TIME's Person of the Year is RESIST's Person Every Year

The people at Time magazine must be reading RESIST’s Newsletter. In recognizing the “Protester” as their “Person of the Year,” they chose to honor the people RESIST has been honoring since our founding in 1967 - every year should be the year of the protester.

TIME traditionally has it backwards - choosing people in the 1% (Kissinger, Reagan, Bush) who created the problems we are organizing against. Even in the rare instances where they have gotten it right (Gandhi, King, Mandela) they chose trailblazing individuals who had powerful social movements to support them.

This year, TIME chose the people who we here at RESIST have always admired and supported.

As 2011 comes to a close on the calendar, we must not let our momentum dwindle down with it. The wind is at our backs, but 2012 will present even more challenges - the largest being the Presidential election, which will undoubtedly divert attention and money from grassroots movements.

From Tahrir Square to Zuccotti Park, these groups have been the igniters and the incubators of the new conversation that has emerged and the reason why a magazine like TIME could choose the “protester” as their “Person of the Year.”

But we shall not be diverted. As we build on this unprecedented momentum, our goal for 2012 is to fund even more of those protesters so that every year from now on is the year of the protester.

This was a historical year for RESIST - we awarded a record $342,935 to 130 of the most effective grassroots organizations in the US. These groups are the ones on the front lines fighting Wall Street and the big banks, the endless wars, the unjust immigration and incarceration systems, the assault on reproductive rights and the ecological destruction of our communities. We are able to support these amazing organizations because you support us!

If you have already given recently, thank you. If not, please consider making a generous contribution to help us continue to support the protesters, the organizers, and the activists in 2012...and beyond.

You can donate now online or send your contribution to RESIST, Inc., 259 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144

To not being diverted,

Saif Rahman