Why Do US Strikers Walk in Circles?

[Malicious Intent]

Striking US screenwriters are threatening to picket the Oscars ceremony. If they do, one thing's for sure - they'll be walking in orderly circles. Why do they do that?

The enduring image of a British picket line is one of men in donkey jackets huddled around a fire on a rusty brazier.

But pictures from the writers' strike in the US show a very different practice - the picketers are on the move, often walking round in circles while holding their placards.

The tradition is a source of amusement for one of the striking writers, Eric Stangel.

"I want to know who the person is who gets to decide what direction we walk in," he says in a blog written by writers from The Late Show with David Letterman. "There have been a couple of days where I think we've been going the wrong way."

It's not a ritual peculiar to screenwriters - all US pickets walk in circles. There's a cultural reason for the moving picket line, says Sherry Goldman, spokeswoman for the Writers Guild of America.

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