"I dedicate this text to the one who was not saved, Dominique Bernard." Heard on Tuesday 17 October at the Senate by the members of the Law Commission and the Committee on Culture, Education and Communication, Mickaëlle Paty began her text by paying tribute to Dominique Bernard, a literature teacher murdered in Arras by an Islamist terrorist, before returning to the failures that led to the assassination of her brother Samuel, on October 16, 2020 near the Bois d'Aulne middle school, in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines).
During this speech, which was written and prepared in advance, Mickaëlle Paty wanted to "understand the administrative and political flaws that may have led to the assassination of Samuel Paty". "The mere fact that a professor could be beheaded for blasphemy in 2020 shows that there is a flaw," she said.
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In addition, the deceased's sister criticised the content of the report published by an inspection mission on the attack, which she said was "botched in 15 days". "Only three teachers were heard out of the 51 who make up the teaching team, compared to four representatives of the students' parents, thus reversing the balance of power," she said.
'Left alone to feed the Islamist movement'
She goes on to talk about the danger of defending republican values. "We have to recognize that defending republican values is indeed a risk. The threat of taking a Samuel Paty has become the weapon of all Islamic censorship. According to her, Samuel Paty was "left alone to feed the Islamist movement".
Commission of Inquiry into Teacher Attacks:
"Why would teachers take the risk of defending republican values if they are not guaranteed to be protected? Losing school is not losing a battle, it's losing the war," says Mickaelle Paty pic.twitter.com/dSAi9vBa94
— Public Senate (@publicsenat) October 17, 2023
"If my brother's death had served a purpose, maybe Dominique Bernard would still be here," she added, but "steps have not been taken to understand and combat Islamic entryism."
When LR senator Henri Leroy asked Mickaëlle Paty what preventive measures could be put in place, she spoke of a "withdrawal". "This is the first step taken by the Ministry of Education," she said. She then regretted that she had not been informed, as well as her family, that her brother was being threatened.
A problem of training on secularism
The younger sister of the history and geography teacher also regrets the too brief training of teachers on secularism. "All these young professors have a very brief background in secularism. They are thrown into the pit and asked to fend for themselves. We need to take back control of higher education so that a system of control is put in place on what is done and how it is done."
These remarks were confirmed by François-Noël Buffet, the president of the Senate's law commission, who noted that these remarks "echoed" those of some teachers already interviewed, in particular on the "loneliness" of teachers and on the fact that the new generation of teachers "does not have the same notion of secularism as their former colleagues". "Secularism as we know it is faltering," he concluded.