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Samuel Paty, 47, married, father of a 5-year-old boy, “martyr of the Republic” as the newspaper called him Launching. He had recently moved to Conflans-Saint Honorine (50 kilometers northwest of Paris), coming from Créteil, to accompany his wife’s job change. This was, therefore, his first academic year at the College of Bois-D’Aulne, a pleasant residential neighborhood, similar to so many others. Last Friday, anticipating the usual two-week school holidays in France at the moment (the so-called “All-os-Saints holidays”), he asked the students (13 and 14 years old) to take care of themselves and fired until go back to school. No one would expect this farewell to be, after all, final.
In that last class, the students now testify, Samuel Paty had told them about the social inequalities in the world today and had drawn parallels to the time of World War II. In the vibrant tone that, they recognize, was characteristic of him. “He was a happy and smiling person, close to the students and proud of them. He always encouraged us to do better,” a 14-year-old student told France Press. “He was a teacher who made us want to learn,” said another. “Even those who didn’t like school were more attentive to him.” On Twitter, the qualities of Monsieur Paty (as the students called him) are still evoked by many who crossed paths with him, such as this former colleague from college: “I am destroyed. Samuel Paty was my colleague at graduation. He was a brilliant student. , a super teacher, a man of dialogue. I will quote your name and your example, comrade, to all those who still want to practice this beautiful profession. ”There is also no lack of testimonies from the parents of former students who extol their humanity and sympathy:” Samuel Paty he was my son’s teacher last year. He was a very kind and committed person. “
Professor of History, Geography and Civic Education, he placed great emphasis on developing the critical spirit of young people. A former student recalled, in statements to RTL, that, in his classes, “debates were a current practice, in an attempt to involve students in addressing the issues.” At the beginning of October, the topic under discussion was freedom of expression and secularism as pillars of the French Republic, in fact complying with the provisions of the discipline program for that educational level.
As she had done on other occasions in recent years, she had brought a cartoon of Muhammad, published in the newspaper, into the classroom. Charlie hebdoHowever, allowing Muslim students to leave the classroom if it in any way impaired their susceptibilities.. Based on what the class witnessed, some left, some did not. But soon unpleasant reactions arose: the father of a 13-year-old student summoned the rest of the parents in charge of a collective action against the teacher, accusing him of having displayed the “image of a naked man” in the classroom, himself of the ” Muslim prophet. ” And if that was not enough, started a hate campaign on social media that soon gained followers, many of whom were completely unaware of that school and what is happening there. Feeling defamed, the school inspector advised Paty to file a complaint with the authorities, which she effectively did, claiming that the student in question would not even have been in the class where everything had taken place.
But the case would not stop here. Feeling threatened not only in the maintenance of her job, but in her own safety, Paty, who used to walk the route between the school and her residence, began to make a more frequent path than she had previously traveled. . It was useless. He was executed in broad daylight, on public roads, 300 meters from the school where he taught. Reacting to these events, the Minister of Education, Jean Michel Blanquier, did not hesitate to declare that the teacher was “assassinated for serving the Republic and for considering knowledge and teaching as essential attitudes of the critical spirit.” This death “is an attack on the Republic because the school is the backbone of the regime.”
The psychological guerrilla environment that exists in many French schools has long been denounced in many different ways. In 2008, Jean-Paul Lilienfeld’s film Skirt day it showed a French teacher (played by Isabelle Adjani) pushed to the limit by violence and hostility from students and their parents, with an emphasis on Muslims criticizing her for wearing a skirt in the classroom. One day, he discovers that one of the students goes to school armed and the tragedy occurs. The actress won the César for best performance but the film made a considerable impact on French society. Seven years before the attack on Charlie Hebdo.
