‘Silence Breakers’ are Time’s Person of the Year
While Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman won the Time readers’ poll, the magazine yesterday announced The Silence Breakers as its pick for 2017 Person of the Year.
The group revealed the pervasiveness of sexual harassment and assault in various industries that triggered a national reckoning in the United States. The decision came from the
Time editors who base their selection on a person or group of people who most influenced the news during the past year, for better or worse.
“This is the fastest moving social change we’ve seen in decades, and it began with individual acts of courage by hundreds of women – and some men, too – who came forward to tell their stories,” Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal told NBC’s Today programme.
Prince Mohammed won the poll with 24 per cent of votes and made headlines this year when he launched an anti-corruption crackdown that led to the arrest of more than 300 people, including princes, former and current ministers and billionaire businessmen.
He has also been lauded for his efforts in reforming Saudi Arabia’s political and economic landscape and for leading the Saudi Vision 2030. The most important changes in the kingdom included the decision to allow women to drive from next year, plans to sell a stake in national oil company Aramco and restricting the powers of the religious police.
Also shortlisted were US president Donald Trump, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, China’s president Xi Jinping and US special counsel Robert Mueller.