The Struggle Front for the National Independence of Guinea ( pt, Frente de Luta pela Independência Nacional da Guiné, FLING) was a political movement in Guinea-Bissau. Founded by groups opposed to the

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

doctrine of Amílcar Cabral and the

African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde ( pt, Partido Africano para a Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde, PAIGC) is a political party in Guinea-Bissau. Originally formed to peacefully campaign for independence from ...

(PAIGC), FLING played a minor role in the national liberation struggle against Portuguese colonial rule. The national trade union federation União Geral dos Trabalhadores de Guiné Bissau was linked to FLING in the pre-independence period.

History

FLING was founded in Dakar, Senegal on 3 August 1962 as an alliance of seven parties, including the Liberation Movement of Guinea, the Guinean People's Union and the Union of Natives of Portuguese Guinea. Unlike the rival PAIGC, it called for the separation of Guinea-Bissau and the

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

islands, and gained support from Manjack diaspora in Senegal, France and

Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

.Peter Karibe Mendy (2013) ''Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau'', Scarecrow Press, p189 It conducted some military action around the northern border near Susana and São Domingos in the early 1960s, but after resisting attempts from the Organisation of African Unity to merge with the PAIGC, the organisation played little part in the war of independence. The PAIGC saw FLING as a threat and its members were violently persecuted, and in certain cases, murdered. A Guerra, Episode 11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLdgLvEwC70&list=PLNnM7uubGF22GfS7CMA1M9zzzzMh6yBzb&index=11 When multi-party politics was introduced in the 1990s, FLING was legalised on 24 May 1992. It contested the 1994 general elections and won a seat in the National People's Assembly. In the presidential elections it put forward François Mendy, who had been its leader since the 1960s. Mendy came fifth with 3% of the vote, but took the party's sole Assembly seat. A leadership crisis saw José Catengul Mendes become leader by the

1999 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1999. * 1999 electoral calendar Africa * 1999 Algerian presidential election * 1999 Botswana general election * 1999 Beninese parliamentary election * 1999 Central African Republic presidential elect ...

. The party lost its seat in the Assembly, and Mendes came tenth in the presidential election with just 1.4% of the vote. In 2003 the party joined the United Platform alliance, which contested the 2004 Assembly elections, but failed to win a seat.

History

References

See also