Neena Satija Photo
Sean Conlon prepares the stage for the bands Sunday.
Members of New England’s stripped-down, longest-standing “Occupy” encampment celebrated an improbable six-month anniversary with live music and questions about how to keep their movement alive after an imminent expected end.
“The movement changed the conversation,” said Sean Conlon, a musician who has camped on the Upper Green on and off since protesters affiliated with the national anti-corporate “Occupy Wall Street” movement put up the first tents last Oct. 15. “I have some good hope for the spring.”
“We’re taking it day by day,” said Roger Card, who does volunteer work for a not-for-profit in the area. “There’s been a lot of mixed opinions on what we’re doing…but we’re really pressing an important issue here with free speech.”
Card was referring to the occupiers’ recent temporary victories over the city’s attempts to evict them from the Green. Originally set to be evicted on March 15, the protesters got a last-minute stay from a federal judge with the help of attorney Norm Pattis. After the city received a go-ahead from the judge weeks later, Pattis got another last-minute stay on a technicality last week – but not before bulldozers took to the Green and some occupiers were led away in handcuffs. An eviction began, then was halted mid-way.
Pattis and city lawyers are to appear at a 10 a.m. hearing Tuesday in New York City before the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to argue whether the city has a right to try to evict the occupiers for the third time.
“Last Tuesday was a really unifying moment,” said Jarett Lloyd (pictured), who’s been camping out on the Green for about a month. “The people here are really motivated…it excited a lot of people just to see faces they hadn’t seen in a while.” A full-time activist from South Florida, Lloyd has spent the last several months visiting Occupy movements as far as Austin and Ann Arbor.
Josh Smith (pictured), one of the creators of the original Occupy New Haven Facebook group that got it all started, has a different viewpoint. He made a point of attending the movement’s six-month birthday party on Sunday, but said he doesn’t support the current tactics. Neither does Chris Cardia, the other founder of the Facebook group.
“Both of us don’t agree with the camp idea as a tactic,” Smith said. “I think we should engage with the community locally and all the different organizations.” That would be a better tactic than just staying here.”
Smith is one of the plaintiffs in the suit Pattis has brought to keep Occupy on the Green. But last week he publicly dropped out of the suit and called for the camp to come down. (Read about that here.) He floated his idea at a recent General Assembly meeting. No one else took his side.
Plagued by infighting and accusations of wasting taxpayer money in recent months, the encampment on the Green was more orderly than usual on Sunday as bands played on a makeshift stage in 70-degree weather.
“It’s a lot more harmonious out here than before,” said Conlon. “The winter was kind of tough…cold weather makes people do crazy things.”
Still, the occupiers don’t know how much longer their stay will last. “We’ve stripped everything down,” said Ray Neal (pictured), who’s also been with the movement since it began. The food tent, which he used to run in the fall, is now empty to make it easier for a quick dismantling of the camp.
“Let’s face it, we’re going to get thrown out at some point or another,” Conlon said. The next challenge will be to figure out how to operate without the Green as a base.