In the 1970s, a network of radical extremists terrorised the West with plane hijackings and hostage-takings. Among them were the beautiful young Leila Khaled with her jewellery made from grenade rings, the hard-drinking philanderer Carlos the Jackal sporting shades and open-neck shirts, and the radical leftists of the Baader-Meinhof Gang. Taking Israel, capitalism and ‘western imperialism’ as targets, they orchestrated spectacularly violent attacks that held governments to ransom and the world gripped to their television screens.
Now on October 2, one of the foremost writers on terrorism and International Security Correspondent for the Guardian Jason Burke comes to the Intelligence Squared stage to uncover the insider stories from the terror attacks which shaped this tumultuous decade.
From the Munich Olympics and the raid on Entebbe, to the Iranian Embassy Siege in London and the Beirut bombings of the early 1980s, Burke will shed light on the lives and minds of the perpetrators of these attacks, as well as the government agents who sought to thwart and assassinate them.
Drawing on declassified archive material and original interviews with key actors and witnesses, hear from Burke live at the Kiln Theatre, and have your questions answered in the Q&A.
The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s
by Jason Burke
Speakers are subject to change.