2011: A Year in Photos
Edited by Adel Alsalman and Marwan Tahtah
It was a hectic year, a year to remember. In 2011, the masses rose against the ruling elite and the dictators. The revolutionaries, the “99 percent” and the “indignants” took center stage, standing against the might of regimes and unfair economic policies – succeeding in inducing change, and gaining the attention of the world. Nature, also, unleashed its fury onto the world from tsunamis to earthquakes, leaving behind a sea of debris.
2011 presented us with many provocative images, both laden with symbolism and true beauty. Selecting the best pictures was not an easy task. This blog tries to bring back, what in this editors humble opinion are, the best pictures of 2011.
5 January 2011
A fisherman arranges a net as his wife paddles their boat in the waters of the Periyar river on the outskirts of the southern Indian city of Kochi. (Photo: REUTERS - Sivaram V)9 January 2011
Orich Florestal (Left), 24 and Rosemond Altidon, 22, stand on the edge of their partially destroyed apartment one year on from the earthquake that killed around 250,000 people and wrecked much of the capital Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Photo: REUTERS - Allison Shelley)20 January 2011
A Tunisian protester grabs hold of a soldier's leg for safety as shots are fired in the air in front of the headquarters of the dissolved Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) party. On 14 January 2011 Tunisians succeeded in ousting President Ben Ali after 28 days of protesting, ending his 23 year reign. (Photo: REUTERS - Zohra Bensemra)25 January 2011
Clashes between Future Movement supporters and the Army in Cola area, Beirut, Lebanon. As Saad Hariri's government was replaced by that of Najib Miqati's. (Photo: Haytham al-Moussawi)28 January 2011
A protester stands in front of a burning barricade during a demonstration in Cairo. On February 11 Egyptian protestors succeeded in ending President Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule. (Photo: REUTERS - Goran Tomasevic)29 January 2011
Demonstrations supporting the January 25 movement next to the Egyptian embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. (Photo: Marwan Bu Haidar)1 February 2011
Demonstrations supporting the January 25 movement next to the Egyptian embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. (Photo: Marwan Bu Haidar)1 February 2011
A woman walks near a beggar in a pedestrian subway in Tbilisi, Georgia. (Photo: REUTERS - David Mdzinarishvili)5 February 2011
An opposition demonstrator prays in front of an army soldiers near Tahrir Square in Cairo. After 18 days of protests, Hosni Mubarak resigned from office. (Photo: REUTERS - Yannis Behrakis)17 February 2011
A woman works with tea in Tiassale, Côte d'Ivoire. In 2011 presidential elections sparked a military conflict in Côte d'Ivoire. (Photo: Hassan Bahsoun)6 March 2011
Anti-Gaddafi protesters hanging effigies of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi are reflected in a photo of a youth who was killed in this year's clashes in Benghazi. The 8 month uprising culminated in ending the 41 year reign of Muammar Gaddafi. (Photo: REUTERS - Suhaib Salem)6 March 2011
A woman wears a Rafiq Hariri earing, in Beirut. 2011 marked the 6 year anniversary of former Lebanese PM Hariri's assassination. The controversial Special Tribunal for Lebanon accused 4 members of Hezbollah with carrying out the assassination. However, this was largely perceived as politically motivated and not based on sound judicial procedures and principles. (Photo: Marwan Tahtah)12 March 2011
A vehicle is half submerged at a crossroad after an earthquake and tsunami in Sendai, northeastern Japan. An earthquake with a 9.0 magnitude, struck off the coast of Japan with devastating consequences. (Photo: REUTERS - Jo Yong-Hak)12 March 2011
Skaters from the US, China, Britain and Canada compete in the men's 5,000 meters semi-final during the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Sheffield, UK. (Photo: REUTERS - Phil Noble)16 March 2011
A man in Beirut waves the Bahraini flag during a demonstration supporting the uprising in Bahrain. The uprising in Bahrain left tens dead, and thousands injured. (Photo: Haytham al-Moussawi)21 March 2011
A destroyed piano is partially submerged in water in an area devastated by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Rikuzentakat. Tsunami waves reached heights of 40 meters. (Photo: REUTERS - Damir Sagolj)22 March 2011
