National speakers, free workshops, films and other events mark the beginning of a major conference on campus today.
The third annual Peace, Justice and Media Conference, which runs today through Sunday, carries the motto, “empowering the movement for fair, accurate and diverse media.”
However, event volunteer Michael Carrigan acknowledged that the conference has a leftist slant.
“We did not try to get a balance,” Carrigan said. “We tried to get a conference that reflects what Eugene is like.”
Carrigan added that the conference empowers diverse media by correcting existing biases.
“The voice of corporations and those with money is generally heard in the media,” Carrigan said. “So we’re going to get a conference together of voices that are not generally heard, thereby creating a more fair, accurate and diverse media.”
The conference does feature conservative radio personality Dan Carlin of Eugene’s KUGN 590 AM. Carrigan also said that the organizers invited Lars Larson, a noted conservative voice on Portland’s KXL 750 AM.
Larson denied via e-mail that he was invited to the conference.
The conference will feature nationally noted liberal commentator Jim Hightower, slam poets and a mime theater troupe from San Francisco.
“Much of it is free, and much of it is fun,” Carrigan said.
Today’s events will revolve around Hightower, a best-selling author, syndicated columnist and radio personality. Hightower will appear at a 12:30 p.m. “Rally for Rights” at the federal building downtown. Today’s main event will be a speech by Hightower at 7:30 p.m. at Lane Community College.
Hightower, a former Texas agricultural commissioner, is on tour promoting his book, “Thieves in High Places.” The book attacks corporate power and the imbalance of wealth, which Hightower said is aided and abetted by “King George the W” and the U.S. Congress.
Hightower’s audience can expect criticism of “Bushco, corporate kleptocrats and wobblycrats,” Democrats who Hightower said have “Jell-Oed” on the major issues of the day.
“Our very democracy, which is our ability to control the decisions that affect our lives, has been stolen from us,” Hightower said. “The time has come for us to stand up and take it back.”
Sean Doles, Hightower’s communications director, said people enjoy Hightower for his unusual mix of cowboy style and progressive politics.
“He has a knack for appealing to what he calls the bean-sprouters and the snuff-dippers,” Doles said. “He speaks to the common sense that we all respond to.”
The conference also includes workshops on the USA PATRIOT Act and radio ownership, as well as numerous video screenings and speeches.
“This whole conference is about using the media to get your message out,” Doles said.
The conference is being sponsored by the Justice Not War Coalition, a Eugene-based peace group.
“We’re in another one of those ‘when in the course of human events’ moments that Jefferson wrote about,” Hightower said, alluding to the opening words of the Declaration of Independence.
For more information and a full schedule of events, visit http://www.efn.org/~jnotwar/mediaconference.htm. More information on Hightower is available at www.jimhightower.com and www.hightowerlowdown.org.