8 Established 1961 International Monday, January 15, 2018 The terror attack survivors who refuse to be silenced Artists, journalists vow to continue fighting for free speech COPENHAGEN: Gathered in the Danish capital for a target of several attempted assaults, the latest in conference of terror attack survivors, artists and journal- Copenhagen in February 2015, during a conference ists vowed to continue fighting for free speech, despite a dubbed “Art, blasphemy and freedom”. wave of violence targeting critical voices.”We are all tar- geted, indiscriminately, and the more of us choose to stay ‘That was it’ silent, the more dangerous it becomes for the few who Like El Razhoui, Vilks leads a complicated life. Under continue speaking out, like me,” said Zineb El Rhazoui, a constant surveillance, he must coordinate with his securi- 35-year-old journalist ty guards in order to from French satirical mag- plan his day. “If I have azine Charlie Hebdo. She forgotten to buy some was on holiday on January milk, I cannot actually go 7, 2015, when jihadists out and buy the milk, broke into the Paris offices ‘If you stop, the and I cannot in practice of the magazine, mas- call the bodyguards and sacring 12 people in an things going on say ‘I want to buy some attack that shook France milk’,” he said. “As a film and the world. The assault will not stop’ ... you have to plan your sparked mass protests and days in a certain way,” a wave of solidarity, with the 71-year-old added. people across the world But after surviving an adopting the slogan “Je attack, some people suis Charlie” (I am choose to move away Charlie). from activism. Patrick Piscot was just 18 years old when “The more of us speak out, defend our freedom and he survived the July 2011 bomb and gun massacre by refuse to give up on our liberties, the less the danger will Norwegian neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik that left 77 be ... focused on certain people,” El Rhazoui told AFP on people dead. Breivik was sentenced in 2012 to 21 years the sidelines of a conference hosted by the Danish parlia- behind bars. “If you survive something I believe that it is ment on Saturday. Her commitment to her beliefs has not your responsibility to get over it in your own way, you come without a cost; everywhere she goes, she is accom- have the key to how you want to change your life,” said panied by security guards. Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, Piscot, who decided to ended his political activism soon who in 2007 sparked controversy with his drawings of after the attack. “I continued to participate in AUF (the PARIS: A man takes a picture of portraits (left to right) of late French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo’s deputy chief Muslim Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), said nothing would Workers’ Youth League in Norway) for three weeks or editor Bernard Maris, French cartoonists Georges Wolinski, Bernard Verlhac (aka Tignous), Charlie Hebdo editor change if he stopped working. “If you stop, the things months after the massacre, but that was it. I wanted to be Stephane Charbonnier (aka Charb) and Jean Cabut (aka Cabu) near the magazine’s offices at Rue Nicolas Appert, in going on will not stop,” Vilks said. He has also been the me,” he added.—AFP Paris, on the third anniversary of the jihadist attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. —AFP UKIP leader under Angola’s Lourenco fire over lover’s keeps pressure on racist royal slur Dos Santos cronies LONDON: The leader of Britain’s anti-EU, anti-immigra- tion UK Independence Party (UKIP) faced calls to resign LUANDA: The first major scalp claimed by Angola’s yesterday after his girlfriend reportedly made racist new president Joao Lourenco in his war on corruption remarks about Prince Harry’s fiancee Meghan Markle. and nepotism was that of his predecessor’s daughter, Henry Bolton, who was elected in September, said his 25- who was sacked as head of the state oil company. The year-old partner Jo Marney had been suspended from the next big name linked to former president Jose Eduardo party after the text messages were published in the Mail dos Santos was that of his son, Jose Filomeno, who was on Sunday newspaper. removed from his post at the top of the African nation’s But one party politician said she should have been $5 billion sovereign wealth fund. Quick work for a expelled, while a UKIP member of the European president with barely 100 days on the job. Lourenco’s Parliament said it was time for the “inexperienced” leader manoeuvering against the nepotistical vestiges of to “go quietly”. According to the tabloid, Marney wrote Angola’s last president began in earnest in November messages to a friend complaining that Markle-an