CNN news 2011-12-26 加文本

cnn news 2011-12-26

ZAIN VERJEE, cnn CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was the year of people power, of revolution.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something I've never seen before, a phalanx of men on horseback and on camels.

VERJEE: And bloodshed that doomed dictators.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one's going home. No one is going to go home. We're in this until the end, even if it means we're going to die.

VERJEE: It started with one man in one country, Tunisia who set himself on fire when the police confiscated his fruit cart, leaving him with no way to make money. That set off a movement that kicked out long-time president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

A region was gripped with freedom fever fueled by social media, protests erupt in Algeria and then Yemen.

Its leader, Ali Abdullah Saleh, seriously injured when his palace was shelled, left the country for treatment, returned, and later gave up power.

Protests in Bahrain, Morocco, Jordan.

Egyptians filled Tahrir Square in the center of Cairo protesting for weekes.

ANDERSON COOPER, cnn HOST, "AC 360": These protests have gone on all day long. It's now almost 5:00 in the afternoon and two hours after curfew has begun. But, still, the square is packed with people and these protests will likely go well into the night.

VERJEE: Their demand, long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak has to go.

By February, he was gone.

REPORTER: Did you ever imagine this would be happening in Egypt?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One month ago, I would never imagine. And for me, I'm a young man, and I always believed that my generation would never make any history.

VERJEE: The Arab Spring then hits Libya. The oppositions galvanize to get rid of Moammar Gadhafi.

NATO launches air support, the country becomes a war zone. Tripoli eventually falls.

SARA SIDNER, cnn INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is an important day especially for the rebels who Gadhafi said would never be able to break his spirit, will never be able to take the city.

VERJEE: Eight bloody months later, the tyrant was dead.

The world's attention now focused on Syria, will it be the next domino to fall? Even with the brutal crackdown of the regime, demonstrators are on the streets.

According to the U.N., at least 5,000 have been killed since March.

Some fight for their freedom, others protest for bread and butter.

In Europe, thousands demonstrate, angry at tough economic conditions. Furious protesters in Greece battle with riot police for weeks against pay cuts and layoffs.

BECKY ANDERSON, cnn INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is called a suicide earlier on by the Bank of Greece governor. He said if we don't pass this, the country's gone.

VERJEE: In England, peaceful protests turned ugly. Discontented youth fought with police and looted and destroyed parts of the city.

In September, the Occupy Wall Street movements started in New York and soon gripped major capitals around the world, condemning the wealthiest 1 percent for leaving the other 99 percent out in the cold.

And by December, a glimpse of people power in Russia, thousands marched, rejecting election results favoring Vladimir Putin's party frustrated, too, with corruption and economic stagnation.

2011 shattered and rattled the political orders of the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This will send shockwaves throughout the region.

VERJEE: Setting in motion a wave of discontent, the promises to watch and to the years to come.

Zain Verjee, cnn, London.