A DIFFERENT KIND OF MARCH

Finance debates are pushed to the forefront at the Basic Income March

BY ADRIENNE BAXTER-MCNEIL, MEDIA PROVIDED

The organization Basic Income March has headed to Atlanta to bring awareness to a new perception of livelihood. Their rally is around a cause called Universal Basic Income, a system in which every adult citizen would receive a set payment on a recurring basis. The idea is often seen as an offset to job loss caused by technology or as an economic stimulus.

Basic Income March considers itself a grassroots movement with the intention to spur change, but has been backed by other organizations. The Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity, along with the Income Movement, was one of the first organizations to back the Basic Income March.

“The March of the Robots has to be countered by the March for Humanity,” said Gisèle Huff, President of the Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity. “All of us have to participate in a national conversation about Universal Basic Income because all of us will be affected by the forthcoming drastic changes in the world of work.”

The first marches, held October 26, 2019, spread across the globe in a mere six week period, culminating in events through thirty different cities and across five continents.

On Sept. 19, a march at Liberty Plaza in Atlanta signaled a second wave. Having a total of seven speakers, from city council members to congressional candidates,

"all of us have to participate in a national conversation about Universal basic income"

those who attended the march were able to hear different perspectives on the main issue. Notably, the site of the march is across from the Georgia State Capitol.

Apart from the in-person events initially planned, Basic Income March also partnered with mobile application, WATT, to encourage marchers to log steps in support of the cause should they not want to gather.

Though the job insecurity exposed by city-wide shutdowns was not the impetus of the movement, many newcomers may have been spurred by these circumstances. Income Movement Co-Founder, Stacey Rutland, has been quoted to express that one positive spin to current concerns is that it has “brought to the surface, for a lot of people, the need to rethink how our economy works.”

Basic Income March presents one way of looking forward.