일본 적군파였던 시게노무 후사코가 1971년 팔레스타인과 레바논으로 건너가, 당시 PLO 의 한 분파였던 (팔레스타인 해방 인민전선 the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) 과 함께 대사관 점거, 항공기 납치 등에 가담했다.
시게노부 후사코는 PFLP 의 한 단원를 만나, 메이를 출산했다.
후사코와 메이의 이야기를 다룬 언론 보도. 테러리스트와 독립(해방)군의 차이는 누구를 지지하느냐에 따라 달라진다.
May Shigenobu: Daughter of the Japanese Red Army
Published
27 October 2011
오디오 뉴스. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p00kfc8s
May Shigenobu is a journalist in Japan
As the daughter of the Japanese Red Army's founder and a Palestinian freedom fighter, May Shigenobu grew up on the run.
She kept her identity secret and spent long periods without her mother throughout her childhood, but it was a happy one.
She now lives in Japan where she works as a journalist for a broadcaster in the Middle East.
"At first, when I was very young we would move house every month or so, especially when I was living with members of the Japanese Red Army.
Their Asian features stood out in Middle Eastern society and someone could leak information, intentionally or unintentionally, about us being in the neighbourhood.
I did see my mother, but not as much as a normal family. I was with her for about a total of four or five years, but it was all quality time so it was ok.
I had a brother and a sister, though we weren't related by blood - they were children of my mother's comrades - we felt like family.
Whenever my mother was around she was very keen on teaching us Japanese. And there was time to do fun things like writing and acting in plays, composing music for it or going on small picnics and trips within the country.
No friends
I asked her once who my father was, when I was quite young. She promised that she would tell me when I was 16 years old and she kept her promise.
He was a Palestinian fighter like my mother - I actually knew him and had suspicions that he was my father because of the special love and attention he would show. It wasn't really difficult to guess.
He has passed away now and I'm not sure he was aware that I knew about him.
I used to use several names per year when I was very young, depending on security and how many times I had to change schools and neighbourhoods.
The difficult thing was that people in the Middle East are very friendly, but they also tend to ask a lot of personal questions, about your family and your history, so every time I had to change my identity I had to think hard about all the details of that identity.
I didn't have long-lasting friendships because I couldn't stay in one place for long, and I couldn't stay in touch with people once I left. I always had to disappear suddenly and remove any trace of myself.
Danger
We spent time living in refugee camps but just for a short periods; while I was doing volunteer work in clinics or while we were looking for a new place to live.
I sometimes lived in Palestinian refugee camps to be more in contact with the reality of what my mother and her group were fighting for.
I did ask her once, rhetorically, why we had to live in that kind of situation, where we were always unstable and always worried about not making security mistakes.
She tried to explain as best she could how it was important for all of us to protect each other. She seemed very sorry and sad that I had to live this way.
Seeing her feel sad for me made me realise I should have never asked that question.
At any time I could have been kidnapped or even killed with my mother. There were Palestinian leaders who were assassinated with their children, so it was always a possibility.
Still, I have always thought that she was a good mother. I'm not sure that I could be as enduring and calm, and as reasonable and realistic under all the stress that she was carrying.
She was responsible, not just for me, but also for the other children in the Japanese Red Army and the whole group. I'm sure that was a difficult thing for anybody to be able to handle.
Fusako Shigenobu and Kozo Okamoto
Fusako Shigenobu set up the Japanese Red Army to support Palestinian freedom fighters
As an adult it became even harder to have close friends when I was attending university in Lebanon. I felt more strongly towards my friends and had a stronger urge to create an honest bond with them, but at the same time I had the obligation of never revealing who I was - because this would put others in danger.
In 2000, I found that my mother had been arrested in Japan, it was a shock. Even though I was prepared to hear this someday, I really didn't expect it to happen. I was shocked but I was also relieved that she had not been assassinated.
Last hug
My mother's arrest was the reason I came to Japan for the first time. I had mixed feelings; even though I had never been there it felt a little nostalgic. I had seen a Japanese society at work in a minuscule way inside the house when I was growing up, coming to Japan brought me back those memories.
After she was arrested I revealed my true identity officially and openly, I went back to my friends in Lebanon and explained my past to them. All of them were understanding and my university friends are still very close friends now.
On 8 March 2006, my mother was jailed for 20 years. I used to visit her every week but now that she has received her final sentence and finished all court procedures, she can only have two 15-minute visits a month - one from me and one from other relatives and friends.
It was her birthday on 28 September and the guard gave us about 20 minutes. We always talk in a rush because we have plenty of things to tell and ask each other.
She comes prepared with written notes in order not to forget what to ask and tell. I also write things down too, if there is something I want to tell her about and don't want to forget.
Since she was arrested I haven't been able to have physical contact with her, except once.
