Word: revoltings
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Timing matters. Steven Spielberg's 1997 slave-revolt tale got shut out amid plagiarism charges. The suit was dropped, but not in time for ANTHONY HOPKINS or DJIMON HOUNSOU to take home a statue...
...word brought together the disparate events of 2004: insurgency. It's a strange term--but we've got quite used to it. Think of it as not quite a revolution but more than mere discontent. The dictionary describes it as "a condition of revolt against a recognized government that does not reach the proportions of an organized revolutionary government." Yep, a war that is not a real war, a halfway, inconclusive revolt without end, a battle of attrition that polarizes as it goes essentially nowhere...
...Iraq it had a literal meaning. Each month the number of attacks on coalition troops went up, after a wildfire revolt in the spring. Slowly, sovereignty shifted toward the Iraqis, but just as slowly, attempts to eliminate resistance seemed merely to move it around. Even after the climactic battle to retake Fallujah in November, violence spiked in Mosul and Baghdad. Progress in reconstruction and political engagement is now measurable. Smart observers see flickers of hope in the possibility of elections next month. But the insurgents remain--increasingly organized, angry, yet still distant from any semblance of real power...
...ethic of revolt was infectious nonetheless. Shock jocks like Howard Stern moved to satellite radio to duck government monitoring of the public airwaves. Fox News continued its guerrilla war against its rivals and ended up beating the networks at G.O.P. Convention time. Jon Stewart's fake news show took on real news shows--and won. Richard Clarke waged a lone, self-righteous battle against his former bosses in the Bush Administration. The swift-boat vets launched a publicity-seeking missile at one of their own--John Kerry. On the other side, George Soros helped bankroll a million points of protest...
...Some Australian nationalists this month are lobbying to ditch their current symbol, far left--which includes Britain's Union Jack--because it conjures up the country's roots as a penal colony. Instead, the Aussies are pushing for a new flag celebrating the 19th century Eureka Stockade, a tax revolt some liken to the Boston Tea Party. Australia is just one of several countries reconsidering their colors. --By Jeremy Caplan...