Von Tōkyō nach Tel Aviv – Der Antisemitismus der Japanischen Roten Armee

In the organizer's words:

The Japanese Red Army (JRA) is considered one of the most bizarre phenomena of left-wing terrorism in the 1970s. Originating from the student protest movement, it claimed to be emancipatory, but was characterized by nationalism, patriarchal structures and an anti-Semitism that masqueraded as "anti-Zionism".

The JRA sought the revolution outside Japan and thus also shifted responsibility for its own history to the outside world. Instead of reflecting on Japan's historical guilt, it made Israel the symbol of an imagined "Western evil". This projection of guilt combined anti-imperialist slogans with anti-Semitic thought patterns - an ideological short-circuit that legitimized violence and cost the lives of 26 people who were murdered by the group at Lod Airport (now Ben Gurion) on 30 May 1972.

At the same time, the JRA showed how deeply Japan's traditional hierarchies and gender images persisted even in radical movements: Soldierly masculinity, martyr romanticism and academic rankings remained intact despite revolutionary gestures.