Japanese Red Army
| Japanese Red Army 日本赤軍 |
|
|---|---|
| Leader(s) | Fusako Shigenobu |
| Dates of operation | 1971–2001 |
| Motives | Proletarian revolution in Japan, World Revolution |
| Active region(s) | Japan, Southeast Asia and Middle East |
| Ideology |
Communism, Marxism–Leninism, Anti-imperialism, Anti-Zionism |
| Notable attacks |
Lod Airport massacre Japan Airlines Flight 351 Malaysian Airline System Flight 653 (suspected) |
| Status | Defunct, now replaced by Movement Rentai |
The Japanese Red Army (日本赤軍 Nihon Sekigun?, JRA) was a communist militant group founded by Fusako Shigenobu early in 1971 in Lebanon. After the Lod airport massacre, it sometimes called itself Arab-JRA. The JRA's stated goals were to overthrow the Japanese government and the monarchy, as well as to start a world revolution.
The group was also known as the Anti-Imperialist International Brigade (AIIB), Holy War Brigade, and the Anti-War Democratic Front.
Shigenobu had been a leading member of the Red Army Faction (Sekigun-ha) in Japan, whose roots lay in the militant new-left Communist League. Advocating imminent revolution, they set up their own group, declaring war on the state in September 1969. The police quickly arrested many of them, including founder and intellectual leader Takaya Shiomi, who was in jail by 1970. The Sekigun lost about 200 members, and the remnants merged with a Maoist group to form the Rengo Sekigun or United Red Army in July, 1971. This group became notable during the Asama-Sanso incident, when it purged twelve of its members in a training camp hideout on Mount Haruna, before a week-long siege involving hundreds of police. Fusako Shigenobu had left Japan with only a handful of dedicated people, but her group is said to have had about 40 members at its height and was from the Lod airport massacre on one of the best-known armed leftist groups in the world. The Japanese Red Army, Nihon Sekigun from 1971 had very close ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Wadie Haddad. By 1972 the United Red Army in Japan was finished and the Shigenobu group dependent on the PFLP for financing, training and weaponry.
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