Michel Seurat
Michel Seurat (born August 14, 1947 in Bizerta , † 1986 in Beirut ) was a French sociologist and Arabist at the CNRS . He was taken hostage along with other French journalists and diplomats during the Lebanese civil war in 1985 and died in custody.
Life
origin
Michel Seurat was born in Bizerta, in what was then French North Africa , into a French family. His father was a doctor and his grandfather a professor of zoology in Algiers . His family left Tunisia in 1961 after the Bizerta crisis .
Career
He studied history and political science in Lyon . In 1971 he went to Beirut and in 1972 to Damascus to learn Arabic there. In 1975 he began his academic career at the French Institute for the Middle East in Damascus and a year later he submitted his dissertation on Sati al-Husri and its significance for Arab nationalism. His main research interests were political Islam and its role during the unrest in Syria in the 1980s. He also dealt with the history and structure of the Syrian regime . His research work was described as exemplary by Gilles Kepel and Olivier Mongin .
His book Syrie. L'État de Barbarie , which, among other things, addresses the repressive actions of the Syrian regime under Hafiz al-Assad , gained greater media and academic attention after the outbreak of the civil war in Syria . Seurat described the Assad regime as a "barbaric state".
Kidnapping and death
Seurat and Jean-Paul Kauffmann were taken hostage on May 22, 1985 in Beirut by the organization of Islamic Jihad , a predecessor organization of Hezbollah . The circumstances of his death are not fully understood. It is believed that he was killed by his kidnappers in early March 1986. His death was announced on March 5 of the same year. Kauffmann was released in May 1988.
In March 2006, Seurat's body was transferred to France.
Private
Seurat was married to the Syrian author Marie Seurat and had two daughters, Leila and Salfa.
Others
The Syrian filmmaker Omar Amiralay produced a documentary in 1996 entitled Par un jour de violence ordinaire, mon ami Michel Seurat ... , in which the life and achievements of Seurat were honored. Since 1988 the CNRS has awarded the Michel Seurat Prize for scientific achievements in the field of oriental studies every year.
Publications
- Les Frères Musulmans, 1928-1982 . L'Harmattan, Paris 2002. ISBN 978-2-74-752398-1
- Syrie. L'État de Barbarie . Presses Universitaires de France, Paris 2012. ISBN 978-2-13-060703-8
Web links
- Morris Ayek: From barbaric state to barbaric society . In: Qantara , July 11, 2017.
- "Kill me, I don't care" . In: Die Zeit , No. 21, May 22, 1988.
Individual evidence
- ^ Making Peace with Assad's State of Barbarism. In: Foreign Policy. July 14, 2017, accessed February 23, 2018 .
- ↑ Michel Seurat avait raison. In: Le Monde. September 28, 2012, accessed February 23, 2018 .
- ↑ Leïla Seurat, l'étoile montante de l'équitation libanaise. In: ILoubnan. December 3, 2012, accessed July 31, 2018 .
- ↑ Michel Seurat, celui qui a révélé au monde "l'État de Barbarie". In: L'Orient Le Jour. April 20, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2018 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Seurat, Michel |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French sociologist and Arabist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 14, 1947 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bizerta , Tunisia |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1986 |
| Place of death | Beirut , Lebanon |