Why Occupy protesters marched from Wall Street to D.C.

For 11 days of the 14-day Occupy Wall Street march from New York’s Zuccotti Park to Washington last month, I joined dozens of protesters as they trekked through rainstorms and 30-degree chill. They slept in tents; ate handouts of Halloween candy and peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches; and endured severe shinsplints, knee injuries and catcalls of “Get a job!” They argued among themselves as much as with others they met along the way.

As this odyssey ended, I thought about the public perception of the Occupy movement and about the Occupiers I’d met on the road. There is the Occupy shown by the news media, defined by police clashes and a lack of hygiene — images that tell non-Occupiers that the movement is leaderless, chaotic and on its way out. But as the marchers passed through towns large and small, and ordinary Americans came out of their homes and businesses to give food, money and words of support, it became clear that this movement isn’t going away.

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Since its encampments are being shut down by local authorities across the country, the movement is now Occupying by walking rather than staying put. And another march, which departed Thursday from the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington, plans to travel more than 600 miles to the civil rights leader’s grave site in Atlanta.

Certainly, Occupy Wall Street protesters have different ideas about the movement’s mission. Many of the marchers I met even disagreed on the purpose of their trek — some thought it was about getting to Washington to protest the “supercommittee”; others thought it was about visiting other Occupations.

But here are four who, in different ways, represent what the movement wants: direct democracy, accountable leadership, and a country that listens to everyone’s voice and believes in second chances.

Kelley Brannon, 27, an organizer of the march, says she intended for the journey to spread pure democracy, a form of decision-making in which every person votes on every decision, as widely as possible.

On Nov. 17, Day 9 of the march, Brannon calls for a general assembly to recruit new Occupiers along the highway near North East, Md.

“We need to have a general assembly now,” she says. “It’s our last chance in the light.”

Another marcher objects: “We said we’d do general assemblies when we are done for the day. We aren’t done.”

“I’m going to move to split the march into groups,” Brannon responds. “One group who came here for the original purpose and one who came here for something else!”

The group does not split up. But along the way, it loses a handful of marchers — and picks up many more.

Brannon had been camped in Zuccotti Park since Sept. 17, heeding Adbusters’call over the summer to Occupy Wall Street on that date. She’s a natural leader in a leaderless movement, and her attempts to be in control don’t sit well with a lot of the marchers, especially since she’s hardly the diplomatic sort. (At a Dunkin’ Donuts near Philadelphia, she tells someone holding a coffee: “I think the fact that we’re supporting giant corporations is pretty disgusting.”)