Bernard Lugan (born 10 May 1946) is a French historian who specialises in

African history The history of Africa begins with the emergence of hominids, archaic humans and — around 300–250,000 years ago—anatomically modern humans ('' Homo sapiens''), in East Africa, and continues unbroken into the present as a patchwork of d ...

. He is a professor at the Institut des hautes études de défense nationale (IHEDN) and the editor of the journal ''L'Afrique réelle'' ("Real Africa"). Lugan previously taught at

Jean Moulin University Lyon 3 The Jean Moulin University Lyon 3 (french: link=no, Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3), also referred to as Lyon 3, is one of the three public universities of Lyon, France. It is named after the French Resistance fighter Jean Moulin and specialises ...

and at the special military school of Saint-Cyr until 2015. He served as an expert witness for Hutu defendants involved in the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed H ...

at the

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR; french: Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda; rw, Urukiko Mpanabyaha Mpuzamahanga Rwashyiriweho u Rwanda) was an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nation ...

. Close to the far-right, Lugan is a self-declared

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...

and right-wing anarchist.

Early life and education

Bernard Lugan was born in

Meknes Meknes ( ar, مكناس, maknās, ; ber, ⴰⵎⴽⵏⴰⵙ, amknas; french: Meknès) is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco, located in northern central Morocco and the sixth largest city by population in the kingdom. Founded in the 11th c ...

on 10 May 1946. During the

May 1968 events Beginning in May 1968, a period of civil unrest occurred throughout France, lasting some seven weeks and punctuated by demonstrations, general strikes, as well as the occupation of universities and factories. At the height of events, which h ...

, he was the head of

Action Française Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

's security personnel. Lugan attended Paris X University Nanterre and earned a PhD in history in 1976 after a

thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

on Rwandan economy in the 19th century.

Academic career

Lugan moved to Africa in the early 1970s where he conducted archaeological research in Rwanda. The results were published in ''Études Rwandaises'' and ''Tervuren'' between 1978 and 1983. From 1972, he taught African history at the

National University of Rwanda The National University of Rwanda (NUR; rw, Kaminuza nkuru y’u Rwanda, french: Université nationale du Rwanda, UNR) was the largest university in Rwanda. It was located at in the city of Butare and was established in 1963 by the government i ...

. In June 1982, Lugan left Rwanda and became an Associate Professor of

. In 1983, Lugan authored another thesis for a state doctorate, ''Between the servitudes of the hoe and the spells of the cow: the rural world in ancient Rwanda''. In 1988, he received the M. et Mme Louis Marin prize from the Académie Française for his book ''The French People Who Made South Africa.'' In September 1993, he founded the review ''L'Afrique Réelle'', which has been described as a supporter of "

Boer Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled this are ...

Afrikaners Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Cas ...

" in South Africa. Lugan has also been involved with far-right news outlets like '' Minute'', ' or ''

Présent ''Présent'' was a French newspaper (published five days a week). The paper was founded in 1982. It was close to the French Front National, and followed a traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, cust ...

'', which regard him as a specialist of African history. Until 2006, he hosted a talk show on Radio Courtoisie named the ''Libre Journal''. Lugan served as a Professor at the military school of Saint-Cyr until 2015, when his class was suspended at the request of the French Defence Ministry. He is now teaching at the Institut des Hautes Études de Défense Nationale (IHEDN).

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

Following the

of 1994, Lugan served an expert witness at the

. He was cited by several Hutu defendants ultimately convicted for their involvement in the genocide, including Théoneste Bagosora,

Tharcisse Renzaho Tharcisse Renzaho (born 17 July 1944) is a Rwandan soldier, former politician and war criminal.

and

Emmanuel Ndindabahizi Immanuel ( he, עִמָּנוּאֵל, 'Īmmānū'ēl, meaning, "God is with us"; also romanized: , ; and or in Koine Greek of the New Testament) is a Hebrew name that appears in the Book of Isaiah (7:14) as a sign that God will protect the ...

. Although he does not deny the existence or downplay the figures of the genocide, Lugan controversially claims that the events were not "programmed" by the Hutu leadership, and that president

Juvénal Habyarimana Juvénal Habyarimana (, ; 8 March 19376 April 1994) was a Rwandan politician and military officer who served as the second president of Rwanda, from 1973 until 1994. He was nicknamed ''Kinani'', a Kinyarwanda word meaning "invincible". An ethn ...

was not assassinated by Hutu extremists. In the 1990–2000s, several media and personalities have been condemned for libel for calling Lugan a "genocide denier" or a "supporter of

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

". At the 2001

World Conference against Racism The World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) is a series of international events organized by UNESCO to promote struggle against racism ideologies and behaviours. Five conferences have been held so far, in 1978, 1983, 2001, 2009 and 2021. Founded ...

, Senegalese President

Abdoulaye Wade Abdoulaye Wade (born 29 May 1926)
Encyclopedia of the Nations. Retrieved February 28, ...

publicly labelled Lugan's work a form of "intellectual racism" and accused him of minimizing the contributions of Black people to the history of Africa in his research.

Political involvement

Lugan is a self-declared

. When testifying at the

, Lugan admitted that he is a right-wing anarchist, adding: "of musketeer leaning". He is in favour of the re-establishment of dueling for libel and public insult, and founded in 1990 with

Vladimir Volkoff Vladimir Volkoff (7 November 1932 – 14 September 2005) was a French writer of Russian extraction. He produced both literary works for adults and spy novels for young readers under the pseudonym Lieutenant X. His works are characterised by theme ...

an association to promote this agenda. In 2012–2013, Lugan was among the sponsors of TV Libertés, a far-right web TV. In June 2014, he co-founded the with Jean-Yves Le Gallou and , a think thank which describes itself "in the continuity of

Dominique Venner Dominique Venner (; 16 April 1935 – 21 May 2013) was a French historian, journalist and essayist. Venner was a member of the Organisation armée secrète and later became a European nationalist, founding '' Europe-Action'', before w ...

