From Cairo to Tunis, demonstrators united by emotion, purpose and social media gather in their thousands to topple long-standing despotic regimes. Across the UK, crowds of a different temperament surge through summer streets, leaving behind them a trail of destruction. Meanwhile, in the world’s financial centres, bond traders linked by the internet behave like a “virtual” crowd as they sell the securities of increasingly embattled eurozone members, leading yields to soar.
從開羅到突尼斯城,成千上萬心懷相同的情緒和目的、利用社交網絡聯合起來的示威群眾,推翻了長期在位的獨裁政權。在英國各地,性情與阿拉伯抗議者截然不同的人群涌上了夏日的街頭,所到之處都留下了破壞的痕跡。與此同時,在世界各地的金融中心,通過互聯網聯系起來的債券交易員形成了一個“虛擬”群體,他們一起拋售處境日益艱難的歐元區成員國的債券,使得這些債券的收益率急劇上升。