed at federating the scattered, small groups that call for the independence of Guadeloupe: ANG (Alliance Nationale Guadeloupe, founded on 31 May 2008), CPGN (Convention pour une Guadeloupe Nouvelle, founded on 25 November 2004 by Jean-Paul Eluther), R2PG (Réseau pour la Protection des Patrimoines Guadeloupéens, founded on 11 April 2011), CIPN (Comité International des Peuples Noirs, founded in 1992), Yenkinou (a citizen's blog) and Kalbas Ka (a "gwoka" music band).

FKNG ! emerged in spring 2010 when red pieces of graffiti appeared on walls all over the island. The meaning of "FKNG !" remained mysterious until the night of 20 to 21 April 2010, when thousands of leaflets announcing the establishment of the organization were released. The charter of the organization was adopted in Pointe-à-Pitre on 15 May 2010. FKNG ! does not seem to have any official status - which is not unexpected, since some of its members do not recognize the French rule over the island.
During its first congress held on 9-10 April 2011, FKNG ! adopted a motion calling for the creation of a people's council representing all the "anti-colonialist, patriotic, political and social organizations". The council was commissioned "to prepare the establishment of a provisory government and to ask its recognition by the United Nations, and the governments of the Caribbean islands, of Latin America and of the world". The wording of the motion makes it clear that complete independence from France is sought; a status granted more autonomy as adopted in New Caledonia or French Polynesia was not even considered.

FKNG ! was organized by Luc Reinette, an historic independentist leader in Guadeloupe, founder in 1981 of MPGI (Mouvement Populaire pour une Guadeloupe Indépendante).
Reinette was arrested on 7 March 1981, as a supposed member of GLA (Groupe de Libération Armée), a clandestine group that had claimed responsibility for attacks perpetrated in 1980-1981 against authorities, official buildings (including the Court of Justice in Paris), police and gendarmerie stations, hotels, and banks. On 28 May 1983, a new armed group named ARC (Alliance Révolutionnaire Caraïbe) claimed responsibility for a new series of attacks perpetrated in Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, and Paris. From 1983 to 1989, ARC organized several attacks in the same areas, claiming three lives and injuring more than 50 people.
Reinette and five other members of MPGI were tried in February 1985 for their presumed involvement in armed attacks; sentenced to 23 years' imprisonment, Reinette escaped from jail on 16 June 1985. On 19 January 1987, he released a "call for civic and patriotic resistance". Reinette was eventually arrested in Saint Vincent on 21 July 1987 on his way to Guyana, where he had been granted political asylum, and transferred to Paris one week later. The Law No. 473 of 10 June 1989 granted amnesty to Caribbean political prisoners, including Reinette and 18 other members of ARC.

Reinette founded on 13 June 1997 KLG (Konwa pou liberasyon nasyonal Gwadeloup). Afterwards, the independentist movement went quite dormant, until the reactivation of independentist claims in spring 2009. The establishment of FKNG ! is therefore considered as the symbol of the re-emergence of the independentist movement in Guadeloupe.

Sources:
- FKNG ! charter;
- Report of the FKNG ! Congress, Carib Creole New, 14 April 2011;
- Résistance et lutte armée aux Antilles-Guyane.

Ivan Sache, 21 October 2012

Flag of FKNG !

On 25 October 2010, FKNG ! presented the Guadelupian identity card; on 16 January 2011, members of FKNG ! publicly burned their French identity card, "re-enacting" the act performed by Reinette during his trial in 1985. During the same meeting (report), Reinette promised to discuss a Guadelupian flag with all the organizations forming FKNG !

The flag of FKNG !, and, most probably, of the aspired independent Guadeloupe, was hoisted during the FKNG! Congress (photo).
The flag is horizontally divided green-yellow-red with a thin white fimbriation between the stripes; a black triangle charged with a yellow star is placed along the hoist.
The flag is, undoubtedly, modelled on the flags used by the earlier independentist movements in Guadeloupe.

Ivan Sache, 21 October 2012