How did terrorist organizations utilize public dissatisfaction with European politics to advance ...

While there was a considerable growth after 1968 in grassroots political movements throughout Europe (and many other parts of the world), the idea that challenging traditional governments through protest and action was well embedded in the public mind. Those who felt that reforms had not gone far enough (or, conversely, had gone too far) began to advocate for more dramatic action to highlight their political platforms. In Ireland, where British economic policies of the 1970s created very high unemployment, the Labour party lost its foothold in government, and a conservative regime came to power. Northern Ireland, very hard hit by the economic recession, began to stage demonstrations against British presence, a factor that had dated back to the seventeenth century, but more recently fought in 1922 with the Irish Free State. Beginning in the late 1960s, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association began staging peaceful demonstrations to highlight social injustice against Catholics, which was responded to with forceful oppression by the British government. As a result, the Sinn Fein (Irish Republican Army) began to take violent action with car bombings and assassination attempts that colored Irish life for the next thirty years. In Italy, the Red Brigade began to stage kidnappings and bombings to protest government actions between communists and right wing politics. The murder of Aldo Moro in 1978 highlighted each side's willingness to use violence to achieve political ends.