From the very beginning of its activity, Direct Action has sought to orient itself towards the struggle of the working class. Among the fighters of the organization was its own worker activist - Georges Cipriani (pictured). He was born in 1950, worked as a mechanic at Renault factories, then lived in Germany for about ten years, and after returning from emigration, he joined Direct Action and became one of the most valuable personnel in the organization. Direct Action also sought to enlist the support of young Arabs living in France.
At the time of the events described, the number of migrants from the countries of North Africa and the Middle East in France was, although less than now, but also very impressive. Arab youth working in French factories were very susceptible to radical ideas. This is what the left-wing radical activists emphasized, campaigning among Arab-African migrants.
On May 1, 1979, "Direct Action" carried out an armed attack (on March 16, 1980, an explosion at the DST building in Paris organized an explosion against the trade union of French entrepreneurs, and on August 28, 1980 robbed a branch of the Bank Crédit Lyonnais in Paris. For example, on December 6, 1980, "Direct Action" detonated a bomb at the Paris-Orly airport, resulting in the injury of 8 people. The French government sounded the alarm. The police services identified 28 suspects in terrorist acts in the country. Mireille was arrested. Muñoz, Carlos Jaereghi, Pedro Linares Montanes, Serge Fassi, Pascal Triya, Mohand Hamami and Olga Girotto. During the arrest of the militants, the French police seized weapons, explosives and fake documents. 19 people appeared before the court, including 4 Italian citizens - members of the Italian left-wing radical organization "Front Line." It should be noted that the level of combat training of members of "Direct Action" would lt is really very high. Policemen, gendarmes, and military personnel with special training were regularly killed at the hands of militants. At the same time, for more than seven years of terrorist activity of "Direct Action" the police managed to shoot only one member of the organization - Ciro Rizzato.
The arrests and detentions caused some decline in the group's activity, especially since most of its activists ended up behind bars. However, when François Mitterrand was elected President of France in 1981, a prisoner amnesty was declared. Jean-Marc Rouyan and 17 other Direct Action activists were released. However, Natalie Menigon remained in custody, who was accused of attempted murder of police officers. Menigon went on a hunger strike to put pressure on the court. After the amnesty, Direct Action members returned to active work. As early as November 1981, they launched a campaign to defend the interests of Turkish and Arab immigrants, seeking to win them over to their side.
In 1981, its Lyon group spun off from Direct Action and became known as the Red Poster. It was organized by the charismatic political activist André Olivier (born 1943), who taught literature at the Higher School of the Metallurgical Industry in Lyon and joined the student movement in May 1968. Olivier was a supporter of the Maoist ideology. In 1976 g.while in prison he met Jean-Marc Rouilland and in 1979 took part in the creation of Direct Action. Olivier's student Max Frero (pictured) has also joined Direct Action.
It is noteworthy that, unlike many other European leftist groups, Andre Olivier's "Red Poster" was almost anti-Semitic. At least Olivier spoke constantly about the “Jewish lobby” that had come to power in France and the links between capitalism and Jewish religious tradition. Since 1980, the Lyon Group has launched armed attacks on banks. There have been many expropriations in Lyon and some other cities in the country.
By the beginning of 1982, internal contradictions had matured within Direct Action. Four factions emerged, two of which decided to end the armed struggle. However, the group of Jean-Marc Rouilland and Natalie Menigon decided to continue the armed struggle and established contacts with the revolutionaries in Italy and Germany - to consolidate the forces of the European guerilleros. At the same time, "Direct Action" seeks to further expand contacts with "Eastern" revolutionaries, including with Arab and Turkish immigrants in France, as well as with the revolutionary organizations of Palestine and Lebanon. Thus, on March 13, 1982, Gabriel Shahin was killed, a police informant who "handed over" Jean-Marc Rouillant and Natalie Menigon to the police. On March 30, 1982, Direct Action fighters fired at the Israeli Defense Ministry office in Paris. This was one of the first actions by Direct Action in the interests of the Palestinian resistance. On April 8, 1982, Joel Obron and Mohand Hamami were arrested. Obron was sentenced to four years in prison for possession of weapons. While in custody, she married a member of the "Direct Action" Régis Schleicher (in the photo - the detainee of Régis Schleicher).
By this time, Direct Action began to consider anti-imperialism as the most important direction of its struggle. As part of the "internationalization" of the anti-imperialist struggle, "Direct Action" is strengthening ties with the Italian "Red Brigades", the German "Red Army Faction", the Belgian "Fighting Communist Cells" and the Palestine Liberation Organization. "Direct Action" of one of the first European left-wing radical organizations began to practice political interaction with migrants who remained in the marginal field of the then European politics.
The few policy documents that Direct Action managed to acquire viewed France on a global scale as an imperialist and neo-colonial country, maintaining a course of intervention in the internal affairs of African and Middle Eastern states. In this regard, the revolutionary struggle on the territory of the mother country was positioned as part of the worldwide anti-imperialist armed struggle. "Direct action" spoke of the policy of "recolonization", which consisted in the spread of political and economic influence on the countries of the "third world" in order to establish a "new world order". As the Soviet Union weakened, the neo-colonialist habits in the policy of the United States and the states of Western Europe became more and more powerful and distinct.
