Samuel Paty [in memoriam]

remembering Rushdie in Banff

The awful attack on Salman Rushdie this morning brought back to mind the conversation he hold at the Banff Centre in 2015, when I was taking part in a Banff workshop. The amphitheatre was jammed, with hardly any distance from the speakers and I remember wondering at the level of security involved for the event, as there was nothing apparent around the small platform. Maybe there was none, then, as now… I dearly hope he does not join the Charlie Hebdo fallen to the stand for freedom of speech, including irreverence about irrational beliefs.

hommage à Samuel Paty

Toute notre communauté universitaire exprime sa plus vive émotion à la suite de l’assassinat de Samuel Paty, professeur dans un collège de Conflans Sainte-Honorine. Nous nous associons pleinement à la douleur de ses proches, de ses élèves et de ses collègues.

En tant qu’université, nos missions prolongent celles assumées par nos collègues de l’enseignement secondaire, dont nous sommes pleinement solidaires. Et nous tenons à rappeler, dans ces circonstances, les principes qui inspirent nos missions d’enseignement et de recherche : le respect de la liberté de penser, le goût du débat, le développement de l’esprit critique, la production de connaissance, tout cela dans le strict respect des lois de notre République.

Patrice Geoffron, Administrateur provisoire de l’Université Paris Dauphine-PSL  & Nicolas Péjout, Directeur Général des Services

touche pas à mon prof!

Charlie, the jogger, the killer, and the journalist

The trial of the suspects of the Charlie Hebdo killings of 7 January 2015 (and of the subsequent days) has started several weeks ago, involving people accused of helping the main culprits, who died on 9 January. In the long flow of witnesses and victims, a case remains a mystery, the shooting of a random runner in Fontenay-aux-Roses, on the first evening with the same weapon used two days later by the Hyper Casher killer. The runner survived the shooting, despite all odds, but one sees no other motive in the attack than a ghastly real-scale testing of the weapon, as he has no connection with the journal, with the killers or with the accused… The trial also brings a stark reminder that the survivors of Charlie are still living under permanent police protection, having to give up part of their freedom to keep up publishing the journal. As sadly illustrated by the recent exfiltration of Marika Bret from her flat following specific death threats. To quote the late Cabu, dur d’être aimé par des cons…