For decades Time magazine has published an issue dedicated to the person or group, they believe to be the “person of the year.” On Wednesday, Time made the announcement once again, and declared “The Protester” as the person of the year.
Throughout the year, protests have sprouted up around the world: In Tunisia and Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Russia, citizens yearend to have their voices heard. Some toppled governments, others are still fighting for the change in governments that they have no faith in.
Americans have seen “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrations emerge throughout the county, starting in New York and spreading to the West Coast. Long Island even has its own Occupy Wall Street group. Hundreds have been arrested in New York alone. Encampments that bloomed and later evolved into small cities were eventually shut down.
“Not only did protest come back in this big, globally contagious way this year, but we are two regimes down and counting,” Kurt Anderson, the author of the story said in a video on the Time website. He added, “there’s this incredible effect that makes it the biggest deal in more than a century in terms of this global sense of protesting against governments that are perceived as corrupt and ineffectual.”
The Protester beat out Kate Middleton, Navy Adm. William McRaven, and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). Last year, Time selected Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The cover of the magazine gives The Protester a face, while also mentioning demonstrations from around the world. “From Arab Spring to Athens, From Occupy Wall Street to Moscow,” reads the print on the cover.
Writes Richard Stengel, Time magazine’s managing editor:
The 2011 Person of the Year issue is the product of a year’s worth of reporting and thinking. From the beginning of the Arab Spring, we dedicated an abundance of resources to this world-historical story. We also watched as the germ of protest spread to Europe and then America and now Russia.