A photograph is seen in the rubble of a destroyed house in Otsuchi, Japan after the area was devastated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami leaving behind more than 15,000 casualties. (Photo: REUTERS - Damir Sagolj)25 March 2011
A supporter of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh holds a poster of Saleh while riding a horse during a rally in Sanaa. Saleh signed an agreement brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council, stipulating that he will relinquish his presidency. (Photo: REUTERS - Khaled Abdullah)28 March 2011
A boy leans on a wall reading "Military," during a demonstration by the families of prisoners, next to Justice Palace, Lebanon. Families demanded reducing the official prison year from 12 to 9 months. (Photo: Bilal Jawish)30 March 2011
Pro-Assad Syrians demonstrate next to the Syrian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon as the Syrian uprising was getting underway. (Photo: Marwan Tahtah)5 April 2011
US Army medic Quincy Northern from "Dustoff" team, C Company, 1-214 Aviation Regiment, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, walks toward his medevac helicopter in Afghanistan. Nearly 10 years after the US invaded Afghanistan in search of Osama bin Laden, he would be killed a month later in Abbottabad, Pakistan (Photo: REUTERS - Denis Sinyakov)21 April 2011
Rebel fighters run for cover inside a building on the frontline in central Misrata, Libya. Gaddafi remained at large until he was captured and killed, on 20 October 2011. (Photo: REUTERS - Yannis Behrakis)1 May 2011
(Left) A man carries a Cedar model during a march on World Labor day. | (Right) A girl wears a shirt that reads "I want to marry you, should I change my religion" during a demonstration against the sectarian system of government in Lebanon. (Photos: Bilal Jawish)4 May 2011
Smoke rises from Roumieh prison, Beirut. Clashes erupted after riot police attempted to subdue an uprising demanding better living conditions inside the crowded prison. (Photo: Haytham al-Moussawi)4 May 2011
Family members of detainees express solidarity in front of Roumieh prison. The families demonstrated in solidarity with the detainees, as they demanded immediate action for the problem of overcrowdedness inside the prison. (Photo: Haytham al-Moussawi)15 May 2011
Two elderly Palestinians wave the Palestinian flag during a demonstration in Maroun el-Ras, Lebanon overlooking Palestine. The 15 May Nakba demonstrations also witnessed an unprecedented demonstration on the Syrian/Israeli-occupied Golan Heights border.(Photo: Hassan Bahsoun)19 May 2011
Women and children run from a fire in Kuma Garadayat, a village in North Darfur controlled by members of SLA-Free Will faction, a signatory of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA). (Photo: REUTERS - Albert Gonzalez Farran - UNAMID)3 June 2011
Demonstrators call for the end of sectarian governmental system next to the national museum, Lebanon. (Photo: Marwan Bu Haidar)12 June 2011
US Army soldiers from the 2nd Platoon, B battery 2-8 field artillery, fire a howitzer, at Seprwan Ghar forward fire base in Panjwai district, Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan. (Photo: REUTERS - Baz Ratner)12 June 2011
Goran Bregovic performs a concert in Beirut. (Photo: Marwan Tahtah)14 June 2011
A protester holds a card that reads "Raise your hand up high against Domestic violence," downtown Beirut, Lebanon. (Photo: Marwan Tahtah)28 June 2011
Workers use electric irons to smooth out a Communist Party of China flag on a table at the Beijing Jingong Red Flag factory located on the outskirts of Beijing. Many celebrated the PRC's 62nd anniversary this year, though many Uighurs and Tibetans demonstrated against it. (Photo: REUTERS - David Gray)5 July 2011
A Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) soldier stands at attention during an Independence Day rehearsal in Juba. On 9 July 2011 South Sudan was declared an independent state. (Photo: REUTERS - Goran Tomasevic)14 July 2011
7 kidnapped Estonians stand on the balcony of the French Embassy after their release, Beirut. The Estonians were held captive for months in Lebanon's Bekaa valley. (Photo: Haytham al-Moussawi)25 July 2011
Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik (Left), the man accused of a killing spree and bomb attack in Norway, sits in the rear of a vehicle as he is transported in a police convoy in Oslo. The death toll of the attacks in Oslo and Utoya reached 77. (Photo: REUTERS - Jon-Are Berg-Jacobsen)8 August 2011
