First Tahrir Square, then last year’s Gezi protests in Istanbul, and now Kiev, Caracas, Sarajevo and Bangkok – people have been taking to the streets and holding their governments accountable. A wave of popular mobilisation is gathering pace and in an age of falling voter rolls and political apathy you would have to be stony-hearted not to feel a thrill at the sight. Nothing reveals the essence of popular politics more sharply than that moment when the vast distance that separates those who have power from those in whose name they rule is annihilated. The trappings of office count for nothing, the security forces melt away and the dictator is left alone and impotent. Nicolae Ceausescu’s uncertain wave to the booing crowds in December 1989 presaged his ignoble flight and eventual death.
起先是埃及解放廣場(chǎng)(Tahrir Square)，然后是去年伊斯坦布爾的加濟(jì)公園(Gezi)抗議，如今基輔、加拉加斯、薩拉熱窩和曼谷也加入進(jìn)來，人們紛紛涌上街頭，追究政府的責(zé)任。一股“大眾動(dòng)員”浪潮的勢(shì)頭越來越強(qiáng)——在投票人數(shù)不斷下降、民眾普遍政治冷漠的當(dāng)今時(shí)代，只有鐵石心腸的人才不會(huì)為這一幕感到心潮澎湃。當(dāng)橫亙?cè)谡茩?quán)者與被統(tǒng)治者之間遙遠(yuǎn)的距離被徹底打破，沒有什么比這一刻更尖銳地揭示出大眾政治的本質(zhì)。職權(quán)的排場(chǎng)已毫無意義，軍警瓦解，獨(dú)裁者受到孤立，再也撐不下去。1989年12月，尼古拉?齊奧塞斯庫(kù)(Nicolae Ceausescu)對(duì)著噓聲四起的人群那遲疑的揮手，預(yù)示了他后來不光彩的逃跑和最終的死亡。