Death of Samuel Paty, “YES” to freedom of expression
Word of support – Death of Samuel Paty, History-Geography teacher
On October 16, in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a History-Geography professor was assassinated following an unbearable smear campaign orchestrated by Islamist networks. Samuel Paty was doing his job, scrupulously following the Moral and Civic Education program that was imposed on him, explaining to his students the requirements of freedom of expression.
We express our condolences to his family, his students, his colleagues.
Without the work carried out, day after day, by our colleagues in primary and then secondary education, our own job no longer has any meaning: they are the ones who remind students that we cannot learn anything if we do not don’t accept being jostled in their beliefs, those who transmit to them critical thinking, historical perspective, scientific objectivity. Thanks to them, higher education teachers, we have before us free and responsible citizens.
This Monday, in the program of Advanced International and Political Studies, each course, whether in History, History of Ideas, International Relations, Law, Cultures and Religions had a particular resonance: alongside the gravity bereavement, students and teachers were all aware of the extreme urgency in which we find ourselves.
Free establishments, created in 1899 by teachers committed to the defense of Alfred Dreyfus, attached from the outset to freedom of conscience, freedom of education, freedom of expression, we express our deepest concern at the refusal obscurantism of contradiction, and to attempts at systematic intimidation towards which, for too long, there has been too much complacency in our country.
Diane Le Béguec, Director of Studies
Paris, 20/10/2020