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Top 10 Global Thinkers of 2012

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Globalization is a catchphrase commonly heard from journalists and politicians. In the past 100 years it has become a key idea for businesses and has been a matter of discourse and debate. There is no one way of describing globalization and its origins. However, theorists have come up with a definition which defines the term as a way to spread and interconnect production, communication and technology across the world. This spread has been interlacedwith economic and cultural activity.

Globalization has brought with it the bad and the good. With increasing economics interconnecting, the poorer, peripheral countries have become more dependent on industrialized countries and their activity, capital and technical expertise.

There are some thinkers who are aiming to be global figures. They aim to change the world and the way we do things for the better. This article shows some of the accomplishments the following people made with the spread of globalization.

 

1. Hilary Clinton:

In the last year as Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton is doing more than ever before, expanding her limited role in politics. She broke travel records, trying to pioneer partnerships and friendship and to allow ambassadors and other officers to finally start tweeting. Moreover, she has been a champion for women`s rights and progress, investing her time to advocate for their basic rights.

In 2011, Foreign Policy magazines placed her on the list of top 100 global thinkers. Along with her husband, they are known as the power couple who offers optimism to other Americans In 2011, Hilary Clinton was quite eventful for releasing the first Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, an agency-wide audit of the State Department`s best practices.

It is thus only fair to place Clinton again on this list as she never stops to amaze us.

 

2. Mustafa Abdel Jalil:

All eyes are on this man in Libya who leads the country through the transitional government. As acting president, he is responsible for preventing collapse and for avoiding the country`s descent into chaos.

We can never forget the events that unfolded in Libya on February 17, 2011. Major protests began in the country opposing Muammar Gaddafi`s rule. These protests had gained momentum, and size and caused chaos up until October of 2011. Gaddafi was adamant about not giving up, accusing the rebels of being drug addicts and linked to al-Qaeda. In fact he provided his soldiers with Viagra-type pills to rape innocent women.

 

3. Marie Colvin:

This reporter who worked for the Sunday Times in Britain dedicated her life’s work to bringing people the truth. All eyes were on her this year as she was killed covering the chaos in Syria.

Throughout her career, she has covered most conflicts including Chechnya, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. Most notably she has been given credit for saving 1500 women and children besieged by Indonesian backed forces. Before her death, she lost her sight in her left eye due a blast by a rocket propeller in Sri Lanka.

She was a global thinker, aiming to bring change and democracy to countries torn by war. Hopefully her efforts in Syria do not go in vain.

 

4. Marc Andreesseen:

The growth of the World Wide Web could not have been made possible without this man and a simple product called a browser. The browser was invented by Marc Andreessen. The program was called the Mosaic program when he was in college; it later became known as the Netscape Navigator, a company he founded in 1994. The browser had a larger significance for us, it stimulated 10,000% increase in web users within 2 years.

In 2012, he continued to make Silicon Valley magical. In his company Andreessen Horowitz, headed up by him and Ben Horowitz, competition has been fierce. The firm has funded some of the largest and well-known companies we use today, including Facebook, Twitter, Groupon and Zynga.

 

5. Michael Bloomberg:

This New York mayor is one of the most prominent advocates for immigration. In recent years, most notably 2012, he fought for more inclusivity and tolerance in society. He equally started a bipartisan partnership for a New American Economy, building coalitions among leaders and pushing the way for common sense immigration reform. Creating jobs and expand the middle class are some of his other concern.

Most notable are his efforts for religious freedom. In 2011, he was nominated for the Foreign Policy list for trying to include Muslims in the cliché of Americans.

 

6. Lucas Papademos:

All eyes are one Greece and its Prime Minister who assumed office in November 2011. He formed a coalition between 3-5 parliamentary parties. Now they are battling over a task to allow EU`s bailout to proceed and eventually lead to new elections of a newly formed government. Will he be able to save Greece?

 

7. Teresa Bo:

Teresa Bo is a correspondent for Aljezeera.com and is based in Buenos Aires. She has dedicated her recent work to investigating Argentinian politics and has fought against the war on drugs. She’s traveled to countries like Columbia, Bolivia and Peru, reporting on the in-depth and up-to-date news on the issue that troubles the world.

For this work, she has won 2 awards in Spain, including the prestigious Lara Prize for Best Journalist.

 

8. Gene Sharp:

Sharp has been known for making headlines regarding his commitment to change. He has written a catalog of 2000 non-violent techniques and has inspired China’s Tiananmen square in 1989 and Egypt’s Arab Spring protests in 2009/2010. He believes that non-violent protests are more legitimize, allowing a broad alliance between the people and the government.

 

9. Lubna Hussein:

In 2009, Hussein stood up to her country’s (Sudan) strict laws forbidding women to wear trousers in public. Facing scrutiny and lashings, she stood up in court and fought for women’s right for expression. She is now facing up to 40 lashes for her crimes as she was arrested. It’s up to her now to be defiant and to lead the way for change in an unequal society.

 

10. Julian Assange:

He and Wikileaks has exposed more organizations and leaders for corruption behind politics. Supporting him, could bring more truth to global politics and hold the leaders in each country accountable for his/her actions. Sadly, we cannot make this consistent or homogeneous.

 

Further Readings:

http://www.answers.com/topic/marc-andreessen

http://www.time.com/

 

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