Since the horrific killing of Samuel Paty in Conflans, the French government has been trying to revi

Since the horrific killing of Samuel Paty in Conflans, the French government has been trying to revive its fortunes with a drive for national unity. But behind calls to defend free speech, the government is launching an extraordinary offensive of Islamophobia and reaction. Now the national education minister has suggested that anyone who denounces Islamophobia should be seen as part of the camp of “Islamo-leftists”, guilty of intellectual complicity with terrorism.

The murder of Samuel Paty, a history teacher at Conflans Saint Honorine school, has aroused strong emotions. Teachers have complained for years that they feel isolated and exhausted; they were profoundly shocked by the event, which only seemed to reinforce those feelings.

In the country at large, widespread horror and shock have strengthened the government’s call for national unity.

Thus Emmanuel Macron spoke of the importance of “unity” against “those who cultivate hatred of the other”, of “Islamists that would steal our future”. The president made a very ideological speech at the Sorbonne, invoking the legacy of figures like Jaurès, Victor Hugo, and Louis Pasteur: “In France… the lights [of the Enlightenment] will never go out.”

READ MORE: Emmanuel Macron’s right-wing campaign against ‘Islamo-leftism’