Dilma está na lista dos 100 mais influentes do Mundo da revista "Time"

Meet the most influential people in the world. They are artists and activists, reformers and researchers, heads of state and captains of industry. Their ideas spark dialogue and dissent and sometimes even revolution.

É o segundo ano consecutivo que um presidente do Brasil figura neste ranking, já que no ano passado Lula da Silva também constava do top, bisando entre as escolhas da Time que o indicou pela primeira vez em 2004.
A revista Time acaba de divulgar a sua lista anual das 100 personalidades mais influentes. Dilma Rousseff, presidente do Brasil, é um dos nomes apontados. Uma escolha surpreendente, sobretudo quando a revista faz questão de esclarecer que, quanto aos governantes que indica, a menção reflecte a maneira como estes têm governado e refere como critério para o elenco  Their ideas spark dialogue and dissent and sometimes even revolution

Quem tem acompanhado a performance de Dilma nestes mais ou menos 100 dias de mandato sabe que, até ao momento, ainda nada de extraordinário sucedeu para que a presidente desse provas e se destacasse no recorte geográfico da política brasileira ou sequer no grande xadrez do Mundo. É um dado factual que nada tem a ver com as qualidades e atributos da própria e muito menos as compromete no futuro. Ainda assim, é um facto. Daí que a questão que me sobra diante da escolha da Time é a de saber se a inclusão do nome de Dilma na lista dos mais influentes significa efectivamente a escolha da presidente ou do país a que preside. É que assim de repente, aquilo que parece é que a Time, bem consciente do poder emergente que emana do Brasil, não o quis deixar fora da equação, com receio de incorrer numa falha rotunda, caso o fizesse.


Qualidades e atributos à parte, volvidos apenas 3 meses na presidência, o facto é que a revista considera que o grau de influência de Dilma no Mundo está ao nível de líderes como Barack Obama, David Cameron, Nicolas Sarkozy, e Angela Merkel, por exemplo. 

Meet the most influential people in the world. They are artists and activists, reformers and researchers, heads of state and captains of industry. Their ideas spark dialogue and dissent and sometimes even revolution.

mmmmm 

The Democratization of Influence
It's already become a cliché to say that change is the only constant, but more than ever, we are living in an age of constant, transformative change. The Arab Spring represents a world historical cascade of events that is changing the Middle East. The earthquake and tsunami in Japan could change the history of Asia. And this season of revolutionary change has been deepened, widened and accelerated by the power of social media. It's never been easier to influence or to be influenced.
This year's TIME 100 list reflects those stories, whether from the Middle East or Asia or the world of social media. You can sometimes impute influence by reverse engineering events: Who was responsible for triggering these extraordinary movements? Wael Ghonim's plaintive posts on Facebook helped spark the Egyptian revolution. Fathi Terbil's detention helped ignite the revolt in Libya. Katsunobu Sakurai denounced the lethargy of Japanese authorities in helping earthquake victims. The artist Ai Weiwei became the conscience of China.
Influence is impossible to measure. It's a little like what social scientists call the butterfly effect: the idea that a tiny change in one part of a system can yield gargantuan changes later on. But often this is a romantic illusion; large-scale changes occur only when great numbers of people become restive over time, just as people in the Middle East have been moved to shake off decades of authoritarian rule.
What social media have done is to make us all more aware of what's going on — and offer a new avenue to organize opposition. We like to think revolutions rise from below, but through most of human history, it's the elites who have caused and led revolutions. Now, because of social media, anyone can communicate with everyone. We're seeing that in the Middle East, Africa and China. The democratization of information may actually lead to real democracy.
Once again, the impresario of the TIME 100 list is assistant managing editor Radhika Jones, who did a superb job of putting the issue together. Our edit team orchestrated great pairings, recruiting as TIME 100 writers Barack Obama, Rush Limbaugh, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Helen Mirren. Senior art director Emily Crawford gave the issue a new, sprightly design, and associate picture editor Natalie Matutschovsky arranged to photograph Ghonim in Cairo — and "tiger mom" Amy Chua in her daughter's bedroom ... with live tigers.

by Richard Stengel

(Managing Editor)

O texto que acompanha o perfil que a Time traça de Dilma Rousseff ficou a cargo de Michelle Bachelet, actual directora da agência da ONU para as mulheres, ex-presidente do Chile e primeira mulher eleita presidente na América Latina. Segue em baixo, na íntegra:

by Michelle Bachelet

It's not easy being the first woman to govern your country. Beyond the honor it signifies, there are still prejudices and stereotypes to confront. Nor is it easy to govern an emerging nation: when societies begin to see the light of development at the end of the tunnel, there is a surge of optimism and enthusiasm, but the challenges become more complex and the citizenry more demanding. It's harder still to govern a country as large and globally relevant as Brazil.
Dilma Rousseff, 63, has all of this ahead of her. Brazil is living a unique moment in its history, one of great opportunity, which requires a leader with solid experience and firm ideals. Dilma offers precisely that virtuous combination of wisdom and conviction that her country needs. Brazil's new President is a courageous fighter who stood up to its former military dictatorship and has dedicated her life to building a democratic alternative for development, social equality and women's rights.

* Bachelet is the former President of Chile and the first executive director of U.N. Women

# Lista completa: "The 2011 TIME 100"