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PORTLAND — The occupation was quiet late Wednesday morning but not slowing.
Tents in Lincoln Park were being stocked with bottled water, coffee, hot chocolate, food and clothing. On Monday, city officials told Occupy Maine protesters to remove a tent in Monument Square but allowed them to stay overnight in Lincoln Park, just blocks away.
“If someone is walking by and needs something to eat or drink, we’ll help them,” said Jason Cook, 23, of Portland. “If they need a place to sleep, we’ll find them one.
“Our government isn’t doing it, so we will.”
The movement is in response to Occupy Wall Street, a New York City movement that began Sept. 17 in response to perceived political greed — protestors say the rich rule politics and have held today’s youth back financially.
The New York movement has led to hundreds of arrests, and the sentiment has snowballed into other major cities. Portland; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; Boston; Miami; Chicago; and cities in Canada are seeing similar demonstrations.
In Portland, a U-Haul van, paid for mostly by money donated to the effort via coffee cans, sat by a Congress Street curb Wednesday. There, three organizers, including Cook, passed boxes of nonperishables and stocked them away along a wrought-iron fence and in a central storage tent.
The items in the van were mostly donated. Needs that weren’t met were purchased using more donated funds.
“People who can’t be here — they’re helping out in other ways,” said 27-year-old John Rasmussen. “This is for everybody.”
And those funds were allocated in a direct democratic fashion: Every night at 6 p.m., Occupy Maine holds “general assembly,” when everyone in the movement gathers to decide on any business presented. Decisions are made by consensus — meaning small opposition groups can influence results even while outnumbered.
“They are trying to create an organic democracy,” said John Branson, a Portland lawyer serving as counsel for Occupy Maine. “Unless they have money to donate to politicians, their voices aren’t being heard at the state legislative level or at the federal level.”
For Chris Levesque, 22, of Biddeford, the protesters’ democracy differs for one main reason.
“We aren’t paid off, pretty much,” he said. “We don’t have the CEO of Walmart saying, ‘Don’t protest here and we’ll give you $20.’”
The movement’s core slogan is “We are the 99%,” referring to America’s growing wealth distribution disparity. A November 2010 column in the New York Times said the richest 1 percent of Americans account for 24 percent of income. In 1976, it was 9 percent.
Organizers also lament corporate donations to American politicians and banks’ role in the late-2000s recession America is still struggling to recover from.
“Not one bank CEO has been arrested for ruining the U.S. economy and the world [economy],” Branson said. “The New York City police arrested 700 people in one day for expressing their disgust about this.”
Seven-hundred protesters were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge on Oct. 1 when a group of protestors attempting to cross the river strayed into traffic. According to The Associated Press, most of the 700 were summonsed for disorderly conduct and released.
Portland’s crowds aren’t steady nor do they reach the size of Wall Street’s: Branson estimates there’s a core group of 15 to 30 people consistently demonstrating. Lack of a sure tally doesn’t concern Rasmussen.
“It’s a constant rotation,” he said. “The actual numbers are kind of irrelevant as long as the occupation is maintained.”
Every Wednesday, a city-permitted farmer’s market sets up on Monument Square, so protesters were asked to move demonstration to the sidewalks, according to Portland city spokeswoman Nicole Clegg.
Tuesday, Occupy Maine tweeted that they would be maintaining a “quiet” presence in the square “in solidarity with” the farmer’s market.
Only one summons has been issued by police as a result of the demonstration, Clegg said, and that was only for the tent to be taken down in Monument Square on Monday. She said the city has no plans to stop protesters from staying nights in Lincoln Park. She said a city ordinance restricts assembly after 10 p.m.
“Assuming that the protests are peaceful and they continue to be good stewards of the park, yes,” Clegg said. “Our intention is to protect their right to free assembly.”
Rasmussen said he came to Portland more than a week ago to set the groundwork for a successful occupation. When asked where he was from, he said he has been traveling and helping with occupations, mostly splitting time living in New Hampshire and Vermont.
“Most of my stuff is in Brattleboro, Vt.,” he said.
Bangor Daily News