I don’t know for real whether Occupy Maine is the longest-running occupation* in the country. They reportedly describe themselves that way, and they’re certainly contenders, having started on October 3 and having continued until this week.
Occupy Maine is now on its way home, or into the streets, or wherever you go when you think your country deals unjustly with its own people and your established political system is unresponsive. A judge today gave them four days to finish packing their stuff up in Portland. The picture above is theirs; the one below by Joel Page of AP shows the dome dismantled and gone. The group writes:
We vow to continue to practice a more just way forward; to practice direct democracy until all people who suffer under the power elite know that a new world is possible. We will not lose sight of what brought us together.
Plaintiff Deese Hamilton was homeless when the occupation began. “You can only fight for so long and you realize at the end that it’s a new beginning,” Hamilton tells the Portland Press-Herald. They’ve already got office space in town.
Adding: @mtdosterly says Occupy Nashville started a few days after Occupy Maine; they’re now fending off state legislation to evict them. And @kiki2013 points to Occupy Little Rock, which posts a photo dating back to October 22 and says it’s not leaving. Occupy Austin is close behind. As of today, Occupy Maine still looks to be the oldest, and maybe they should get bonus points for cold-weather occupying.
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