One of the amazing things to come out of the occupy movement is the human microphone: a pragmatic way that Occupy Wall Street protesters in Zuccotti Park cope with the constraint that they may not use any sort of public address system.
The speaker calls out “Mic check!” which tells the audience to pay attention. What follows then is a back and forth between speaker and audience in which words are spoken first by the speaker and then repeated by the audience, clause by clause, so that everyone can hear, all the way from the front to the back of the crowd.
It’s an amazing experience, not only for the practicality of it but also for the way in which the audience is actively engaged.
I have two examples for you: one a bit intellectual, the other more visceral.
1. Mic Check—Arundhati Roy
This video of Arundhati Roy speaking in New York shows how the human microphone works. It shows her learning to pace her words and gradually move from giving a traditional speech to something different.
At [0:30], the crowd applauds as Roy takes the stage. Right away, you get a feeling for how human microphone addresses work.
Roy calls for a mic check herself at [1:10]. She begins with a longish sentence thanking Judson Memorial Church and the audience. At [1:25] she starts a sentence which is too long for the audience to absorb and repeat, and you can see the realization on Roy’s face that she needs to adapt, smiling and nodding in implicit acknowledgement to the audience that she’ll figure it out.
In her next sentence at [1:30], she figures it out.
But today the people are back.
But today the people are back.
Short and sweet and exactly the stuff of the human microphone.
She gets better and better with the medium. And as I watched it online, I eventually found myself, eyes closed, repeating her words with the audience. I too became an active listener.
It’s a great talk in its own right. I highly recommend it.
[2:20] What you have achieved … is to introduce a new imagination, a new political language, into the heart of empire. You have reintroduced the right to dream into a system that tried to turn everybody into zombies mesmerized into equating mindless consumerism with happiness and fulfillment. […] this is an immense achievement.
But it’s also a great illustration of how the human microphone works logistically, how it takes some getting used to and how the overall experience ends up being something quite remarkable.
2. Mic Check—UC Davis
Have you heard what happened at UC Davis?
Storm troopers in dark armor with helmets, visors and truncheons dousing kids from point blank range in a steady orange stream of pepper spray as the students passively bow their heads. [photos] [video]
But there’s more to this than the police abuse…
The students are clearly angry and at [3:15] they start to chant, “Shame on you!”
The police are clearly very uncomfortable. They form a tight knot, nervously glancing thru their visors at the furious students, and they begin to retreat. Elbow to elbow, some of them walking backwards, they take one small step and then another as the crowd continues to chant. The rearguard hold tear gas guns at the ready.
At [4:15] someone starts shouting about “sick swine,” but the crowd doesn’t take the bait. At [5:30] they start chanting, “Whose university? Our university!” And at [6:13] something amazing happens.
A guy yells “Mic check!”
He has to repeat it four times, but the crowd stops chanting and begins to listen. And what follows is amazing.
We are willing
We are willing
to give you a brief moment
to give you a brief moment
of peace
of peace
so you may take your weapons
so you may take your weapons
and our friends
and our friends
and go.
and go.
Please do not return.
Please do not return.
We are giving you a moment of peace.
We are giving you a moment of peace.
You can go.
You can go.
We will not follow you.
We will not follow you.
At that point, the crowd spontaneously begins to chant “You can go!”
The police clearly relax and move quicker. At [7:40] they are mostly out of the crowd, and the students begin to cheer.
What an accomplishment. What an incredible example of nonviolence. What an incredible use of the human microphone.