Responding to the Paris Attacks

November 16, 2015

This activity uses tweets to help cultivate caring and compassion in the wake of terrorist attacks on Paris and elsewhere. Please also see these general guidelines for discussing these upsetting events.

Current Issues

Note: Please also see these general guidelines for discussing these upsetting events.

Introduction

Ask students what they have heard about recent attacks by the group known as ISIS in Paris and elsewhere.

Elicit or explain that on Friday, November 13, 2015, a series of attacks struck at the heart of Paris, killing 129 and wounding 352, 99 of them critically. Six different sites were targeted, some by gunmen wielding AK-47s others by men detonating explosive belts strapped to their bodies.

The militant group known in the West as IS, ISIS, or ISIL claimed responsibility for the attacks. They also claimed responsibility for two other attacks in the same 24 hour period. These attacks recevied much less attention in our media.

On November 12, 40 people were killed in two suicide bombings in Beirut, Lebanon. The bombings were the deadliest in the capital since the end of Lebanon's bloody civil war in 1990. The blasts struck a busy shopping street and more than 200 people were wounded.

On November 13, a suicide bomber killed 17 people at a Baghdad memorial service for a militia fighter killed in battle. At least 43 people were wounded in the attack.

The lesson plan that follows will look at expressions of solidarity with people affected by these IS attacks, in Paris and beyond.

Social Media: Expressions of Solidarity

In troubling times, when the horrific acts of a few people dominate the headlines, it can be helpful to also notice the many people responding with concern, support, and solidarity - and find ways to show our own support, if possible.

Invite students to read the grouped tweets below (A through F), and in each case ask them in small groups, or as a full class, to discuss the questions that follow. These questions are the same each time:

What are your thoughts and feelings about these tweets?
Who is expressing solidarity with whom and how?

A) People used social media to offer and find refuge in Paris on Friday night. Taxis offered free rides after public transportation shut down:

Ask students:

What are your thoughts and feelings about these tweets?
Who is expressing solidarity with whom and how?

B) Cities around the world expressed their solidarity with Paris and France as a whole by lighting their main buildings with the colors of France's flag the tricoleur (translation: the "three-color" indicating its three colors of blue, white and red):

Ask students:

What are your thoughts and feelings about these tweets?
Who is expressing solidarity with whom and how?

C) Individuals who identified themselves as Muslim condemned the attacks:

Ask students:

What are your thoughts and feelings about these tweets?
Who is expressing solidarity with whom and how?

D) Many used Twitter to caution people to avoid lumping together extremist groups such as ISIS with the Muslim community as a whole, and expressed concern about recent refugee groups in particular:

Ask students:

What are your thoughts and feelings about these tweets?
Who is expressing solidarity with whom and how?

E) People expressed solidarity with other communities targeted by ISIS this week. Without seeking to detract from the attention and support directed at Paris and its inhabitants, they noted the lack of attention paid to other parts of the world where ISIS had wreaked havoc, destruction and bloodshed: