Occupy N.H. Meets In Concord [VIDEO]

As most people know, democracy can be a messy process.

About 100 people who attended the second OccupyNH General Assembly held in Concord’s historic White Park discovered this first hand as they spent more than two hours deciding where to hold the first official OccupyNH direct action occupation.

OccupyNH and , the group formed for the capitol region, are part of a growing movement throughout the nation and world, protesting against corporate greed and predatory capitalism run amok. The people in attendance ranged from aging hippies, young parents, Free State Project and Tea Party supporters, state employees, and a handful of anarchists, all wanting to get in on the protest action and make a political statement.

Brett Chamberlin, a student from New Hampshire who just returned from the OccupyWallStreet protests, gave a spirited speech about the need for thousands of Granite Staters to prepare for occupation.

“We’re angry and we’re here because we are right,” he said. “And we have the facts on our side.”

The attendees spent about an hour discussing processes and procedures, agreeing on a facilitator, and replaced traditional cheering and clapping with a series of finger wiggling and hand waving sequences, in order to not interrupt the flow of discussion. Since they did not have electronic amplification, they used “the people’s mic,” a process where a speaker spoke in five or six word phrases which were then repeated by those in attendance, a process that some called creepy and cultish.

After some discussion about online etiquette, fundraising, legal aid, and media relations, the group spent some time debating whether to join activists in Manchester in a direct action occupation of a park at noon on Saturday, Oct. 15, or hold its own action in Concord.

Kenneth Roos of SEIU noted that the was not going to be in session much longer so occupiers marching and protesting wouldn’t influence elected officials. Others questioned whether Concord residents would travel to Manchester to participate. However, after an impassioned speech by a former homeless woman about the need to be more inclusive, the group agreed to hold one occupation in Manchester.

At a little past 4 p.m., more than two hours after starting, about half those in attendance joined in smaller group sessions to discuss committee structures.

Sovereign Curtis spent the bulk of his time scribbling random libertarian-tinged messages onto a sticky board at the event while a female friend with purple hair held a large Free State Project flag. He said he was roped into attending the event and decided to “try and inject some sanity.”

“As my first sign said, corporations couldn’t exist without the state, it’s the state that is the root of all our evils,” he said. “The appearance of the Occupy movement, like so many other movements that perceive injustice, are targeting a branch and I prefer to strike the root. You can hack all the branches you want but if you don’t take out the roots, the tree keeps growing.”

Leah Wolczko attended the rally because she likes some of the points the Occupy movement was making and wanted to get more involved. However, she and others were uncomfortable with the chanting and ritualistic aspect of the speaking process. When she challenged the process before the whole group, she had support. However some, like Chamberlin, stated that Occupy “was a leaderless movement” and this was the process they would use for this meeting.

Wolczko, who supported Barack Obama in 2008 and was now supporting Ron Paul, said she objected to the people’s mic process because it was less efficient and said the consistent repeating of the words felt “creepy.” However, she was encouraged by the diversity of the group and that opposing forces could join together with a common concern.

“I don’t mean liberal and conservative,” she said. “I mean government and anarchy … you do have purists on both of those positions here. I think it is really important that we leave those issues aside. The libertarians are not going to convince the communists and the communists are not going convince the libertarians. But what we can agree on is that profits can’t be private and losses public. We both agree on that.”

Ed Cunningham, who walked around the event holding a large American flag, came out to see how the assembly was going to run and was encouraged by what he saw.

“You’ve got America,” he said, noting that there were all kinds of people, from all walks of life, at the assembly.

Cunningham was also struck by how historic and familiar the assembly seemed.

“I read about this once,” he said. “You don’t remember reading about this? This is the formation of the Constitutional Congress. That’s what it is. It’s exactly what it is. I’m listening and I’m saying, 'This is living history,' and that’s exactly what it is. Look at them … they are starting a revolution.”

When asked if he realized he was the only one at the event with an American flag, Cunningham said, “I usually am, but they’re young. I think they’ll get it, sooner or later.”