The sister of Samuel Paty, a history and geography professor murdered on October 16, 2020 (he received seventeen stab wounds and was beheaded) while leaving his college by an Islamist activist, is an angry woman. Rightly so, we think after finishing this book. The novelist and screenwriter Émilie Frèche, who co-authored this story, probably helped her channel her anger and put the right words to this abomination because in fact: “In France, we don’t say “Yes, but… “after a professor was beheaded. We make a point.” All those who have tried to find extenuating circumstances for this assassination know nothing, or very little, of the course given to two fourth grade classes by Samuel Paty and devoted to freedom of expression. Mickaëlle invites us to enter her brother’s class – this teacher, so loved by his students and who placed his job above everything – and tells us exactly what happened, what was the content of the lesson. The reader will even be able to consult the slides and documents studied. The eleven days that separate Samuel’s course from his murder tell the story of a terrible spiral. Her younger sister, who conducted an in-depth investigation for four years, returns to the victim’s descent into hell. It would have been enough for Samuel to not have had all this cowardice, “these twenty-fifth hour resistance fighters”, this lack of reaction and these lies for his life to be saved and his honor to (…)
(…) Click here to see more
