We cry with the French | Aftonbladet

The murder of teacher Samuel Paty affects us all

Published: October 20, 2020 at 00.00

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Photo: AP TT

On Sunday, demonstrations were held in France against the Islamist terrorist attack on teacher Samuel Paty on the outskirts of Paris.

On the way home this Friday afternoon, teacher Samuel Paty was attacked and had his throat slit. The beastly murder has rocked the Parisian suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine and shocked the entire world.

The incident occurred shortly after Paty, who taught history and geography, showed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad of Islam in connection with teaching on freedom of expression. It was a way of explaining the facts behind the Islamist terrorist attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo 2015, in which five of the magazine’s cartoonists were killed and seven more people lost their lives.

He received death threats and was called a racist

Then, five years ago, the streets of France, as well as Sweden and all over the world were filled with demonstrations and the message: “Je suis Charlie”, “I am Charlie”. It was a way of showing the extremists that the attack on the satirical newspaper was an attack on freedom of expression, on the free and democratic world. Against all of us.
For Paty to show pictures of Charlie Hebdo in her teaching on free speech was nothing new.
– I really wanted to teach us things. He held discussions from time to time and we talked, student Nathan tells the DN reporter about his teacher on the site.
After the lesson, one of the students’ parents must have submitted a complaint against Samuel Paty and made a post about him on social media. Paty is said to have received death threats and rumors have spread that she was racist and Islamophobic.
On Friday, police shot and killed an 18-year-old suspect a few blocks from the crime scene. A total of eleven people have been arrested since the event. Several of these must be related to the 18-year-old.
During the weekend, the French have gathered in the streets under the motto “Je suis eseignant”, “I am a teacher”, to show their solidarity with Samuel Paty.

Freedom of expression is threatened

In 2015 he was a cartoonist, today a teacher. It must stop now.
The result of making cartoons or getting involved with gods, goddesses, politicians or symbols is not always funny or successful in everyone’s eyes. Sometimes it can be inappropriate to know that the reaction is simply that people feel hurt or humiliated. But when freedom of expression is threatened today in much of the world, it is important to make clear that it is a fundamental human right. Samuel Pathy’s voice has been silenced in the worst possible way. Now the rest of us must raise our own.

Chat with Jonna Sima about the article at 09:00. You can write your questions right now.

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Of: Jonna Sima

Published: October 20, 2020 at 00.00

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