Staff Writer
CHAPEL HILL – The tents have all come down, the signs have been packed up and Peace and Justice Plaza has been returned to normal, as Occupy Chapel Hill has decided to disassemble its occupation.
After spending almost four months in tents occupying the cramped brick courtyard in front of the post office on Franklin Street, the group, which identifies itself as the 99 percent, decided to vacate the plaza on Tuesday in order to move into a new phase of the Occupy movement.
“Sadly, we are collapsing our encampment, but that does not mean we are going away,†movement member Amanda Ashley said during a press conference on Tuesday.
The occupiers are calling this next phase Occupy 2.0, in which they will be hosting events all over town to make sure their message reaches a variety of populations.
Plans have already been made for this new phase, including participation in Occupy the Courts on Jan. 29, assisting with a foreclosure prevention conference on Jan. 21 at University United Methodist Church and something called nomadic occupation.
Nomadic occupation is a concept in which at various places and times around town, occupiers and their tents will pop up.
“Occupy is going everywhere,†said Maria Rowan, coordinator for the nomadic occupation.
“Not only is this movement too big to fail, it is bigger than this postage stamp of concrete,†she added.
While critics of the movement may look at its voluntary departure from the plaza as a sign of getting tired and giving up, Occupy Chapel Hill/Carrboro doesn’t see it that way.
Although movement members said that one reason for leaving the plaza was to allow them to be more effective in the community, Ashley, who has been with the movement since its inception on Oct. 15, said the encampment became hard to sustain.
“Because Occupy offers shelter to dispossessed people, it has become a problem to sustain those needs,†Ashley said. “It was like running a small city.â€
Other hardships occupiers encountered included getting people to commit to staying at the plaza, security and dealing with students leaving Franklin Street bars at early-morning hours.
“Our biggest problem has been the drunk students,†she said, “not the police.â€
Stephanie Daugherty, who also has been with Occupy since day one, echoed Ashley’s sentiments about problems they have faced with drunken students and the homeless.
“Unfortunately, some people were just here to take advantage of us,†she said, adding that there were some displaced people who they helped who were able to help the Occupy movement in return when needed.
Ashley said Occupy Chapel Hill will maintain a presence at the plaza by hosting general assemblies, teach-ins and discussion circles. Members are also trying to ensure that during the day there will be someone from Occupy manning an information table.
“Occupy will be here past the camp and past the tents,†Ashley said. “The tents have made their point, and we are moving on to more meaningful things.
“Anyway, we can always come back if we want to.â€