(Virtual) Campus Event Reflection
Oct 25 2020, Zoom
I attended this month’s current events catch-up via Zoom. One of the news stories that stood out to me the most was the tragic killing of French teacher Samuel Paty. The perpetrator Abdoullakh Anzorov had travelled almost 60 miles to attack Paty after the history teacher showed caricatures of the Muslim Prophet Mohammad in class. Paty was a strong believer in France’s system of laïcité, the strict secularism that many French consider integral to their democracy, and showed depictions of other major religious figures as well. The killing has led to a flaring up of French nationalism across the country, and French president Emanuel Macron would go on to give strong statements condemning the attack, saying that “Islamists want our future and they know that with quiet heroes like him they will never have it.” The governments of many Muslim majority nations have been critical of President Macron’s response with calls to boycott French goods and Turkish President Erdogan calling President Macron’s mental health into question. These events have also brought a key question to the forefront of discussion in France: is the system of cultural and political assimilation through public schooling in need of major change? Some believe that strongly pushing for assimilation breeds xenophobia across France, as it embeds an idea that otherness is to be looked down upon. Those who do not attain a sense of belonging in France via schooling can be come ostracized and detached, lacking a concrete sense of identity. One thing is for sure, the case of Anzorov is a sign that integration program reform is deeply needed in France.