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{{Short description|Militant leftist group in France (1979–1987)}}
{{Other uses|Action Directe (disambiguation)}}
{{for multi|the rock climb|Action Directe (climb)|other uses|Direct action (disambiguation)}}
{{tone|date=June 2017}}
{{moreExpand citations neededlanguage|topic=|langcode=fr|date=AprilJanuary 20142022}}
{{Use American English|date=April 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox militant organization
| name = Action directe
| logo = Action Directe.svg
| caption = =
| dates = 1979–1987
| leader =
| motives = "''[[Proletarian revolution''"]]
| area = [[France]]
| ideology = {{Plainlist|
|ideology = [[Anarchism]]<br>[[Anti-fascism]]<br>[[Anti-imperialism]]<br>[[Autonomism]]<br>[[Maoism]]<br>[[Marxism-Leninism]]<ref>(fr)Serge Cosseron, Dictionnaire de l'extrême gauche, Larousse, collection À présent, 2007 ({{ISBN|978-2-03-582620-6}}) p. 61</ref>▼
* [[Anarchism]]
|crimes =▼
* [[Anti-fascism]]
|attacks = Assassinations of [[René Audran]] and [[Georges Besse]]<br>1979 Attack on the HQ of [[Conseil national du patronat français]]<br>[[1986 Paris police station attack]]▼
* [[Anti-imperialism]]
|status = Defunct▼
* [[Autonomism]]
|size = 180-200 "militants and [close] sympathizers" during its existence<ref>↑ Selon la police en 1989 in (en) Michael Dartnell, Action directe: ultra-left terrorism in France, 1979-1987, Paris, 1995, 224 p. ({{ISBN|0714645664}}, lire en ligne archive), p. 173</ref>▼
* [[Maoism]]
|revenue = N/A
▲|ideology* = [[Anarchism]]<br>[[Anti-fascism]]<br>[[Anti-imperialism]]<br>[[Autonomism]]<br>[[Maoism]]<br>[[Marxism-Leninism]]<ref>(fr)Serge Cosseron, Dictionnaire de l'extrême gauche, Larousse, collection À présent, 2007 ({{ISBN|978-2-03-582620-6}}) p. 61</ref>
|financing= Robbery▼
}}
| position = [[Left-wing]]
▲| crimes =
▲| attacks = Assassinations of [[René Audran]] and [[Georges Besse]]<br>1979 Attack on the HQ of [[Conseil national du patronat français]]<br>[[1986 Paris police station attack]]
▲| status = Defunct
▲| size = 180-200180–200 "militants and [close] sympathizers" during its existence<ref>↑ Selon la police en 1989 in (en) Michael Dartnell, Action directe: ultra-left terrorism in France, 1979-1987, Paris, 1995, 224 p. ({{ISBN|0714645664}}, lire en ligne archive), p. 173</ref>
▲| financing = Robbery
}}
 
'''''Action directeDirecte''''' ({{IPA|fr|ak.sjɔ̃ di.ʁɛkt|}}; AD, {{lit|[[direct action]]}}) was a [[France|French]] [[far-left]] terroristmilitant group whichthat committedoriginated afrom the anti-[[assassinationFrancisco campaignFranco|seriesFranco]] ofstruggle and the [[autonomous assassinationsmovement]], and was responsible for violent attacks in France between 1979 and 1987. Members of Actionthe directegroup considered themselves [[libertarian communist]]s who had formed an "[[urban guerrilla]] organization". The French government banned the group. During its existence, AD's members murdered 12 people, and wounded a further 26. It associated at various times with the [[Red Brigades]] (Italy), [[Red Army Faction]] (West Germany), [[Prima Linea]] (Italy), [[Armed Nuclei for Popular Autonomy]] (France), [[Communist Combatant Cells]], [[Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions]], [[Irish National Liberation Army]],<ref>Jack Holland & Henry McDonald, INLA – Deadly Divisions, 1994, p.146-7, p.214-15</ref> etand ceteraothers.
 
*== [[Elisabeth Van Dyck Commando]]Command ==▼
The leader of Action directe was Jean-Marc Rouillan, who was arrested in 1974 then again in 1979 for conspiracy in attacks against the Spanish because he opposed all efforts by other countries to help Spain at that time. According to sources, Rouillan was captured again in 1980 but was believed to have successors.
 
