Thomas MacMillan Photo
Floyd Brock isn’t selling gourmet meats.
Manchester, N.H.—As the first-in-the-nation presidential primary approached, some of the most visible action on the main street here came not from candidates or staffers, but decidedly non-Republican activists swarming into the state from Connecticut and as far as Nevada.
With dancing, speeches, skits and “mic-checks,” the group Sunday had Occupy the New Hampshire Primary going strong, the latest manifestation of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
They gathered in Veterans Park on Elm Street in Manchester in response to a call from Occupy New Hampshire, which organized Occupy the Primary to capitalize on a moment when the nation’s attention is turned toward the Granite State. The goal is to continue to draw attention to corporate greed and income inequality, the cause upon which the Occupy Wall Street movement was founded.
The protest is also meant to bring the Occupy message directly to the Republican candidates, said organizer Wendy Rogers. Part of that message is, “You are so out of touch we can’t believe it,” she said.
One occupier, who traveled to Manchester from Brooklyn, said Occupy the Primary will follow the election action to North Carolina and then around the country.
The occupiers hope to seize a national stage previously dominated by the conservative-leaning Tea Party, focusing election-year public debate on alleged misdeeds of banks and corporate-bought politicians, for instance, rather than on alleged ills of government spending to address social problems.
George Washington lends his support.
Rogers said she’s putting up four out-of-state Occupiers at her home in Franklin, N.H. Other occupiers are sleeping in a church or at other homes. Although there are tents set up in Veterans Park, no one has slept there since October, when police evicted campers, Rogers said.
While official posted GOP campaign signs filled the traffic islands on Elm Street in the state’s largest city Sunday afternoon, occupiers like Floyd Brock waved signs of their own to passing cars.
“Fancy Bologna”
Brock, who came down from Biddeford, Maine, to join Occupy the Primary, offered the cryptic slogan “Fancy Bologna.” He wasn’t selling gourmet meats, he explained, but characterizing the political spectacle on offer in New Hampshire: the Republican primary.
Cassie Johnson (pictured), a warmly dressed 22-year-old UConn student, said she arrived on Saturday with two other members of Occupy Hartford. She said she was there to “share solidarity” just as she had done by visiting Occupy outposts in New York, Boston, and New Haven.
Johnson said the Occupy the Primary message is not about either the Republican or the Democratic part. “It’s about the people, not one party. … Getting people to open up and wake up.”
She said she was happy to see that Republican supporters at the Saturday night debate responded well to her and other Occupy protestors.
One Newt Gingrich supporter told her, “I’m part of the 99 percent and I know that,” Johnson said.
Tea Two?
On Sunday afternoon, Bob Pletschke (pictured) showed up at the Manchester park dressed in Revolutionary War garb, apart from a pair of sporty hiking boots. He carried a flag with 13 stars and a sign on his back bearing the quote: “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.”
Such outfits are more often a feature of Tea Party rallies, as well. Pletschke, a Vietnam vet, said he is a proud member of the Occupy movement. The costume is a tribute to his revolutionary heritage, he said. His ancestor, Ebenezer Fitch, fought in the Revolutionary War, he said.
“I find them very extreme,” Pletschke said of Tea Partiers, who were a major force in the presidential election four years ago.
Rogers drew a different line between the Tea Party and the Occupy movement. While the Tea Party is “political,” she said, “this is much more spiritual in nature.”
Yoni Miller, an 18-year-old from Brooklyn, said he came up to New Hampshire with a group of 16 from the Occupy Wall Street mothership in New York. He said Occupy is an international social movement, whereas the Tea Party was purely political.
A New Hampshire voter named Tara passed by the park with her dog. She said she doesn’t think the Occupy movement will become a major political force like the Tea Party. “Too many weirdos,” she said in a stage whisper.
Scenes
A group of fat-cat 1‑percenters “stole” the mic from Pletschke while he was reading the Declaration of Independence.
They then sung an ode to wealth accumulation, in four-part harmony.
The Hay Ball made the trip from Portland, Maine, to Manchester.
An Occupying force turned out Sunday night as well, for a Mitt Romney campaign rally at a Exeter high school, where New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie appeared with the presidential candidate. Occupiers lined the pathway from the school to the parking lot, forcing Romney supporters to run a gauntlet of chanting 99-percenters as they left the event.
Ted Feng, a UAW union organizer, from Danbury, CT, was among the chanters. “Things have to change. People like Mitt Romney are not the answer,” he said.
Occupy protestors also made a splash inside the event.
Previous coverage of Occupy New Haven and Occupy Wall Street:
• Occupation Winterizes
• “Occupy Garlic” Crop Going In
• Next Move: Occupy Foreclosed Homes?
• Bulldozed Elsewhere, Occupy NH Marks 2 Months
• 3 Arrested At Occupy New Haven
• Occupation Rejects “Victory” Declaration
• New Haven Occupiers Clash With NYC Cops
• Who’s In & Who’s Out At The Occupation?
• “I Knew It — He’s A Scumbag”
• “Occu-Pies” Arrive
• Occupation Weather(ize)s Its 1st Storm
• Clergy Bless The Occupiers
• Occupiers Eye Clock Factory
• In New Haven, “Occupiers” Embrace The Cops
• Midnight Drug Warning Sparks Soul-Searching
• Emergency Session Poses Democracy Test
• The Password (The Password) … Is (Is) …
• 1,000 Launch New Haven’s “Occupation”
• Klein: Occupation Needs To Confront Power
• Whoops! Movement Loses $100K
• New Haven’s “Occupation” Takes Shape
• Occupy Branford: Wall Street Edition
• Anti-Bankers’ Dilemma: How To Process $$
• Labor, Occupiers March To Same Beat
• Protests’ Demand: A “World We Want To See”
• Protesters To Occupy Green Starting Oct. 15
• Wall Street Occupiers Page Verizon
• New Haven Exports “Free”-dom To Occupiers