From the Arab Spring to the Occupy Wall Street movement, "The Protester" was named TIME magazine's 2011 Person of the Year on Wednesday.
TIME defines the Person of the Year as someone who, for better or for worse, influences the events of the year.
"Is there a global tipping point for frustration? Everywhere, it seems, people said they'd had enough," editor Rick Stengel said in a statement.
"They dissented; they demanded; they did not despair. They literally embodied the idea that individual action can bring collective, colossal change," he said.
2011 has seen an almost unprecedented rise in both peaceful and sometimes violent unrest and dissent on almost every continent.
