Crisis Negotiation

Running Head: HISTORICAL EVENTS AND CRISIS NEGOTIATION

Historical Events and Crisis Negotiation

Name

Institutional Affiliation

Historical Events and Crisis Negotiation 2

In the contemporary society, crisis negotiation continues to advance as different parties of

interests continue to either through successful negotiations in the past or devastating effects of

poor negotiations in situation crisis. The contemporary culture in times in crisis negotiations

relatively relies on the effects of past experiences. The essay will revisit the 1972 Olympic

Terrorist Attack in Munich, Germany and the Riot at the Attica prison on 9

September 1971.

The essay will also explore the cause as well as the nature of the crisis and the kind of

negotiations involved.

The 9

September 1971 Riot at the Attica Prison

The Attica Prison Riot (Uprising/Rebellion) is one of the worst memorable prison riots to

have ever happened in the history of America. The rebellion came as a result of failed

negotiations between the inmates and prison administration over better living conditions and

improved political rights. The uprising began two weeks later after the murder of George

Jackson; an inmate at San Quentin State prison. It began after the one of the prisoners was

restricted back in his cell after the allegations that he had assaulted a prison officer. Five of the

ten inmates who lined up for a breakfasts roll call went back to their cells before the roll call just

to free up the restricted inmate and later joined the rest for breakfast. It triggered reactions from

the police officers but they were overwhelmed by the angry inmates where they held captive a

total of 42 prison officers and civilians (Kauffman, 2016). They made demands in exchange for

letting the hostages free. The leadership from the inmates’ negotiator side was held in high

esteem by Frank Smith alias “Big Black” and Elliott James Barkley alias L.D heading the

security as well as safety of hostages and negotiation orator position respectively. Prisoners gave

28 demands, inclusive of a chance to speak directly to people who would sincerely listen to

Historical Events and Crisis Negotiation 3

them, improved quality of food provided, improved sanitation, better visitation rights, improved

health care, and rights against inmates manhandling among other demands. The prisons

commissioner was ready to meet some of the inmates’ demands but remained dumb to some. The

prisoners also demanded the presence of various state officials such as the state’s Governor who

declined making the situation worse. The correctional Services Commissioner ended the

negotiations without the knowledge of the prisoners and later consulted with the state’s Governor

to take the prison back by force. This move led the death of 43 people in total among them 10

correctional officers.

Allegedly, the improper living conditions was affiliated racism whereby the population of

the blacks in the Attica was 54% since at the same time the African-Americans had started

uprising movements against white domination. Weatherman; an activist planned an attack on the

N.Y. Department of corrections and bombed surroundings adjacent to Correctional Services

Commissioner’s offices. Consequently, the national as well as the federal states have reviewed

the statutes guiding the relationship between the inmates and the correctional officers as well as

their voices and concerns (Slade, 2012). It is evident in the current situation of the correctional

facilities in the U.S. which are far much better compared to the previous conditions.

1972 Munich Olympic Massacre

It is also a very pathetic situation which was caused by the effects of poor tactical,

technical and reasonable negotiations between Libyan-Palestine affiliated terrorist group (Black

September), German and Israeli anti-terror institutions. The crisis had Arab-Israeli historical

roots and the terrorists led by their leader Luttif Afif with both Jew and Christian roots planned

to hold hostage Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics and demanded for the release

Historical Events and Crisis Negotiation 4

of 234 Palestine prisoners jailed in the Israeli and the German Red Army Faction. The German

securities were warned of Palestine intrusion and creating crisis in Munich during the Olympics

but failed to seriously react towards this information from their Palestine informant. The

abduction of the hostages took place in an isolated Olympic village set for the Israeli athletes

which Lalkin the leader of the athletes questioned but the Germans asserted the security of the

place. Eight members of the Black September terrorist group attacked the Israeli athlete group at

their Olympic residence in Munich in 4

September and held them hostage. On the 5

September, the Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir appealed to other countries to try save the

Israeli athletic team.

The German government was placed in a harsh political stand since the hostages

were Israeli but on German soil. Allegedly, Chancellor Willy Brandt and Interior Minister Hans-

Dietrich Genscher rejected Israeli’s offer to deploy their special forces. After failed negotiations

one of the Israeli athletes was killed since they declined negotiations involving money their 234

Palestine prisoner’s release was an irreducible minimum. They later planned on escape

negotiations with their destination being Egypt (Briggs, 2011). The German authorities planned

various ambush attacks in the escape roots but all failed due to the intense caution taken by the

terrorists. Snipers were deployed in the airport control tower where the escape aircraft was to

land. Due to the inconvenient positions of the snipers and inefficient communication from the

ambush organizers, the ambush was unsuccessful with only one hostage survivor and two black

September members who were detained by the German authorities but later released after lethal

negotiations in hostage abduction took place when the Lufthansa Flight 615 was hijacked.

However, the Israeli retaliated in vengeance where they attacked people associated to the Munich

Historical Events and Crisis Negotiation 5

crisis which led to the death of other innocent people in the process. It is arguably true that the

German authorities learnt from the 1972 crisis since they positively reacted to negotiations in

later crisis. German’s are also very careful to respond to alleged terror attacks in current

situations.

As seen effective negotiations require great negotiation skills which demand careful

assessment of the situation of the affected. If complying with demands will help reduce the

number of casualties then it is better to comply or seek for more integrated solutions to solve the

problem. In such violent situations it is better to visit the source of the crisis and get up to the

climax of the situation. Referring to previous identical crises such as the Attica prison in 1971,

would have helped all participating negotiators in the situation to advance in the 2004 Lewis

State Prison (Arizona) hostage taking.

Historical Events and Crisis Negotiation 6

References

Briggs, E. (2011). The Munich Massacre:A New History. The Munich Massacre, 1-102.

Kauffman, G. (2016). Attica!: Representations of the 1971 Prison Riot in Local and National Journalism .

Attica Prison Riot 1971, 1-91.

Slade, K. E. (2012). Attica State Correctional Facility: The Causes and Fallout of the Riot of 1971. The

ExpositionVolume 1 Issue 1 The Pan-American Article 3, 1-20.

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