He added: "What's most important is that the flag is something the citizens of that country can endorse. Gregory Barker, acting head of the school of theology and religious studies at Trinity College, Carmarthen, said many Christian countries had flags without a specific religious symbol on them. I doubt whether most Christians would see it as demonic. He said: "The dragon is a very ancient symbol in Wales. What is the point of changing it now?"īishop David Yeoman said few Christians in Wales would associate the dragon with the devil. It is recognisable in the same way the Union Jack or Stars and Stripes are. "When you see the Welsh flag you know what it is. On the other hand the flag of St David has a much more specific remit. Welsh historian John Davies said: "It's been part of our tradition for more than 1,500 years. Historians and even fellow Christians said the symbol of the dragon had a "long tradition" in Wales and was a source of pride. The party has launched an online petition calling for a referendum to allow the Welsh people to decide which flag they would prefer.
This is nothing less than the sign of Satan, the devil, Lucifer, that ancient serpent who deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden." "This is the very symbol of the devil described in the Book of Revelation 12:3. He said: "Wales is the only country in history to have a red dragon on its national flag. Party leader the Rev George Hargreaves said a symbol of the devil should not "reign over Wales for another moment". It wants the flag to be replaced with the black and gold cross of St David. The Welsh Christian Party claims the red dragon on the nation's standard is at odds with the country's position as a Christian nation. His burial has become a political battle.A group of Christians say Wales's national flag is "demonic" and should be changed. Dos Santos’s handpicked successor, the current president, Joao Lourenço, prosecuted dos Santos’s son, and his daughter fled amid corruption allegations.ĭos Santos, still a political symbol as Angola’s independence leader, escaped legal consequence but left for Spain, alienated and bitter. In Zimbabwe, former President Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace, was seen as the power behind the throne. In Equatorial Guinea, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, in power since 1979, appointed his scandal-plagued son as vice president.
It’s a familiar strategy among longstanding leaders. All the while, most Angolans lived off $2 a day. Dos Santos’s son ran the country’s sovereign fund while his daughter, who became Africa’s richest woman, ran the state oil company. It was an early sign of dos Santos’s shrinking circle of trust, said Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, a professor at Oxford University. But in the final years of his presidency, he had tried to shore up his legacy by personalizing state-owned companies, putting his children in charge of them. Some have speculated that Playwatch’s Patreon is the reason Blizzard’s law squad decided to crack down, but it wasn’t exactly making bank.Still, it’s not generally a good idea to try and. Yet when dos Santos died on July 8 at the age of 79, he was miles away from the country he tried to shape in his omnipresent image.Īlongside Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Biya of Cameroon and Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the Republic of Congo, he was part of the despised club of “leaders for life.”ĭos Santos voluntarily stepped down in 2017 after his own party turned against him. For nearly four decades, José Eduardo dos Santos dominated Angola’s political landscape.