The Personality of the Year 2012 on RRI
RRI's listeners, internet and social media users designated Felix Baumgartner the personality of the year 2012.
Eugen Cojocariu, 09.01.2013, 22:45
Dear friends, Radio Romania International has continued its traditional end of the year survey among its listeners and Internet and social media users. We have challenged you to name a personality from any field of activity, who, through his or her attitude or ideas has most significantly contributed to the world’s progress in the year 2012.
Among those nominated was German chancellor Angela Merkel, US president Barack Obama, famous human rights activist from Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi, the European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, Pope Benedict the 16th, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the young Pakistani human rights activist Malala Yousafzai, a symbol of the women’s fight for education under the Taliban, and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
Other nominees from our listeners and internet users are the protesters against the measures taken by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the Syrian Liberation Army, members of the Occupy Wall Street movement or the Russian Punk Band Pussy Riot, but also the average European citizens, of Greece, Spain, Portugal or Italy, struggling to weather an economic crisis they didn’t cause.
Other nominees included Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and south-Korean artist Psy (Park Jae-sang), whose his hit ‘Gangnam style’ not only made him famous, but also brought up a new dance style. Another nomination went to a non-human – ‘Curiosity,’ the robot that landed on Mars in August 2012.
Some of the athletes who got nominations were Jamaican runner Usain Bolt and handicapped South African athlete Oscar Pistorius, who made history in the London Paralympics.
Radio Romania International has designated Felix Baumgartner as the personality of the year 2012. This Austrian skydiver on October the 14th jumped off an aerostatic balloon at 39 kilometers, to become the first man to break the sound barrier in free-fall. ‘A performance difficult to repeat in these sad times, which gives us unexpected hope and invites us to be brave’, this is how RRI listener from Italy Luigi Cobisi has motivated his choice.