's thought and action". The organization held a colloquium with

Renaud Camus Renaud Camus (; ; born Jean Renaud Gabriel Camus on 10 August 1946) is a French novelist, conspiracy theorist and white nationalist writer. He is the inventor of the " Great Replacement", a far-right conspiracy theory that claims that a "glob ...

, Charlotte d'Ornellas and

Jean Raspail Jean Raspail (, 5 July 1925 – 13 June 2020) was a French author, traveler, and explorer. Many of his books are about historical figures, exploration and indigenous peoples. He was a recipient of the prestigious French literary awards Grand Pri ...

in April 2016. Lugan is also a member of the

National Council of European Resistance The National Council of European Resistance (french: Conseil national de la résistance européenne, officially abbreviated as CNRE) is a France-based pan-European far-right political organization co-founded by Renaud Camus and Karim Ouchikh ...

, launched in November 2017 and presided by

Work

Lugan's notable work includes several books on

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

and Rwanda including "History of South Africa", ''When Africa was German'' and ''African Legacy, Solutions for a Community in Crisis'' where he describes how

individualism Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and to value independence and self-reli ...

hasn't replaced preexisting loyalties to clans, groups, and

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

s.Book Review by Steven D. Laib, J.D., M.S.
In this book, he rejects what he calls "the victimization paradigm," which says

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

exploitation and the slave

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...

brought Africa to its knees, rejects solutions based on Western guilt and claim that a correct interpretation of history is necessary for Africans to "build a future on a more solid foundation" and save an African continent ravaged by

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompani ...

, economic disaster and

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. He notably proposes a redrawing of national African frontiers in accordance with

ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

groupings and promotes a new type of

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

, more rooted in those native groupings rather than on Western " one man one vote" system.

Bibliography

*''Le Safari du Kaiser'', La Table Ronde, Paris, 1987, 231 p. *''Huguenots et Français : ils ont fait l'Afrique du Sud'', La Table ronde, Paris, 1988, 296 p. * ''History of South Africa'', Garzanti Publishing, 1989, 1st éd. : Perrin, coll. « Vérités et légendes », Paris, 1986, 272 p. * ''Afrique : l'histoire à l'endroit'', Perrin, coll. « Vérités et légendes », 1989, 285 p. Rééd. : 1996 * ''The Last Boer Commando: A French Volunteer in the Anglo-Boer War, 1900-1902'', éd. du Rocher, 1989 * ''Villebois-Mareuil, le La Fayette de l'Afrique du Sud'', éd. du Rocher, 1990 * ''When Africa was German'', Jean Picollec, coll. « Documents dossiers », Paris, 1990, 267+16 p. * ''Afrique, bilan de la décolonisation'', 1st éd. : Perrin, coll. « Vérités et légendes », Paris, 1991, 304 p. Rééd. : 1996 *''La Louisiane française : 1682-1804'', Perrin, coll. « Vérités et légendes », Paris, 1994, 273 p. Titre alternatif : ''Histoire de la Louisiane française : 1682-1804'' * ''Afrique : de la colonisation philanthropique à la recolonisation humanitaire'', C. de Bartillat, coll. « Gestes », Étrépilly, 1995, 390 p. * ''The French People Who Made South Africa'', Bartillat, coll. « Gestes », Étrépilly, 1996, 430 p. *''Histoire du Rwanda : de la préhistoire à nos jours'', Bartillat, Paris, 1997, 606 p. *''La guerre des Boers : 1899-1902'', éd. Perrin, Paris, 1998, 364+8 p. *''History of Morocco'', éd. Perrin et éd. Critérion, coll. « Pour l'histoire », Paris, 2000, 363 p. *''Atlas historique de l'Afrique des origines à nos jours'', Éd. du Rocher, Paris, Monaco, 2001 (2nd ed. 2018), 268 p. *''Histoire de l'Égypte, des origines à nos jours'', éd. du Rocher, Paris, Monaco, 2002, 290 p. *''Douze années de combats judiciaires (1990-2002)'', Lyon, Édition de l’Afrique réelle, s.d. *''African Legacy; Solutions for a Community in Crisis'', Carnot, 224p, 2003, . *''Rwanda : le génocide, l'Église et la démocratie'', éd. du Rocher, Paris et Monaco, 2004, 234 p. *''François Mitterrand, l'armée française et le Rwanda'', éd. du Rocher, Paris, Monaco, 2005, 288 p. *''Rwanda. Contre-enquête sur le génocide'', éd. Privat, 2007, *''Rwanda : un génocide en questions'', Editions du Rocher, 2014, *''Osons dire la vérité à l'Afrique'', Monaco-Paris, France, Éditions du Rocher, 2015, 224 p. *''Histoire de l'Afrique du Nord (Egypte, Libye, Tunisie, Algérie, Maroc) : Des Origines à nos jours'', Éditions du Rocher, 736 p., 2016,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lugan, Bernard 1946 births 20th-century French historians People from Meknes Living people University of Lyon faculty Historians of Africa French male writers Far-right politics in France National Council of European Resistance People affiliated with Action Française 21st-century French historians National University of Rwanda faculty Historians of Rwanda