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All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do
nothing.
Edmund Burke
Irish orator, philosopher &
politician (1729 - 1797)
No one could have known that when a Tunisian fruit
vendor set himself on fire in a public square, it would incite protests that
would topple dictators and start a global wave of dissent. In 2011, protesters
didn’t just voice their complaints; they changed the world.
Read more: Time.com |
For
“once again becoming a maker of history” two sleepy decades after political
soothsayer Francis Fukuyama declared Western liberalism the end point in the
evolution of human society, Time magazine named “The Protester” 2011’s Person
of the Year.
Nathan
Schneider, author and editor with a number of publishing outfits—including
‘Waging Nonviolence,’ a blog devoted to analysis of nonviolent movements around
the world—was pleased with Time’s decision. He pointed out, however,
that the mainstream American press was slow to get to the uprisings at home and
beyond: “As I first saw this announcement percolating on Twitter, being spread
around proudly every which way by Occupy Wall Street-allied accounts, all I
could think was: What took you so long? Where were you?” he asked.
“Where,
I mean to say, was the American press when Tunisia—or Egypt—first started
lighting up,” he continued, “when we at Waging Nonviolence were glued to
Al-Jazeera and our Twitter feeds, wishing we had the means to be there
ourselves? In the American news, the start of those revolutions was hardly a
blip—that is, until Anderson Cooper got beaten up in Cairo.” —ARK [ Truthdig.com ]
