Béchir Sfar

Béchir Sfar (البشير صفر), (27 February 1856, Tunis - 1 March 1917, Tunis), was a Tunisian nationalist campaigner and politician.

Béchir Sfar
portrait of Béchir Sfar
Born(1856-02-27)February 27, 1856
Tunis
DiedMarch 1, 1917(1917-03-01) (aged 61)
Tunis
NationalityTunusian
OccupationNationalist leader and politician

Youth and early career

Sfar's father was originally from Mahdia, where he served as caïd. He was also a high-ranking officer in the army of the Bey of Tunis, and later worked in the Tunisian War Ministry. Béchir Sfar himself was born in Tunis. He was in the first graduating class of the Collège Sadiki[1] and then went to Paris to continue his studies at the lycée Saint-Louis. In 1881, when France established a protectorate over Tunis, he interrupted his studies and returned home, and took up a government post in June of that year. In 1882 he became head of the accounting division in the office of the Grand vizier, a post he held until 1891. During these years he became involved in a number of cultural institutions, and founded the Khaldounia association.[2]

For a number of years he headed the Habous Council which was responsible for land donated by benefactors and held in trust for public benefit.[3][4] However a series of colonial laws began allowing the French to acquire growing amounts of habous land.[5][6] and in some instances Tunisians occupying or working the land were displaced. In 1898 Sfar resigned from his position on the Habous Council in protest at these enforced sales to French colonists.[7]

Reform activities

Sfar's career in politics as an active nationalist reformer began on 2 August 1888 when he founded the newspaper El Hadhira (The Capital),[8] managed by another member of the Khaldounia association, Ali Bouchoucha. In his articles, he called on his fellow Tunisians, some of whom were fascinated by France, to “prevent themselves from falling into a condition of excess, where they would deny their Muslim Arab culture and lose their identity.” He believed that Tunisian national renewal could only be achieved through education, exposing young people to Islamic culture alongside the sciences, economics, history, geography and modern languages.[9]

In 1907, Sfar co-founded the Young Tunisian movement with Ali Bach Hamba and his brother Mohamed.[9][10]

Later in 1907 he visited Egypt, where his experiences left a strong impression on him. Like Tunisia, Egypt was a protectorate at the time (of Britain), but the differences with Tunisia were marked: the effects of modern education were everywhere to be seen in public life, while industry, agriculture and infrastructure were in the hands of Egyptians, as were most official posts.[11]

The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 in the Ottoman Empire left Sfar and his colleagues in this group increasingly isolated from the more traditional religious authorities in Tunisia who had previously welcomed his reform ideas; the orientation of the Young Tunisians was towards the Young Turks, while the ulama supported Abdul Hamid II.[12]

Confrontation with the colonists

In his speech before the Resident General in 1906, Sfar declared:

"The Muslim population appreciates, to the proper extent, the useful improvements and reforms accomplished by the Protectorate government. It is aware, too, of the measures the government is taking to advance charitable works and public assistance. But it’s recognition if these things would be all the stronger if, in relieving poverty, our government would seriously study the means of preventing it. Professional, commercial and agricultural education, made widely available to the native population; effective training and protection for Tunisian labour; revival of local industries by customs controls and other measures; and finally the preservation of native land rights; these, Mr. Resident General, in our humble opinion, are the many proper measures which will reduce or end the economic crisis which is bearing down on Muslim society today.”[13][14]

This speech irked the French colonists who replied in virulent terms in their newspapers, Le Colon français and La Tunisie française. However, in France, liberals supported Sfar in Le Temps, and said it was necessary to take account of the demands raised by the Young Tunisians, who were imbued with the principles of the French Revolution. Despite this support, Sfar was given the post of caïd of Sousse to get him out of Tunis.[15] On his death, the position of caid was taken by Abdeljelil Zaouche.[16][17]

Family

Sfar had a son, Mustapha (born 1892) and a daughter, Fatma. Fatma's husband was Hassen Guellaty,[18] one of the founders of the Destour party, and their granddaughter Sophia ben Romdhane married Slaheddine Caid Essebsi, brother of Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi.[19]

See also

Références
  1. Julien, Charles-André (1967). "Colons français et Jeunes-Tunisiens (1882-1912)" [French colonists and Young Tunisians (1882-1912)]. Revue Française d'Histoire d'Outre-Mer (in French). LIV (194–197): 108. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  2. Alexander Karp; Gert Schubring (25 January 2014). Handbook on the History of Mathematics Education. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 417–418. ISBN 978-1-4614-9155-2.
  3. Khalfoune, Tahar. "Le Habous, Le Domaine Public et Le Trust". Lexalgeria. Lexalgeria. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  4. Arnold H. Green, The Tunisian Ulama 1873-1915: Social Structure and Response to Ideological Currents, Brill Archive, 1978 p.111
  5. Elloumi, Mohamed (2013). "Les terres domaniales en Tunisie. Histoire d'une appropriation par les pouvoirs publics" [State-owned land in Tunisia. The history of land appropriation by the state]. Études Rurales. 192: 43–60. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  6. Giudice, Christophe. "législation foncière et colonisation de la Tunisie". academia.edu. academia.edu. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  7. Kenneth Perkins (20 January 2014). A History of Modern Tunisia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 60–. ISBN 978-1-107-02407-6.
  8. Niyazi Berkes; Donald Presgrave Little (1976). Essays on Islamic Civilization: Presented to Niyazi Berkes. Brill Archive. pp. 74–. ISBN 90-04-04464-7.
  9. J. D. Fage; A. D. Roberts; Roland Anthony Oliver (24 July 1986). The Cambridge History of Africa. Cambridge University Press. pp. 278–9. ISBN 978-0-521-22505-2.
  10. Godfrey Mugoti (2009). Africa (a-z). Lulu.com. pp. 522–. ISBN 978-1-4357-2890-5.
  11. Karoui, Hatem (19 February 2010). "Voyage de Béchir Sfar en Egypte en 1908, un prétexte pour exacerber les rivalités coloniales franco-anglaises en Afrique du Nord". www.alterinfo.net. alteringo.net. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  12. Arnold H. Green (1978). The Tunisian Ulama 1873-1915: Social Structure and Response to Ideological Currents. Brill Archive. pp. 208–. ISBN 90-04-05687-4.
  13. Taoufik Ayadi, Mouvement réformiste et mouvements populaires à Tunis (1906-1912), Ed. Publications de l’Université de Tunis, Tunis, 1986, p. 41
  14. Julien, Charles-André (1967). "Colons français et Jeunes-Tunisiens (1882-1912)" [French colonists and Young Tunisians (1882-1912)]. Revue Française d'Histoire d'Outre-Mer (in French). LIV (194–197): 123. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  15. Taoufik Ayadi, op. cit., p. 34
  16. Sraieb, Noureddine (1971). "Note sur les Dirigeants Politiqies et Syndicalistes Tunisiens de 1920 à 1934". Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée. 9: 96. doi:10.3406/remmm.1971.1102.
  17. Brown, Stuart (1976). The Young Tunisians (PhD). McGill University. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  18. El Karoui, Hatem (9 September 2013). "Chronique du mouvement féminin tunisien: Le discours de Néjiba Ben M'rad en 1932". Espacemanager.com. Espacemanager.com. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  19. "Béchir Sfar n. 1856 d. 1917". Fr.Rodovid.org. Rodovid. 23 March 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
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