BURLINGTON, Vt. -
It was one year ago this week, that a man shot and killed himself while camping downtown in the Occupy Vermont camp.
It turned out that person was not associated with the movement, but that action did lead Burlington, Vt. leaders to shut down the camp.
So where did Occupy go?
Remember these sights and sounds? The 99%, the protests, even the drinking and arrests.
It all happened in Burlington.
Last fall, Occupy Vermont flared up as quickly as other movements across the country, fighting economic inequality. But it seemed to dwindle just as quickly.
When we first planned to revisit this story, FOX44 and ABC22 were going to call this story "The Death of Occupy", but that wouldn't have been correct.
The protests still do exist.
On a recent Friday afternoon in downtown Burlington, 5 people associated with Occupy, gathered on a street corner next to the park they once camped in.
"We're picketing Citizens Bank in Burlington, the most bailed out bank royally owned by Royal Bank of Scotland," Matt Crop, of Occupy Burlington, said.
I interviewed Matt Cropp one year ago when I camped out for a night.
"It has sort of transformed a bit," Crop said.
The movement has. Instead of 40 tents in City Hall Park, just 5 occupiers showed up. Their message, to encourage people to use a credit union rather than a bailed out bank.
"This bank picket has a core group of people, then other people will come out for specific things," Cropp said.
Cropp says this is their hub now, the corner of College and St. Paul St. They don't have anything "big" planned for the future, but are still targeting Wall Street.
"The encampments allowed for people to get to know each other and then strategically go into certain areas of concern," Cropp said.
Dr. Frances Fox Piven knows a thing or two about a movement like Occupy.
"I pay a lot of attention to social movements," Piven said.
She's a distinguished professor of political science and sociology at the City University of New York. I caught up with her when she was in Burlington to talk at UVM about historic movements.
"I think Occupy in its many forms will continue," Piven said.
She seconds what Cropp said earlier, that Occupy is in a different phase now, but will continue, even if it's quiet.
Piven said, "An important movement lasts a long time. It doesn't go up, poof, and fall like a 4th of July rocket."
In fact, she wants it to. She supports movements that point out big issues, such as social and economic inequality.
"We are now the most unequal country in the modern developed world....bar none!" Piven said.
Dr. Piven adds that realize it or not, Occupy did influence other events such as the recent Chicago teacher's strike.
"They took inspiration and energy from the Occupy example and I think other groups are now as well," Piven said.
So while we may not see the tents or hear as much constant chatter, we can't call Occupy dead. The movement is still there in its early stages and will continue to transform over time.
"There is a community that exists now that didn't exist a year ago with people willing to do that work which is really cool," Piven said.
Dr. Piven, who you saw in the story said historic movements often last for decades. She adds this particular Occupy movement will be around until the problems they are highlighting get fixed or get much better.
