Samuel Paty: the teacher who defended freedom of expression

A sea of ​​flowers stands in front of the Collège Bois d´Aulne school in the Parisian suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. Students, parents and teachers have gathered to cry, many students cry. In the middle of the flowers there is a sign “I am a teacher, I am Samuel”; remember the saying “I’m Charlie” after the assassination attempt in the satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo” five years ago. The French media is full of images like this these days.

Students and teachers mourn the loss of history teacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded with a knife near the school Friday night. The 18-year-old perpetrator with Chechen roots was shot and killed by police shortly thereafter. President Emmanuel Macron evaluated the attack as an act of Islamist terrorism.

Now the French are in shock, especially the teachers are stunned. They also see the gruesome murder as an attack on the freedom to learn and the French school. They have become aware of what they risk every day: their lives. You can die because you are a teacher. And that in a democratic country. The attack hits the republic to the heart.

Paty, 47, married with a five-year-old son, was known for campaigning for freedom of expression. To illustrate, he showed his students cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in citizenship class. He wanted his students to think about it. That is why he addressed the problems of society in a very specific way.

“Monsieur Paty”, an avid tennis player, was one of the most popular teachers at the school. The students say he was very kind and very engaged. “He really wanted to teach us something. We debated a lot,” he recalls young people on French television or on social media, excited by Paty’s interesting lessons, explaining the background rather than letting the children learn things memory. It was also funny: “He joked and laughed.”

All this is not exactly the norm in France, in strict lessons, which are usually frontal.

“He was an excellent teacher who cared about his students”

Friends, colleagues, and parents also describe Paty as a role model. “He was my friend at the University of Lyon, an excellent student, a good teacher, someone who was looking for dialogue,” said his colleague Christophe Capuano. “It was simple and I was convinced that education can change people,” said a colleague. And the mother of one student said, “He was an excellent teacher who cared about his students.”

Paty had been teaching in the Paris area since 1997 and had been a teacher at the school for three years. He had shown the same cartoons in class every year, even on October 5, 2020. There had been no previous incidents after his class. Perhaps context played a role this time: the trial for the attempted murder of the editorial team of “Charlie Hebdo” is currently underway in Paris. In this context, the satirical newspaper had republished the cartoons. That had warmed the spirits.

The father of a schoolgirl had complained about Paty on social media and filed charges for distributing “pornographic images.” Paty was surprised to learn of the complaint when he was questioned by police on October 12.

He seems intimidated since the incident, with some accusing him of racism. Then the teacher filed a defamation contraindication. Now, many in France wonder why he was not put under police protection. However, complaints against teachers are frequent in France and the police did not respond, presumably because the charges were for “pornographic images”.

A few days after Paty showed the cartoons, there was a meeting at the school with the parents, the principal, and a school inspection officer. Paty apologized for apparently not getting the message across correctly.