France: tribute to professors Samuel Paty and Dominique Bernard

4 years ago, on 16 October 2020, Samuel Paty was murdered in Conflans Sainte-Honorine by a radical Islamist for showing cartoons of Mohammed during a lesson on freedom of expression. An attack that plunged the country into absolute terror.

Three years later, despite measures taken at national level to better protect teachers, Dominique Bernard, a French teacher, was murdered on 13 October 2023, during the murderous journey of another Islamist around a secondary school in Arras. Public schools, republican values and secularism were once again targeted by the barbaric violence of obscurantism.

On Monday 14 October, a minute’s silence was observed in 10,000 collèges and lycées across France in tribute to the two teachers who died. Although there were fewer disruptions and protests than last year, 78 of them were still recorded… Enough to convince us, if proof were needed, of the urgent priority that must be given to schools and education. This is what Cartooning for Peace does on a daily basis through its educational activities.

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