The honor of Time magazine?s 2011 ?Person of the Year? goes to ?the protester? ? from the demonstrators across the Arab world to the Occupy Wall Street movement that continues to make headlines.
?In the U.S., three acute and overlapping money crises ? tanked economy, systemic financial recklessness, gigantic public debt ? along with ongoing revelations of double dealing by banks, new state laws making certain public-employee-union demands illegal and the refusal of Congress to consider even slightly higher taxes on the very highest incomes mobilized Occupy Wall Street and its millions of supporters,? Kurt Andersen writes in the cover story about the protesters.
Continue ReadingThe beginning of a year of protests began in Tunisia, where a 26-year-old street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in December 2010, the magazine says. The event set off the beginning of the ?Arab Spring? revolution, which spread a spirit of protest throughout the U.S., and more recently, Russia.
?Leadership has come from the bottom of the pyramid, not the top,? writes Time?s managing editor Rick Stengel. ?For capturing and highlighting a global sense of restless promise, for upending governments and conventional wisdom, for combining the oldest of techniques with the newest of technologies to shine a light on human dignity and, finally, for steering the planet on a more democratic though sometimes more dangerous path for the 21st century, the Protester is Time?s 2011 Person of the Year.?
In an appearance on CNN Wednesday, Time?s deputy international editor Bobby Ghosh called 2011 the year in which ?the common man did remarkably uncommon things.?
?They?ve changed the international discussion around the economy, around dictatorship, around whether stability is more important than the people?s right to change. They?ve force us to think of the world in profoundly new way,? said Ghosh. ?There are no certainties anymore in the world, and in a good way.?
The four runners-up were Special-Ops commander William McRaven, Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei, Rep. Paul Ryan and England?s beloved new princess, Kate Middleton.
McRaven, who commanded the helicopter assault against Osama bin Laden?s compound in Pakistan and briefed Obama in real time during the top-secret operation, represents the ?patient and ingenious work by U.S. intelligence agencies? in the country?s battle against al-Qaeda,? the magazine said.
?Through a combination of hard work, good timing and possibly suicidal guts, the Wisconsin Republican managed to harness his party to a dramatic plan for dealing with America?s rapidly rising public debt,? Time wrote of Ryan.
Last year?s Person of the Year was Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg ? the recognition went to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in 2009 and President Barack Obama in 2008.
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