#OccupyPA Report: Central PA

Central Pennsylvania has three Occupy groups within 40 miles of each other. Harrisburg and Lancaster both maintain 24-hour occupations, while York is focused on education and direct action.
 
Harrisburg
Since Oct. 15, Occupy Harrisburg has been occupying the steps to the state capitol building, which means they are under the jurisdiction of the state and not the City of Harrisburg. Both Capitol and Harrisburg City Police have been friendly to the them. Many who work in the State Capitol are supportive of them, and some state workers also participate.
 
Occupy Harrisburg members are not allowed to sleep on the capitol steps, so they have kept informal shifts through the day. They have also set up encampments elsewhere. They maintained a camp of about 10 tents at a riverfront park for two weeks, but the city ultimately shut it down. More recently, they set up a few tents on two sidewalks across from the capitol, but received notice to clear out by the owner of one of the buildings there. The occupation participants have also been talking with the local Quakers about setting up a camp on the property of their meeting house.
 
Occupy Harrisburg focuses heavily on their decision-making process. For a major proposal to pass, it must be approved at three general assemblies. They hold two general assemblies each day: one at 7 p.m. and the other at 2 a.m. There are usually more people at the occupation late at night than during the day. 
 
As for actions, they have disrupted a state redistricting hearing, as well as organized small marches for visibility. They’ve held teach-ins on philosophy, economics, and rhetoric, as well as hosting a workshop by Vermont’s Bread and Puppet Theater. 
 
Lancaster
When Lancaster activists from various causes—including peace and justice, labor, environment, and sustainable agriculture—held general assemblies to plan an occupation, it brought together people who may have heard of each other before but had not worked together directly. “If this were shut down tomorrow we’d still have gained a stronger network,” one organizer explained.
 
Occupy Lancaster began with a 300-person march on Oct. 15, followed by setting up an encampment in a downtown spot known as Art Park. The land is actually empty property that the city council is trying to sell. There are about 20 tents there, and an average of 15 people attend general assemblies nightly.
 
A local issue being taken up by Occupy Lancaster participants is the potential closure of area post offices. Pennsylvania has 203 post offices under consideration for closure—the second highest number in the country. Downtown Lancaster’s post office is one of them, and a Lancaster mail processing facility is also under review. Occupy Lancaster members have attended public meetings about the post offices and also started a letter-writing station on Saturdays. 
 
Occupy Lancaster has also hosted several community days featuring workshops on strategy and tactics, corporate personhood, nonviolent communication and permaculture, as well as marches. They have some similarities to larger occupations in that a rift between camping participants and non-camping participants has caused problems with coordination and decision-making. Occupy Lancaster serves dinner each night, but has moved cooking off-site because of issues in maintaining the facilities. They are currently restructuring their working groups to enable committees to work together more easily.
 
York
Occupy York members meet every Sunday for general assemblies. With a small group of about ten participants, they do not plan to set up a camp. Instead, they have focused their energy on outreach at local colleges and within grassroots organizations of York, as well as direct actions. They protested outside the York Chamber of Commerce in October and are planning a demonstration in front of the courthouse on Bill of Rights Day (Dec. 15th), to speak out against violations of First Amendment freedoms. Occupy York also plans to hold regular teach-ins and movie nights in the community.