The '''Elisabeth Van Dyck Command''' was a branch of AD that assassinated French Army General [[René Audran]], on 25 January 1985. He was the Director of International Affairs (DAI) at the [[General Directorate for Armament]] (DGA). The team was named to commemorate [[Red Army Faction]] (RAF) member [[Elisabeth Van Dyck]].
Action directe was set up in 1977 by two other groups, [[Groupes d'action révolutionnaire internationalistes|GARI]] (''Groupes d'Action Révolutionnaire Internationalistes'', Revolutionary Internationalist Action Groups), and [[Armed Nuclei for Popular Autonomy|NAPAP]] (''Noyaux Armés pour l'Autonomie Populaire'', Armed Core Groups for Popular Autonomy), as the "military-political co-ordination of the autonomous movement". In 1979, it was transformed into an "urban guerrilla organisation" and carried out violent attacks under the banner of "anti-imperialism" and "proletarian defence". The group was banned by the French government in 1984. In August 1985, Action directe allied itself with the German [[Red Army Faction]].
 
The command was created as a combined extension of both the AD and RAF. The AD appeared to take care of the organizational side of the command, and so naming it after a memorialized member of the RAF makes sense if they were seeking to at least publicly have a unified front. Both the RAF and the AD were actively pursuing their shared goal of [[political autonomy]] within their home countries, with the RAF based in Germany and the AD in France.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Direct-Action|title=Direct Action {{!}} French extremist group|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2019-05-11|archive-date=24 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224212642/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Direct-Action|url-status=live}}</ref> These groups' goal of political autonomy did not stop with their own countries however, and they often fought against their own countries' governments in the pursuit of what they claimed was 'political autonomy', or political freedom, for the world's working class.<ref name=":0" />
==Attacks==
Action directe carried out some 50 attacks, including a machine gun assault on the [[CNPF|employers' union]] headquarters on 1 May 1979, as well as attacks on French government buildings, property management agencies, French army buildings, companies in the [[military-industrial complex]], and the state of [[Israel]].
 
The command had only one claimed attack, the assassination of French Army General René Audran on January 25, 1985.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_55BZmIJ9xd8C|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_55BZmIJ9xd8C/page/n54 44]|title=Terrorist Group Profiles|date=1990|publisher=DIANE Publishing|isbn=9781568068640|language=en}}</ref> At the time of his death, Audran was a senior-level official in the French Ministry of Defense, specifically the Corps of Armament. The Elisabeth van Dyck Command took credit for the assassination via letter.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://socialhistoryportal.org/sites/default/files/raf/0319850125_0.pdf|title=Kommando Elisabeth van Dyck|date=Feb 1985|website=Social History Portal|access-date=11 April 2019|archive-date=11 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190511040958/https://socialhistoryportal.org/sites/default/files/raf/0319850125_0.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> In the letter the members explained that they had killed Audran because he was the head of French's foreign arms sales and they believed that his "military and economic function is at the heart of the strategic imperialist project".<ref name=":0" /> The project being referred to is what the AD and RAF believed to be NATO and its supporting European countries' goal of homogenizing the world into a capitalist culture, and that as they progressed along this goal it would widen the gap in power and wealth between the upper class and working class.<ref name=":0" />
They carried out robberies or "proletarian expropriation" actions, and assassinations, killing Engineer General [[René Audran]], the manager of French arms sales, in 1985. Action directe were also accused of [[Georges Besse]]'s 1986 killing, a murder allegedly justified because at the time he was the head of French automaker [[Renault]] and had laid-off 21,000 workers. However, they denied it during their trial. Besse was also former president of [[Eurodif]] nuclear company, in which [[Iran nuclear program|Iran had a 10% share]]. The group also claimed joint responsibility for the 1985 bomb attack carried out by the Red Army Faction at [[Rhein-Main Air Base]] in [[Frankfurt]], which killed two people.
 
==Arrests==
In December 1981 an AD member Lahouari Benchellal, called "Farid", was arrested for forging [[traveler's cheque]]s, which were an important income source for the organization, in [[Helsinki, Finland]]. He hanged himself while in the custody of the [[Finnish Security Intelligence Service]] in January 1982. Action directe did not believe Benchellal killed himself, and they named a direct action group after him.<ref>{{cite book |last=Simola |first=Matti |title= Ratakatu 12 – Suojelupoliisi 1949–2009 |location=Helsinki |publisher=WSOY |pages=123–127 |isbn=9789510352434 |date= 2009 }}/</ref>▼
 
