FRANCE: He is having lunch at a restaurant in Paris. Nine years ago, he experienced the worst nightmare of his life in this very city.

The date was November 13, 2015, and Cédric had just landed his first permanent teaching position. That evening, he and his friend had dressed up in leather vests and slicked-back hair to attend a concert by Eagles of Death Metal.

He stood inside the popular concert venue Bataclan, debating whether to grab a beer or move closer to the stage when bursts of automatic gunfire began to roar.

People around him collapsed. He found himself between the legs of a stranger. He had to climb over dead bodies and wade through blood to find his way out. 

That night, Islamist terrorists took the lives of 130 people, and several hundred were injured.

For many of the survivors, including Cédric, it has been difficult to move on with life.

He has struggled with memory loss, sleep disturbances, and poor concentration. There were many sick leaves, the longest lasting two years. But throughout it all, he had a clear goal.

– For me, it was vital to return to teaching.

Using caricatures

Now, the 35-year-old works part-time while pursuing a PhD in history at the Sorbonne University in Paris. The school he works at is a combined middle and high school.

– I am one of the few Bataclan survivors who has received excellent follow-up with proper trauma therapy, and I am one of the few who can now live somewhat ‘normally’ and hold down a job, Cédric explains.

He teaches history, geography, and the increasingly important but also sensitive subject of “ethics and society,” where topics such as freedom of speech and the uniquely French concept of secularism are part of the curriculum.

These are the same subjects that Samuel Paty, the teacher who was beheaded in 2020, taught.

And just like Paty, Cédric has often shown caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in his classes.

– When it comes to freedom of expression, we must not give an inch, and never give up. Like Paty and many others, I have also shown my students the controversial Charlie Hebdo drawing of Muhammad with a star in his anus.

The drawing he describes is from a 2012 issue of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The caricatures were the reason the editorial staff was targeted in a terrorist attack three years later.

A total of 12 people were killed and 11 injured. After the attack, the drawing Cédric describes was included in the French Ministry of Education’s proposed teaching materials to illustrate and spark classroom discussions on freedom of speech, blasphemy, and secularism.

Cédric draws the historical parallels.

In the 19th century, the great political ideas were introduced into French society. This period marked the beginning of democracy, freedom of religion, equality, scientific rationality, and freedom of speech. French secularism, la laïcité, is about state neutrality and the separation of church and state. It is tied to the legacy of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, which rejected the idea of a monarchy “by the grace of God.”

– Secularism in public schools means that we welcome everyone, regardless of what they believe or don’t believe.

The Betrayal of Samuel Paty

When Samuel Paty brought up these topics in his classes, he invited debate by drawing two columns on the board: “I am Charlie” and “I am not Charlie.” In a documentary by BFM-TV, Paty’s colleagues explain how his students were encouraged to present their arguments.

Paty wanted all the students to express their opinions. He judged no one.

Among several other caricatures of religious and secular figures of authority, Paty showed the students the aforementioned provocative nude drawing of Muhammad. 

Beforehand, he had given the students who did not want to see it the option to leave the classroom. But everyone stayed. “Some giggled, but it was really just a normal lesson,” says a student in the documentary.

The only thing that was a bit unusual was that one student was not present. She had been suspended. To avoid telling her parents the real reason, she complained to them instead, saying that Paty had sent all the Muslim students out of the room that day. 

Her father reacted strongly, including on social media, claiming that Samuel Paty discriminated against Muslims and deserved to be reprimanded.

This is how the rumors started that Paty was a racist, and these rumors led to threats.

On Twitter, there were explicit calls for violence against the history teacher as “punishment” for showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. The school’s address, as well as Paty’s home address, were shared online. 

During the last 11 days of his job and life, Paty lived in fear. Although the principal alerted the authorities, including intelligence services, the police, and the mayor of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, nothing was done.

The threats also divided the teaching staff. Some doubted Paty’s intentions. Did he do the right thing by showing the caricatures from Charlie Hebdo?

One of his colleagues says in the documentary that when a representative from the regional administration came to the school, it was Paty who had to justify his teaching methods. He received no support. The observer wrote in their report that the situation was now under control.

The same colleague believes Paty should have received police protection. Instead, he carried a hammer in his bag. It was the only thing he had to defend himself with. 

When 18-year-old Abdoullakh Anzorov attacked him on an open street, Paty had no chance.

Five students, aged 14 and 15 at the time, had been paid to point out who Paty was. Anzorov was shot and killed by police shortly after the attack. In 2023, the other youths were sentenced in a French juvenile court.

Lacking Resources

Cédric believes we need to learn more from the events that have shaken France over the past 10 years.

– Right after attacks, we teachers get a bit more support. Even the media praises us for about two weeks before going back to the usual teacher-bashing, he says.

He believes part of the problem is that teachers are often left on their own. They don’t feel supported by the system, whether it’s in dealing with threats and violence or when they have to sanction students.

– Expelling students can be directly dangerous. You have to be vigilant, especially if the students are suspected of being a potential threat.

In 2023, France was once again shaken by the murder of a teacher.

Dominique Bernard was killed at the school where he worked, in Arras.

The perpetrator, Mohammed Mogouchkov, was a former student who was already known to the French intelligence services (DGSI). French teacher Bernard was stabbed in the throat and chest when he intervened to protect his students.

Much of the pain from Bataclan resurfaces for Cédric when terrorist attacks happen. He is distraught over these brutal murders of teachers who were simply doing their jobs. He himself tries to carry forward much of what Samuel Paty stood for.

He allows his students to discuss both the Muhammad caricatures and blasphemy in class.

– Sometimes, I manage to defuse their arguments a little. It doesn’t mean I convince them, but if I can give them a critical framework and get them to listen to opposing views and think a bit, it’s a step in the right direction. It feels really good to maybe contribute to a bit more love between people, says Cédric.

What he enjoys most is when students debate with each other.

– But for that, you need time and resources to do it properly.

Even though one hour is set aside for "Ethics and Society" every other week, Cédric feels that the subject is often deprioritized. Due to a lack of time and fear of sensitive topics, these hours are often used to review material from history or geography instead.

After the teacher killings, however, Cédric feels that principals and others are more alert. But he still misses having more resources, so teachers can actually carry out their mission in the classroom.

"It’s about more than salary"

– We are too few teachers and have too little time and resources, he says.

In Paris, the classes are overcrowded. They often have 36 students or more. At the school where Cédric works, they will welcome 16 classes this fall, but they only have 13 classrooms available. They are also short of teachers.

– In 30 years, taking inflation into account, teachers have lost between 30 and 50% of their salary, but even if the promises of salary increases were fulfilled, the working conditions have deteriorated so much that it would still be difficult to recruit, he believes.

Teachers in France accumulate points for experience and years of service. 

Those with the most points get to choose which schools they want to work at first. They usually choose the best possible working conditions for themselves. The least experienced teachers, and even unqualified ones, are the ones who are assigned jobs at the schools with the most challenges.

– The idea that beginners and unqualified teachers should be the ones to initiate discussions on freedom of speech, when they are already struggling with bullying, violence, and drugs in the school environment, sounds hopeless, says Cédric.