More from the Shut-Up-A-Thon (posted by Jessica Clark):
The protest is bristling with media interviewing media about media. Cops (with camcorders!) and legal observers in neon green hats huddle in equal ratio to activists with signs. New forms of activism are spawned by keep-moving edicts: skirted male cheerleaders in giant Bush heads sashay along the crosswalks; pedestrians chant and shuffle next to the protest pen; vehices drive-by--the Outfoxed van and a "pants on fire" float roll slowly by the crowded intersection to the cheers of the crowd.
Code Pink activists are dressed and ready for deployment. A burly, tattooed Henry Rollins type sporting a Mao button argues with a button-down white guy holding an "Americans Love Fox" sign. One female activist is arrested, tailed by a mob of reporters and observers chanting "let her go." The crowd, penned in by both bars and news vans, chants "Shut Up" and "O' Reilly, interview us." In a moment of claustrophobia, I push through the small crowd to the edge, where a giant carrot implores passersby to vote for it for president, and a set of anti-Bush bumper stickers are for sale. A policeman yells "Hey, take that off your face," and we drift off down the shiny streets past a line of 40 or so motorcycle police, heading off to the next eruption.
Aaron Sarver is an independent audio producer and writer based in Chicago. His work has appeared in In These Times, The Chicago Reader, Alternet.org, and on Free Speech Radio News. For nearly three years he produced and co-hosted the radio program, Fire on the Prairie, which featured interviews with progressive writers and activists, and is archived at fireontheprairie.com.
