Shigenobu Fusako and Globalizing the Palestinian Revolution

This paper looks at Japanese militant Shigenobu Fusako (b. 1945) who led the Japanese Red Army (JRA) from its base in Lebanon. Radicalized in the mid-1960s by the Japanese student movement, she quickly gained prominence in the far-left Red Army Faction (RAF). Developing a theory of global revolution that combined Maoism and vanguardism, the group understood that the overthrow of capitalism and imperialism demanded violence. Shigenobu went to Lebanon in February 1971 to establish relations between the RAF and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a major force in the global left at that time, as part of the group’s revolutionary praxis.

Shigenobu quickly established herself in Beirut, and a small cadre of RAF members began training with the PFLP in militant tactics. Her group distanced itself from the Japan-based RAF and became the JRA. On May 30, 1972, the JRA undertook its most famous action when three members attacked Lod Airport in Israel. Shigenobu emerged as a spokesperson for the group in the Japanese media and penned numerous messages on the attack. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the JRA conducted numerous missions, hijackings, and attacks in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. Shigenobu remained its leader and wrote extensively on behalf of the group. Her writing laid out theories of global revolution and the necessity of the Palestinian cause for the left. Interwoven throughout this revolutionary Marxist discourse was a trenchant critique of patriarchy, which was, for Shigenobu, also an aspect of capitalist exploitation. Her role as leader upended traditional gendered norms within militant leftist networks. The JRA remains a rare example of a militant leftist group led by a woman who challenged conceptions of solidarity and the role of women in a global revolution.