▲In December 1981 an, AD member Lahouari Benchellal, calledknown as "Farid", was arrested for forging [[traveler's cheque]]s, which were an important income source for the organization, in [[Helsinki, Finland]]. He hangedhung himself while in the custody of the [[Finnish Security Intelligence Service]] in January 1982. Action directeAD did not believe Benchellal killed himself, and they named a direct action group after him.<ref>{{cite book |last=Simola |first=Matti |title= Ratakatu 12 – Suojelupoliisi 1949–2009 |location=Helsinki |publisher=WSOY |pages=123–127 |isbn=9789510352434 |date= 2009 }}/</ref>
On 21 February 1987, the main Action directe members, Jean-Marc Rouillan, [[Nathalie Ménigon]], [[Joëlle Aubron]], and [[Georges Cipriani]], were arrested. They were later sentenced to life imprisonment. [[Régis Schleicher]] had already been arrested in 1984. Joëlle Aubron was released in June 2004 for health reasons and died from a cancer that had metastasized to her brain on 1 March 2006.
 
There is an ongoing campaign by some sections of the French far-left thatcalling for the Action[[parole]] directeof membersthe still imprisoned AD members, who consider themselves [[political crime|political prisoners]], should be [[parole]]d. In December 2007, Jean-Marc Rouillan was allowed a state of "semi-liberty", able to leave prison for extended periods. In September 2008, a Parisian court called for the revokingrevocation of thishis status after he declared in an interview with ''[[L'Express (France)|L'Express]]'' that "I remain convinced that armed struggle is necessary at certain moments of the revolutionary process".<ref>{{Cite news|date=October 1, 2008|title=Le parquet demande la révocation de la semi-liberté de Rouillan|work=[[Libération]]|url=http://www.liberation.fr/societe/0101119728-rouillan-la-lutte-armee-est-necessaire?xtor|archive-url=RSShttps://web.archive.org/web/20120309145332/http://www.liberation.fr/societe/0101119728-450 rouillan-la-lutte-armee-est-necessaire|archive-date=2012-03-09|quote="LeIl parquetfaut demandeclarifier lales révocationchoses: le processus de lalutte semi-libertéarmée detel Rouillan"]qu’il est né dans l’après-68, ''[[Libération|Liberation]]''dans ce formidable élan d’émancipation, 1n’existe Octoberplus 2008(.<br..) />TheMais, fullen quotetant is:que communiste, je reste convaincu que la lutte armée est nécessaire à un moment du processus révolutionnaire." "Il faut clarifier les choses: le processus de lutte armée tel qu’il est né dans l’après-68, dans ce formidable élan d’émancipation, n’existe plus (...) Mais, en tant que communiste, je reste convaincu que la lutte armée est nécessaire à un moment du processus révolutionnaire."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/3119083/Terrorist-group-Action-Directe-founder-does-not-regret-murders.html|title=Terrorist group Action Directe founder 'does not regret murders'|last=Samuel|first=Henry|journal=Daily Telegraph|date=2008-10-01|access-date=2018-02-08|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235|archive-date=2018-02-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180208123851/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/3119083/Terrorist-group-Action-Directe-founder-does-not-regret-murders.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
==In popularLegacy culture==
A sport climb in [[Frankenjura]], Germany is named [[Action Directe (climb)|Action Directe]] after the group.
The British TV mini-series ''[[Red Fox (film)|Red Fox]]'', made in 1991 and starring [[John Hurt]], [[Jane Birkin]] and [[Brian Cox (actor)|Brian Cox]], was set in France and tells of a British businessman kidnapped by a member of Action directe. (The original novel by [[Gerald Seymour]] was set in [[Italy]] and involved the [[Red Brigades]].)
 
[[Ralph Fiennes|Ralph Fiennes']] character in the 2006 film ''[[Land of the Blind]]'' mentions Action directe as an example for a terrorist group whose names sound like rock bands', along with [[Weather Underground Organization|The Weathermen]], [[Black September (group)|Black September]], and the Red Army Faction. In [[Tom Clancy|Tom Clancy's]] book ''[[Patriot Games]]'' protagonist [[Jack Ryan (Tom Clancy character)|Jack Ryan]] identifies a training camp used by the group which is later raided by [[DGSE|French special forces]]. It is also briefly mentioned by [[Harrison Ford]]'s character in the 1992 [[Patriot Games (film)|film of the same name]].
 
The group did end up publishing a book, a political manifesto rather, entitled ''Pour un Projet communiste'' in 1982, which resembled the 1848 ''Communist Manifesto'' by Karl Marx.
 
