PARIS: Oksana Shachko, one of the founders of the Femen feminist protest movement, has been found dead in her Paris apartment, the group said on Monday.
Activists from Femen, known for its bold topless protests, said the 31-year-old Ukrainian had been found on Monday with a suicide note next to her body.
“It is with great regret and deep pain that I must confirm the death of Oksana,” said Inna Shevchenko, one of Femen’s leaders, who also lives in the French capital.
Another Femen founder, Anna Gutsol, wrote on Facebook: “RIP. The most fearless and vulnerable Oksana Shachko has left us.
“We mourn together with her relatives and friends,” she said, adding that the group was awaiting “the official version from the police.”
Shachko was one of four feminist activists who founded Femen in Ukraine in 2008.
Exiled in France since 2013, she had since left the group and was working as an artist.
Operating under the slogan “I came, I stripped, I won,” Femen quickly drew attention around the world with its bare-breasted protests against sexism.
Their protests eventually started targeting authoritarianism and racism, with Russia’s Vladimir Putin a particular target, alongside France’s far-right National Front party.
But in recent years the group has struggled with internal divisions as well as legal proceedings against its members.
In 2011, Femen said Shachko was among three members “kidnapped” by security agents and forced to strip naked in a forest after staging a topless protest mocking Belarussian strongman Alexander Lukashenko.
The agents had poured oil over the three women, threatened to set them on fire, and cut off their hair, Femen said.
She was abducted again by unknown assailants during a visit by Putin to Ukraine, according to the group.
Femen’s lawyer said Shachko was beaten so badly that she was briefly hospitalized.
Protest movement co-founder Oksana Shachko found dead in Paris
Protest movement co-founder Oksana Shachko found dead in Paris
- Operating under the slogan “I came, I stripped, I won,” Femen quickly drew attention around the world
- Shachko was one of four feminist activists who founded Femen in Ukraine in 2008
Some Warren Buffett wisdom on his last day leading Berkshire Hathaway
OMAHA, Nebraska: The advice that legendary investor Warren Buffett offered on investing and life over the years helped earn him legions of followers who eagerly read his annual letters and filled an arena in Omaha every year to listen to him at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meetings.
Buffett’s last day as CEO is Wednesday after six decades of building up the Berkshire conglomerate. He’ll remain chairman, but Greg Abel will take over leadership.
Here’s a collection of some of Buffett’s most famous quotes from over the years:
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“Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”
That’s how Buffett summed up his investing approach of buying out-of-favor stocks and companies when they were selling for less than he estimated they were worth.
He also urged investors to stick with industries they understand that fall within their “circle of competence” and offered this classic maxim: “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.”
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“After they first obey all rules, I then want employees to ask themselves whether they are willing to have any contemplated act appear the next day on the front page of their local paper to be read by their spouses, children and friends with the reporting done by an informed and critical reporter.
“If they follow this test, they need not fear my other message to them: Lose money for the firm and I will be understanding; lose a shred of reputation for the firm and I will be ruthless.”
That’s the ethical standard Buffett explained to a Congressional committee in 1991 that he would apply as he cleaned up the Wall Street investment firm Salomon Brothers. He has reiterated the newspaper test many times since over the years.
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“You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.”
Many companies might do well when times are good and the economy is growing, but Buffett told investors that a crisis always reveals whether businesses are making sound decisions.
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“Who you associate with is just enormously important. Don’t expect that you’ll make every decision right on that. But you are going to have your life progress in the general direction of the people you work with, that you admire, that become your friends.”
Buffett always told young people that they should try to hang out with people who they feel are better than them because that will help improve their lives. He said that’s especially true when choosing a spouse, which might be the most important decision in life.
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“Our unwavering conclusion: never bet against America.”
Buffett has always remained steadfast in his belief in the American capitalist system. He wrote in 2021 that “there has been no incubator for unleashing human potential like America. Despite some severe interruptions, our country’s economic progress has been breathtaking.”
