Day 2 of our protest tourism here in the nation's cultural capital--today less hectic and cop-laden, although we passed the pier near where yesterday's 1100 or so arrestees were being held, and noted a policeman sporting a veritable bouquet of plastic handcuffs.
Stopped by the Indymedia storefront, where photo exhibits of violence-torn Iraq and Palestine reminded us of all of the coverage we aren't getting as we flip from trivial Swift Boat charges to never-ending updates on Laci Peterson's dog. Continuing the theme from yesterday, we attended the Fight Fox party, hosted by Alternet, Disinfo.com, the Imagine Festival, Robert Greenwald and others--the anti-Fox efforts continue to multiply and morph.
Lunch with a co-founder of Code Pink; the group has made quite an impact at these anti-RNC protests--especially Medea Benjamin, who made it onto the convention floor during Arnold's speech to unfurl what she termed a "pro-life" banner: it read "Pro-Life: Stop the Killing in Iraq." As she was dragged away upside-down moments later, she stayed "on-message," yelling at Dick Cheney, "Stop the killing in Iraq! Stop the killing in Iraq! Stop the killing in Iraq!"
Now there's a talking point I can get behind.
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Jessica Clark is a writer, editor and researcher, with more than 15 years of experience spanning commercial, educational, independent and public media production. Currently she is the Research Director for American University’s Center for Social Media. She also writes a monthly column for PBS’ MediaShift on new directions in public media. She is the author, with Tracy Van Slyke, of Beyond the Echo Chamber: Reshaping Politics Through Networked Progressive Media (2010, New Press).