In another book by Tom Clancy, entitled [[Rainbow Six (novel)|''Rainbow Six'']], members of Action directe assault a fictionalized [[Euro Disney]] called Worldpark.
 
[[Wolfgang Güllich]] named a climbing route [[Action Directe (climb)|Action Directe]] in [[Frankenjura]], Germany, which was recognized as the first route in the XI grade (or 9a) in the world, and is still one of the hardest climbing routes in the world. Apparently the inspiration for the name came during training for the route, as it appeared to him that the training was an act of terror against his fingers.
 
==See also==
* [[Category:CommunismAnarchism in France]]▼
* [[Autonomism]]
▲* [[Elisabeth Van Dyck Commando]]
* [[Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions]]
* [[Revolutionary Front for Proletarian Action]]
 
==References==
Line 57:
 
==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|last1=Dartnell|first1=Michael|title=Action Directe: Ultra-Left Terrorism in France 1979-1987|date=1995|publisher=Frank Cass and Co LTD|location=Newberry House, London |isbn=0-7146-4566-4 |pages=1–4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Z1C4k9xS1ucC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1 |access-date=20 August 2018}}
* {{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/128000/eur210012001en.pdf |title=France: Government must apply international standards to ''Action directe'' four |date=31 January 2001|publisher=Amnesty International|format=PDF}}
* ''Protestation devant les libertaires du présent et du futur sur les capitulations de 1980'', [[Jean-Claude Lutanie]], (originally published in 1981 under the pseudonym Un Incontrole, no publisher, re-published in 2011 by [http://www.editionslutanie.fr/ Editions Lutanie])<ref>{{cite web|url=https://situationnisteblog.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/protestation-devant-les-libertaires-du-present-et-du-futur-sur-les-capitulations-de-1980/ |title=Protestation Devant les Libertaires du Present et du Futur sur les Capitulations de 1980 |date=8 February 2014 |access-date=20 August 2018 |lang=en}}<!--note: Not obvious it's in English due to French title.--></ref>
* {{cite news|last1=Segaller|first1=Stephen|title=Action Directe, Ideologues of Violence|work=The Times (London) |year=1986 |via=lexisnexis.com }}
 
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**[http://www.action-directe.net www.action-directe.net] (in French)
**[http://nlpf.samizdat.net Campaign for the release of ''Action directe'' prisoners] (in French)
* {{Cite web|last=elhajoui|date=2014-02-08|title=Protestation Devant les Libertaires du Present et du Futur sur les Capitulations de 1980|url=https://situationnisteblog.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/protestation-devant-les-libertaires-du-present-et-du-futur-sur-les-capitulations-de-1980/|access-date=2021-12-18|website=Situationniste Blog|language=en|archive-date=2018-08-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820173113/https://situationnisteblog.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/protestation-devant-les-libertaires-du-present-et-du-futur-sur-les-capitulations-de-1980/|url-status=live}}
Terrorist Incidents attributed to the [Action Directe] in the Global Terrorism Database
* https://socialhistoryportal.org/sites/default/files/raf/0319850125_0.pdf
* https://books.google.com/books?id=yLH0BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA232
* https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/3119083/Terrorist-group-Action-Directe-founder-does-not-regret-murders.html
* [https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/IncidentSummary.aspx?gtdid=198501250003 "Action Directe"] July 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2019. (The commando's one attack is listed under Action Directe in GTD.)
 
{{Authority control}}
 
[[Category:Defunct anarchistAnti-fascist organizations inby Francecountry]]▼
[[Category:Anti-imperialist organizations]]
[[Category:Autonomism]]
[[Category:TerroristCommunist incidentsorganizations in France in the 1970s]]▼
[[Category:Communist terrorism]]
[[Category:CommunistDefunct organizationsanarchist militant groups]]
[[Category:Defunct anarchist militantorganizations groupsin France]]▼
[[Category:Defunct communist militant groups]]
▲[[Category:Terrorist incidents in France in the 1970s]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in France in the 1980s]]▼
▲[[Category:Defunct anarchist militant groups]]
[[Category:Far-left politics in France]]
[[Category:Left-wing militant groups in France]]
▲[[Category:TerroristMaoist incidentsorganizations in France in the 1980s]]
[[Category:Terrorism in France]]
▲[[Category:Communism in France]]
▲[[Category:Defunct anarchist organizations in France]]
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