Nations rage and kingdoms totter

2011 News of the Year | The 2011 street proved a potent vehicle for upending old orders | Mindy Belz

Associated Press photo by Ben Curtis

Convulsive changes defining a year of street rage began shortly before the year itself did, when Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old fruit seller in central Tunisia, had enough.

Authorities confiscated Bouazizi's street cart in December 2010, saying it was illegal. The vendor, who quit school as a teenager to support his extended family amid a 30 percent unemployment rate, planted himself in front of a government office in the city of Sidi Bouzid, doused himself in gasoline, and lit a match.

His immolation—and the Tunisian government's attempts to block Facebook pages constructed in his honor—ignited street protests. Bouazizi survived for 18 days, his cause pushing then-President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali even to visit him in the burn unit. But the 23-year regime of Ben Ali itself outlasted Bouazizi by only 10 days. On Jan. 14 Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia.