The assassination of Samuel Paty remains a terrible wound for all of us.
On this Remembrance Day, we think of his family and friends and see the committed man he once was.
Professor Paty was not struck by chance.
He was struck because he embodied the word of the Republic in front of his youth.
He embodied, beyond origins and religions, the Man who seeks to unite differences and raise awareness.
In this, Samuel Paty was a bulwark against Islamist totalitarianism, he who cursed freedom, equality and fraternity.
This bulwark must not give way, and it will not give way as long as the memory of Samuel Paty continues to alert us.
In the face of fanatics, there is no forgetting and no compromise possible.
It is an intellectual and moral struggle;
a civilization struggle between culture and obscurantism.
During the Third Republic, our teachers, who were nicknamed the “hussars of the Republic”, had behind them a whole country that did not compromise with secularism, with the transmission of knowledge, with civility and patriotism too.
Let us say it, if Samuel Paty was harassed by some, if the terrorist's arm did not hesitate, it is because the French Republic did not know how to defend itself resolutely.
Valerie Pécresse
Today our teachers must pick up the pieces of a fragmented and violent society.
A company that doubts itself.
Their task is decisive because the school is the fabric of France.
They must not tremble on the values of the Republic, including that of secularism, because if they tremble then the Republic will one day fall.
They must be sure of their cause.
They must be supported by their hierarchy.
Their authority must be respected, and at the first incident the sanction must fall.
And then, they should no longer feel alone in the battle.
Let us say it, if Samuel Paty was harassed by some, if the terrorist's arm did not hesitate, it is because the French Republic did not know how to defend itself resolutely.
We, the elected officials, the citizens, the parents, must stand up alongside our teachers.
We must be their army, proud to be from the country of human rights, proud to be republicans and French.
Valerie Pécresse
This must change.
We, the elected officials, the citizens, the parents, must stand up alongside our teachers.
We must be their army, proud to be from the country of human rights, proud to be republicans and French.
We are all invited to the fight for Freedom.
We must deliver it for all innocent victims of terrorism.
We owe it to Samuel Paty in order to be able to say to him: "Professor, your commitment was not in vain, your hope for a fraternal France was not a utopia, the Republic you wanted will never give up!" "
Together, we will make triumph - as Samuel Paty surely would have liked - what is right and beautiful in our country.
