Lettre aux professeurs sur la liberté d’expression

In his A Letter to Teachers, on Freedom of Expression (Lettre aux professeurs sur la liberté d’expression), Héran’s starting point is President Macron’s tribute to Samuel Paty in which Macron defended the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad even as he exhorted a review of history teaching in schools, a fight against discrimination, and the fostering of mutual respect. Taking the President at his word, Héran takes on those who deny the existence of Islamophobia, structural racism and systemic discrimination in France. Acute and unsparing, pedagogical and precise, the essay challenges extremist temptations. The methodology consists in appraising grand principles with discernment. The argument is that social bonds must be reconstituted based on the golden rule of reciprocal respect.