"The Protester" TIME Magazine's Person of the Year for 2011

Associated Press, in Globe and Mail, December 14, 2011
The Protester” has been named Time's “Person of the Year” for 2011.

The selection was announced Wednesday on NBC's “The Today Show.”
The magazine cited dissent across the Middle East that has spread to Europe and the United States, and says these protesters are reshaping global politics....
Time said it is recognizing protesters because they are “redefining people power” around the world.

Last year, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg got the honor.

Time's “Person of the Year” is the person or thing that has most influenced the culture and the news during the past year for good or for ill. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke received the honor in 2009. The 2008 winner was then-President-elect Barack Obama. Other previous winners have included Bono, President George W. Bush, and Amazon.com CEO and founder Jeff Bezos.
"The Protester" is an excellent choice, and the waves of influence continue to roll in Moscow, in the U.S., and still those courageous citizens of several countries in the Middle East are still being struck down (yesterday, reports tols of 8 killed by the Syrian authorities in their protest to bring down their president, Assad.)
Even in Canada, where the authorities have virtually forced the encampments into exile, there are clear indications that the theme of "income disparity" has taken on a face of its own, currently the Attawapiskat housing crisis.
And there are reported to be at least 100 more First Nations housing crises across the country, waiting for the public, the media and the politicians to bring their eye lenses into focus in order to see them clearly.
Protesting, especially in a "politically correct" culture takes considerable courage, imagination and perserverance.
It draws on those most committed to shifting the power structure from the elite to the bottom 99%.
People in the streets in Moscow have been very careful to tell reporters interviewing them that "we do no want a revolution, we just want our votes to count". So even Vladimir Putin is now having to deal with a protest movement that questions the legitimacy of his own election. Incidentally, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, also chimed in to question the legitimacy of the voting in Russia, that is a mighty strong political voice in support of the people in Russia.
The Occupy Movement could, conceivably, shape the Presidential election in the U.S. in 2011, with President Obama already sending out signals that "fairness" and shared opportunity are cornerstones of the American bargain, if the society is to function effectively for everyone. The Republicans are still advocating lower taxes for the rich, and less government, and the destruction and removal of the Obama Health Reform Act.