In the metropolis, according to Direct Action, there was an urgent need to integrate the "migrant" proletariat into the revolutionary struggle, which the organization's activists tried to do, campaigning among Turkish, Arab and African workers. It is also necessary to note the fact that the actions of "Direct Action" really influenced the world politics of that time. For example, the militants of the organization thwarted the supplies of arms to South Africa, which were being prepared by the French side, the authorities of which were then waging a war against the national liberation movement led by the African National Congress.
The object of constant criticism from Direct Action was the French left and ultra-left from other groups, which the radicals accused of bourgeois degeneration. There were reasons for this, since by the beginning of the 1980s. many of the "legends" of Red May 1968, including the "founding fathers" of the "Proletarian Left", switched to left-liberal and even right-wing positions. Serge Julie, Benny Levy, André Glucksmann and many others have become ordinary representatives of the intellectual establishment of bourgeois society.
In early August 1982, after the situation in the Middle East deteriorated again and Israeli troops were deployed to Lebanon, Direct Action began a series of attacks on American and Israeli organizations in France. In particular, on August 9, 1982, Direct Action fighters attacked an Israeli businessman's restaurant in Paris, killing six people and injuring twenty-two. On August 11, a bomb was detonated outside the office of an Israeli company in Paris. On August 21, a bomb exploded under the car of a trade advisor at the United States Embassy. It was found that Direct Action and the Lebanese Faction of the Revolutionary Army (FARL), a Lebanese armed Marxist-Leninist organization that worked closely with the revolutionaries of Direct Action at the time, were responsible for the terrorist attacks.
The Lebanese Faction of the Revolutionary Army was led by Georges Ibrahim Abdallah (born 1951), a former militant of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, personally acquainted with the leader of Direct Action, Ruiyan, and was on good terms with him. "Direct Action" helped Lebanese radicals carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli and American representatives on French territory. The most famous terrorist attacks by Lebanese radicals in France were the attack on the US military attaché in Paris, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Robert Ray, on January 18, 1982, and on the head of the Parisian Mossad division of Israeli foreign intelligence, Yaakov Barsimentov, on April 3, 1982.
Researchers identify in the activities of "Direct Action" in the mid-1980s. four main areas. First, these are “targeted executions”, which included successful and unsuccessful attempts on the life of specific representatives of the French state apparatus, foreign diplomats, and businessmen. The militants of the organization carried out attempts on the life of General Guy Delphos from the French National Gendarmerie, inspector of the Basdevan Anti-Bandit Brigade, and Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Defense Rene Audran. One of the most famous murders committed by Direct Action was the 1986 assassination of Renault CEO Georges Bessa. Second, Direct Action continued to specialize in expropriations in French banks, as well as in American banks located in the country. Thirdly, shelling and bombing were carried out near the offices of large multinational companies, government agencies, law enforcement agencies, and pro-government media.
Sometimes Direct Action fighters moved to neighboring countries of Western Europe, where they acted together with local radical organizations. For example, in Frankfurt (FRG), Direct Action militants took part in an attack on an American military base together with the RAF. At first, "Direct Action" sought to avoid casualties among the civilian population, allowing the possibility of the death of only security officials - policemen, gendarmes, military personnel. However, in 1984 there was a turn in the activities of the organization. On August 2, 1984, an explosion thundered in the foyer of the European Space Agency. In 1985, Direct Action announced its merger with the German Red Army Faction. In connection with this decision, two high-profile symbolic murders were committed - in France, the chief engineer of the Ministry of Defense Rene Audran was killed, and in Germany, the president of the aerospace industry, Ernest Zimmermann.
In connection with the activation of "Direct Action", the French police were forced to strengthen security measures. At the same time, many agents were involved in identifying the members of the organization and in their search. Ultimately, on February 21, 1987, all the key figures of Direct Action, Jean-Marc Rouillant, Natalie Menigon, Régis Schleicher, Joel Obron and Georges Cipriani, were arrested in a village house near Orleans. On November 27, 1987, Max Frero, another prominent member of the organization, was arrested in Lyon.
- Georges Cipriani
All the arrested activists of Direct Action were sentenced to life imprisonment. Although the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and the threat to NATO countries from the socialist camp disappeared, the French authorities have not softened towards members of Direct Action. The militants sentenced to life imprisonment were kept in very strict conditions, in complete isolation. They all spent impressive periods in dungeons. Joel Obron was the first to be released in 2004. While in detention, she contracted cancer, which prompted the authorities to release her on medical grounds. In 2006, 47-year-old Joelle Obron died. In 2008, 51-year-old Natalie Menigon was released. During her imprisonment, she suffered several strokes and in general, by the time of her release, was already a deeply sick person, despite her still relatively young age. In 2010, Max Frero and Régis Schleicher were released. In 2011, Georges Cipriani was released, and only in 2012, after serving 25 years in prison, Jean-Marc Rouyan was released.
- Jean-Marc Rouillant today
Unlike many other radicals who spent so much time in prison, Jean-Marc Rouillant did not change his views and remained faithful to the revolutionary ideology, which he professed three decades ago, before his arrest. He retained his views on the problems of relations between the metropolis and the former colonies. At the same time, Rouyan criticizes the existing French left parties, including for their hierarchy, reproduction of "authoritarian" models of political organization. However, in our days, European ultra-left terrorism has practically fizzled out, giving way to just the very "radicals from yesterday's colonies" whom the leftists wanted to attract under their banner back in the 1970s and 1980s. Only these people, who came from the Arab-African diasporas of Europe, raised the banner of another ideology - religious fundamentalism.
