By Adam Gabbatt, Guardian, 8 November 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/08/occupy-wall-street-washington-march
A group of Occupy protesters plan to march nearly 300 miles from New York to Washington DC in a bid to end tax cuts which they say benefit the richest 1% of Americans.
The group will set off from Occupy Wall Street on Wednesday and walk 20 miles a day en route to the capital, their arrival planned to coincide with the Congressional deficit reduction super-committee meeting on 23 November.
Protesters will pass through other occupations during the course of the ‘Occupy the highway’ action, which they say will encourage people in rural communities to get involved in the movement.
“One of the people that is helping organise the march has wanted to do this since the first week,” said Jason Coniglione, who was present at Occupy Wall Street’s birth on 17 September.
“But at the first week we had no idea what [the occupation] was going to turn into. As time as gone by and the park has got more crowded, we’re looking more and more to take our action outwards into other parts of the country.”
Coniglione, 24, said “10 or 12″ people are due to take part in the full journey from New York to Washington DC, but marchers expect more to leave from Zuccotti Park tomorrow for the first leg and anticipate many fellow protesters will join in for certain stretches of the march.
“I’ve never done anything like this before. I’m really excited,” said Coniglione, who will be involved in manning the action’s @NYCmarch2DC Twitter feed. “It should be an interesting story when it’s all said and done.”
The march will pass through Occupy Baltimore and Occupy Philadelphia on the way to the capital.
“We will be walking from 9am to to 5pm (banker hours) and will hold nightly GA’s and/or discussions at 7pm in each town where we camp,” said a post on Occupy Wall Street’s website.
The marchers have been granted $3,000 by the Occupy Wall Street general assembly, which Coniglione said would be spent on equipment such as socks and warm clothes, and bus rides back to New York from DC.
The Congressional deficit reduction super-committee is charged with finding around $1.2tn in savings by 23 November. The committee is due to decide on the future of Bush-era tax cuts, which expire in late 2012.