with the toppling of Isabel dos Santos said by Forbes American actress of mixed race who is due to marry Harry to be Africa’s richest woman. in May-would “taint our royal family” with her “seed”. The shake-up at the Sonangol oil giant marked a watershed moment in Lourenco’s young presidency as “Next will be a Muslim PM (prime minister). And a black he sought to assert his authority and clear out the lega- king,” she was reported to have written. In a statement, cy of his controversial predecessor. During his presi- Marney said her remarks were “deliberately exaggerated dential campaign, the former defense minister vowed to to make a point” and were taken out of context, but “I fully recognize the offence they have caused”. distance himself from Dos Santos who remains head of LONDON: File photo shows Britain’s Prince Harry and his fiancee US actress Meghan Markle arriving for their visit to the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Reprezent 107.3FM community radio station in Brixton, south west London. —AFP Angola (MPLA) party. Just a month after Isabel dos ‘Disgraceful remarks’ Santos was fired, Sonangol announced it was opening Bolton is the third elected leader of UKIP since Nigel an investigation into “possible misappropriation” of Farage resigned after helping secure a vote to leave “if he is still the leader at that point”, he told the BBC. Henry’s private life. “Henry does not have the experience, funds during her time as chief executive. European Union in June 2016, and the party has struggled Oakden said the coming year would be “crucial” for the political nous or advice to deal with the issues he Angolan media outlets have accused her of ordering to find a role. UKIP chairman Paul Oakden said that Brexit negotiations, adding: “We need to be behind our faces.... He must go, he must go quickly, he must go as qui- suspect transfers and payments worth tens of millions Bolton, who recently made headlines due to his decision to leader 100 percent in taking that battle forward. “Whether etly as possible.” Peter Whittle, a UKIP member of the of dollars. But although her sacking caught some leave his wife and date Marney, had some “difficult deci- or not the party decides it willing to give that support to London Assembly, tweeted: “These are disgraceful Angola watchers off-guard, Lourenco’s dismissal this sions to make”. The party’s governing board will meet Henry is for the party to decide.” UKIP MEP Bill Etheridge remarks. This person should not just be suspended from week of Jose Filomeno as head of the oil-rich country’s next weekend and will consult with the former army officer said: “We are seeing UKIP resources used to defend @UKIP but expelled altogether.”—AFP vast wealth fund did not. Lourenco, 63, had hinted he might sack Filomeno during a speech to mark his first 100 days in office after winning August’s election on an anti-graft, reformist platform. No going back Whistleblower US President Germany’s SPD at odds Sidelined Donald Trump has “Lourenco has sidelined all of those over whom he labeled Manning a doesn’t have control,” said Benjamin Auge, an analyst at Manning seeks traitor. He also tried over coalition plan the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI). to bar transgender personnel from the “The members of the Dos Santos family fall into this US Senate seat FRANKFURT AM MAIN: Leading members of Germany’s Social category, which is why they’ve been cast-off, one by military but federal courts ruled against Democrats voiced skepticism yesterday over a preliminary coalition one.” Like his sister, Jose Filomeno was the embodi- agreement reached with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, WASHINGTON: Whistleblower Chelsea that ban. Following ment of the political-financial empire built by their days after the hard-fought deal was hailed as a breakthrough. Berlin’s father that funneled the nation’s wealth to friends and Manning, jailed for leaking classified information, her release, Harvard SPD Mayor Michael Mueller said he was “very critical” about entering relatives of the all-powerful Dos Santos clan. is seeking election to the US Senate in the state University offered into another government with Merkel’s CDU/CSU bloc after all three But the new sheriff in town appears determined to of Maryland, a document seen on Saturday says. Manning a Kennedy parties slumped to their worst results in decades in last September’s end the family’s grip on the nation’s purse strings. “No Manning has now gone from prison to US sena- School visiting fel- election. one is above the law,” Lourenco said before being lowship along with torial candidate in less than a year during which “The same coalition with the same policies is not the right answer,” sworn in.