The Movement (2011–2013)
Occupy Maine was founded in October 2011 as the Portland, Maine chapter of the global Occupy movement. Inspired by Occupy Wall Street in New York’s Zuccotti Park, Mainers gathered at Lincoln Park in downtown Portland to protest economic inequality, corporate influence in politics, and the erosion of democratic accountability.
The encampment at Lincoln Park became the movement’s physical home. Every evening at 6 p.m., a General Assembly convened—an open, leaderless meeting where any participant could speak and decisions were made by consensus. The model was radical in its simplicity: no hierarchy, no elected officers, no gatekeepers.
From their base at Lincoln Park and later at an office in the Meg Perry Center at 644 Congress Street, Occupy Maine organized protests against Bank of America and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), mobilized for the Occupy the New Hampshire Presidential Primary action, held vigils for injured veterans like Scott Olsen, and partnered with organizations including CODEPINK Maine and the Maine State Nurses Association.
Chapters formed across the state—in Augusta, Bangor, South Portland, and at the University of Maine in Orono. Occupy Maine produced four episodes of Occupy Maine TV, organized community film screenings, and maintained a presence in Portland civic life through 2013.
The Platform (2018–2022)
In 2018, the domain was relaunched as a civic media platform by Guerin Green, a political consultant and strategist based in Denver, Colorado. The new site carried forward the movement’s core concerns—democratic accountability, institutional reform, and civic participation—through political commentary and education policy analysis.
Green’s writing covered Denver’s 2019 municipal elections in depth, including Lisa Calderon’s historic mayoral campaign, Dave Sabados’s city council bid, and the Denver teachers’ strike that exposed years of broken compensation promises at Denver Public Schools. He covered Andrew Romanoff’s 2020 U.S. Senate campaign and the tumultuous reform battles at the DPS school board.
During the 2020 presidential election cycle, the site provided extensive coverage of both the Democratic primary (with particular focus on the Bernie Sanders campaign) and the general election. Education policy analysis continued through 2022, addressing pandemic schooling, grade inflation, school safety after Uvalde, and book banning controversies.
The Archive
This site preserves both eras of Occupy Maine. The movement’s history—compiled from Wayback Machine captures and contemporary news coverage—documents a chapter of American grassroots democracy that deserves preservation. The political commentary represents four years of engaged civic analysis from a practitioner’s perspective.
The archive was rebuilt using the Hidden State Drift methodology and is part of a Novel Cognition network of civic media properties.
Historical Contact Information
During the movement era (2011–2013), Occupy Maine could be reached at:
- Office: Meg Perry Center, 644 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: (207) 200-1791