She had an operation for intestinal cancer a year and a half ago. When I went to visit her after the operation she was still immobile in her hospital bed.
I was allowed to see her in her room, so I had the chance to hug her for the first time in more than ten years. That was the only time I could hug her in a very long time.
I'm not sure I could be as strong, as patient, and as steadfast as she was. But I try to be, she is a role model for me."
2. 2018 알자지라.
2018.May Shigenobu, child of the revolution
How a small group of Japanese revolutionaries secretly aided the Palestinian cause from Lebanon.
May Shigenobu in Beirut, Lebanon
'I feel proud and lucky to have had a whole community of these idealistic, self-sacrificing people around me' [Nadine Beyrouti/Al Jazeera]
By Liam O'Hare
Published On 14 Apr 2018
14 Apr 2018
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 backstory.
“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.
“You never know which situation I might be in where I could mistakenly say something or get lured into saying something.
“I knew who the people around me were, and what they were fighting for, but I didn’t know the details.”
Terrorist or freedom fighter?
The details have been reported as including an attack on the Israeli Lod Airport in 1972 by three Japanese gunmen which left 22 people dead.
The only person involved in the attack to survive, Kozo Okamoto, was imprisoned by Israel before being released in a prisoner swap in 1985.
He lives in Beirut to this day and remains the only person to have ever been granted political asylum in Lebanon.
While most media at the time reported the attack as an early act by the JRA, this narrative is disputed by May who says it came before the formation of the organisation.
“At the time there was no such thing as the Japanese Red Army. It was carried out by activists from different leftist movements in Japan who wanted to act in solidarity with the Palestinians,” she says.
Nevertheless, there are many who would condemn her mother and her comrades as “terrorists” responsible for the deaths of civilians. Again, May says this is due to a false portrayal of the group propagated by sections of the media.
“Firstly, their military actions were quite rightly always intended to avoid harming civilians and they were successful in this,” she responds, with little hesitation.
“Secondly, whether you are a terrorist or a freedom fighter depends on which side you are on. It doesn’t have a clear definition.
“Nelson Mandela was considered a terrorist at one time, Gandhi was considered a terrorist at one time. But are they terrorists today? Of course not. History has recognised them as leaders and heroes of their nation. How history defines you all depends on if you win or lose in the struggle.”
'I believe in the need to continue for the same cause.' [Nadine Beyrouti/Al Jazeera]
‘I believe in the need to continue for the same cause.’ [Nadine Beyrouti/Al Jazeera]
Nevertheless, May believes the tactics employed by the JRA are no longer necessary in today’s world. There are other ways to spread the message and support struggles.
“In the past, we didn’t have the connectivity that we have today – we didn’t have the internet, we didn’t have satellite television and we didn’t have social media,” she argues.
“It was very difficult for activists to spread the word about the struggle they wanted to convey to people around the world.
“For them to be able to attract attention and inform others, they had to do drastic things. To get the cameras or the microphones attending to their cause and asking about it. It didn’t matter if they were criticised in the report; it would give a platform to talk about the things they were fighting for.
“Today you don’t need to use armed struggle in all locations unless it’s a location that is under direct occupation, where people need to have all sorts of options to resist as is their right under the United Nations.”
WATCH: Israel forces continue to ‘shoot to kill’ Gaza protesters (2:53)
In July 2000, Fusako Shigenobu returned to Japan under a fake identity, checking into a hotel under a man’s name.
However, her cover was blown and she was arrested by the Japanese police amid great media fanfare.
She was sentenced to 20-years in prison for orchestrating the 1974 siege of the French embassy in The Hague, a conviction May says was achieved on the basis of flimsy evidence.
May travels back to Japan regularly to see her mother but is pessimistic about the chances of her being out before her 2023 release date.
“I would love her to be released early but they want to keep her as long as possible. Societies usually move on but in terms of Japan it is a very different country – it’s not a place where they hope for social rehabilitation.”
May’s life has been shaped by those days of struggle in the 1970s. She grew up without a proper childhood. She was forced to disappear and lose touch with any friends she made and her elderly mother is serving a long sentence in jail.
If she felt a bit bitter at the hand she was drawn in life, it would be understandable. But there is not a hint of it.
“I believe in the need to continue for the same cause,” she argues.
“The Japanese Red Army were internationalists. If this movement was still active today, it would be supporting the civil rights movement in the US, or the oppression that the people of Rohingya are facing in Myanmar.
“Their idea of supporting people who are facing injustice and discrimination is still right even today. Most of the time the world is not kind to activists and people who are fighting against the system, but we need to think of the people who are truly in need of their support.
“Every action, however small, still matters and makes a difference.”
Time may have passed, and tactics may have changed, but there’s no doubt that May Shigenobu remains committed to the same cause as her mother. She is, after all, a child of the revolution.
