A Toast to "The Protestor"

Congratulations to Time magazine for naming “The Protestor” as “Person of the Year” for 2011. It certainly sums up the global feeling of dissent that pervades our world while at the same time strengthens the belief in the importance of democracy and the power of the individual.

Over the past year, “The Protester” has voiced dissent against authoritarian leaders, first in Tunisia, and then in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Bahrain. “The Protester “in Spain and in Greece struggled with a floundering economy. “The Protester” voiced anger over possibly rigged elections, in countries as diverse as Russia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the U.S., the Occupy Wall Street protestor began demonstrating first in New York, and then in Washington, Chicago, Oakland, Boston and cities as small as Worcester, calling attention to the growing gap between the very rich and everyone else.

"Everywhere, it seems, people said they'd had enough," said Time editor Rick Stengel. "They dissented; they demanded; they did not despair, even when the answers came back in a cloud of tear gas or a hail of bullets. They literally embodied the idea that individual action can bring collective, colossal change. And although it was understood differently in different places, the idea of democracy was present in every gathering." This year was hardly the first in which crowds of people took to the streets. Indeed, the Quaker adage of speaking truth to power is at least 60 years old in its word formula and centuries, if not millennia old, in its spirit. There were food riots in the ancient world, slave rebellions in Roman times and the occasional revolution, peaceful or not, since the 1700s.

Given how nasty, brutish and short human lives have been over the eons, it may be more of a wonder that there have been so few revolutions. And that goes to one of the points that Time magazine writer Kurt Anderson makes in his argument for the protester selection.

“‘Massive and effective street protest was a global oxymoron until - suddenly, shockingly - starting exactly a year ago, it became the defining trope of our times”. And “The Protester”, once again, became “a maker of history," according to Anderson.

And so, here is a New Year’s toast to “The Protestor” whoever and wherever you may be. May you continue to have the conviction and the freedom to speak truth to power.