Kamal Kheir Beik
Kamal Kheir Beik (1935–1980) was a Syrian-born poet and dissident. He is known for his Arabic poems written in free verse and for his frequent exiles. He was assassinated in Beirut on 5 November 1980 together with two other members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP). The murder is one of the unsolved cases in Lebanon.
Kamal Kheir Beik | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 1935 Qardaha, Syria |
| Died | 1 November 1980 (aged 44–45) Beirut, Lebanon |
| Cause of death | Assassination |
| Resting place | Shatila Martyrs' cemetery |
| Alma mater | University of Geneva |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Years active | 1950s–1980 |
| Writing career | |
| Pen name | Cadmus Kamal Mohamed |
| Language | Arabic |
| Genre | Poetry |
Early life and education
Beik was born in Qardaha, Latakia, in November 1935.[1][2] He descended from an Alawite family.[1]
Beik received his PhD from the University of Geneva in 1972 under the supervision of Simon Jorgy.[3] His PhD thesis was entitled Modernity in Contemporary Arabic Poetry which covered an analysis of the contemporary Arabic poetry with a specific focus on Shi'r, an avant-garde poetry magazine published in Beirut in the period 1957–1970.[2] His PhD dissertation was published in French in 1978[4] and in Arabic in 1982.[2]
Career and exile
In 1953 Beik joined the SSNP.[3] He was sentenced to death due to his alleged role in the assassination of an army chief, Adnan Al Malki, in April 1955.[3] Following this incident he left Syria and settled in Beirut, Lebanon.[3] There he joined the Shi'r society led by Yusuf Al Khal and Ounsi Al Hajj.[3] He was appointed head of information of the SSNP in 1959.[3] His first book entitled The Volcano was published in 1960 under his pseudonym Cadmus.[2] The same year he involved in the coup attempt against the Lebanese President Fouad Chehab and was sentenced to death due to his role in the coup attempt.[3]
Therefore, he left Lebanon for Jordan and then, settled in Paris, France where he resumed his literary studies.[3] He published a second book, Roaring Demonstrations, under another pseudonym Kamal Mohamed in 1965.[2] His poems were collected by his close friends and published in three books, namely A Notebook of Absence, Farewell to Poetry and Rivers Cannot Swim in the Sea.[2]
From 1965 Beik wrote poems in free verse in which he expressed his opposition to the leading ideologies and views in the Arab World such as Arabism and nationalism.[2] His poems were significantly influenced by the Lebanese civil war and frequently contained sense of disillusionment and despair.[2] While living in France Beik was an active supporter of the Palestinian resistance which led to his forced leave of the France.[3] During this period he began to work with Wadie Haddad, a Palestinian leader, and Anis Naccache.[1] Beik participated in some armed attacks with him.[3] He was allegedly a member of Black September group.[5]
Next he settled in Switzerland and taught Arabic literature at the University of Geneva between 1973 and 1975.[6] He involved in the OPEC siege in Vienna with Carlos the Jackal in 1975.[1][6] Then he returned to Lebanon.[3]
Assassination and burial
Beik was subject to several assassination attempts while living in France.[2] He was killed in Beirut in the last period of the civil war in Lebanon on 5 November 1980.[2] During the attack two colleagues of Beik, Bashir Obeid and Nahia Bijani, who were the members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, were also murdered.[2] The perpetrators were the members of a Nasserist group called Mourabitouns (Guardians).[1]
Beik was buried at the Shatila Martyrs' cemetery.[1]
References
- Nicolas Dot-Pouillard (2016). "Sur les frontières: le Parti syrien national social entre idéologie unitaire et Etats-Nations". In Pierre-Jean Luizard; Anne-Marie Bozzo (eds.). Vers un nouveau Moyen-Orient? Etats arabes en crise entre logiques de division et sociétés civiles (in French). Rome: Rome Tre-Press. p. 216. ISBN 978-88-97524-70-0.
- Salma Harland (3 March 2021). "Two Poems by Kamal Kheir Beik". ArabLit Quarterly.
- Kamel Nasser (3 June 2020). "Hommage au poète et militant Kamal Kheir-Beik" (in French). Algerie Arabite. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
- "Le Mouvement moderniste de la poésie arabe contemporaine: essai de synthèse sur le cadre socio-culturel, l'orientation et les structures littéraires" (in French). Nantilus. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
- Adam Goldman (8 January 2017). "I Wrote to Carlos the Jackal, and an Israeli's Assassination Case Was Revived". The New York Times. Washington DC. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
- Thomas Riegler (2012). "Das "Spinnennetz" des internationalen Terrorismus". Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte. 60 (4): 596. doi:10.1524/vfzg.2012.0028.
External links
Media related to Kamal Kheir Beik at Wikimedia Commons