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.
从开罗到突尼斯城,成千上万心怀相同的情绪和目的、利用社交网络联合起来的示威群众,推翻了长期在位的独裁政权。在英国各地,性情与阿拉伯抗议者截然不同的人群涌上了夏日的街头,所到之处都留下了破坏的痕迹。与此同时,在世界各地的金融中心,通过互联网联系起来的债券交易员形成了一个“虚拟”群体,他们一起抛售处境日益艰难的欧元区成员国的债券,使得这些债券的收益率急剧上升。