Riot police charge past burning buildings on a residential street in Croydon, south London. The killing of Mark Duggan triggered deadly riots in England which lasted 4 days in several London boroughs. (Photo: REUTERS - Dylan Martinez)20 August 2011
Gary Hunt of the United Kingdom dives in the final round of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series 2011 competition in Boston, USA. (Photo: REUTERS - Brian Snyder)11 September 2011
An Ivorian man stands under a waterfall in the city of Man, 400km from Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. (Photo: Hassan Bahsoun)16 September 2011
A Greek man sets himself on fire outside a bank branch in Thessaloniki. The 55-year old man had entered the bank and asked for a renegotiation of his overdue loan payments on his home and business, according to police, which he could not pay, but was refused by the bank. This year Greece teetered on the brink of financial collapse and threatened taking the EU down with it. (Photo: REUTERS - Nodas Stylianidis)27 September 2011
A girl checks the display during an art exhibit in Biel center, Beirut. (Photo: Marwan Tahtah)2 October 2011
A girl walks by a pub in Hamra, Lebanon. (Photo: Marwan Bu Haidar)5 October 2011
A picture of North Korea's founder Kim Il-sung is illuminated in Pyongyang. North Korea's "Supreme Leader" Kim Jong-Il would soon suffer a fatal heart attack, leaving power to his 24-year-old son. (Photo: REUTERS - Damir Sagolj)5 October 2011
Military frogmen practice during a national day rehearsal at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei. (Photo: REUTERS - Pichi Chuang)6 October 2011
Carnations are placed before a computer screen showing a portrait of Apple co-founder and former CEO the late Steve Jobs at an Apple store in St. Petersburg, Russia. (Photo: REUTERS - Alexander Demianchuk)15 October 2011
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks to demonstrators from the steps of Saint Paul's Cathedral in central London. Wikileaks launched a fundraising campaign in retaliation to the worldwide financial blockade against them. (Photo: AFP - Leon Neal)24 October 2011
A Buddhist monk walks on a flooded street in central Bangkok. Thailand struggled with its worst flooding in 50 years, which affected a third of its provinces and swamped its densely populated capital. (Photo: REUTERS - Damir Sagolj)24 October 2011
Smoke rises from burning tires on Periferico Avenue in Guatemala City. Protesters gathered to demonstrate to demand that Congress pass the Law 38-69 housing law. The law will guarantee adequate housing, services and infrastructure for people living in informal settlements without basic services. (Photo: REUTERS - William Gularte)28 October 2011
A woman looks at an art installation named "Forever Bicycles" by dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei during a media preview of the "Ai WeiweiAbsent" exhibition in Taipei. (Photo: REUTERS - Pichi Chuang)15 November 2011
Celebrations of the Korean battalion of UNIFIL at the end of their deployment in Teir Dibba, South Lebanon. 6 Italian soldiers were wounded by a roadside bomb near Sidon on May 27. (Photo: Hassan Bahsoun)17 November 2011
Roshan Bliss, who says he has a debt of US$50,000 in school loans, attends an Occupy Denver demonstration in Denver, Colorado. The Occupy Wall Street movement gained worldwide support in scores of cities around the world. (Photo: REUTERS - Nathan W. Armes)24 November 2011
Three barrels painted with the symbol for nuclear radiation are laid down in a field in protest against a storage for nuclear waste in Grabow near Luechow and Dannenberg, northern Germany. (Photo: AFP - Johannes Eisele)3 December 2011
As-Sa'iqa headquarters in Ein el-Hilwe camp, South Lebanon. (Photo: Alia Haju)7 December 2011
A man rests on the steps after performing Ashura rituals in Nabatieh, South Lebanon. (Photo: Marwan Tahtah)15 December 2011
(Left) An activist of the animal-rights group "AnimaNaturalis" lays down naked on a giant plate of food during a performance to denounce the consumption of meat in the center of Barcelona. | (Right) Flea of the US band Red Hot Chili Peppers performs on stage at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona. (Photos: AFP - Josep Lago)18 December 2011
A pro-Assad demonstration in Damascus. 9 months into the uprising, thousands of protesters had been killed. (Photo: Alia Haju)18 December 2011
A pro-Assad demonstration in Damascus. (Photo: Alia Haju)