How a small group of Japanese revolutionaries secretly aided the Palestinian cause from Lebanon.
Beirut, Lebanon – To say May Shigenobu had an unusual upbringing would be something of an understatement.
As a child, May had several aliases and was always on the move to protect her from kidnapping or assassination.
If her true identity was close to being revealed, she would be given a new passport, a new nationality, a new name and a new back story.
“I always had to hide my true background, mainly from the Israelis,” May explains as we sit down at a cafe in Beirut’s bustling Harma district.
These may seem like drastic measures, but they make more sense if you are the daughter of Fusako Shigenobu, founder of the Japanese Red Army (JRA).
Fusako arrived in Lebanon in 1971 without a word of Arabic in her lexicon, but soon managed to make her intentions crystal clear. She was there to offer support to the Palestinian struggle. Worldwide revolution
It was in Lebanon that Shigenobu founded the JRA, a Marxist-Leninist organisation seeking the overthrow of the Japanese government, the destruction of capitalism and imperialism, and the start of a worldwide revolution.
It was the emphasis on internationalism that drove Shigenobu to align with the Palestinian cause.
Her small but dedicated group of Japanese revolutionaries struck up an organisational relationship with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who at that time had a strong presence throughout Lebanon, including in the Palestinian refugee camps surrounding Beirut.
Once established, the JRA became involved in a series of high-profile international operations including aircraft hijackings and hostage-takings.
The strategy was designed to draw attention to the Palestinian cause, which had suffered devastating defeats in 1948 and 1967. It was in the midst of this campaign that baby May was born.
May’s father was also a leader of the PFLP at that time, but she avoids identifying him for security reasons.
“It’s not like it was 100 years ago; a lot of people would still be affected by unnecessary information going out,” May said.
“You might be surprised but in general people didn’t know about specific members of this organisation.
“My mother took on the Arab name Mariam, but very few ever knew who Mariam was or what her real name was.
“It wasn’t like I was the daughter of a famous person. But I was the daughter of a famous organisation. And I feel proud and lucky to have had a whole community of these idealistic, self-sacrificing people around me, raising me.”
Despite being surrounded by people deeply involved in the struggle, May says it was safer for her and for everyone, that she remained in the dark about the specifics of their activities.
“As a child, I didn’t know much.”
May, now a freelance journalist and TV producer, says: “That was mostly for security reasons.
