Hightower Brings Thunder To Austin

Rolling Thunder organizer Jim Hightower and campaign finance reform activist Granny D

Are you an activist in a rut? Are you pining for fellowship and a few guffaws? Well, comrade, the Rolling Thunder Down-Home Democracy Tour may provide the recharge you need to help save the world.

The daylong political and music festival kicks off its national tour in Austin on March 23 with a lineup of national speakers, including muckraker Michael Moore (whose new book, Stupid White Men and Other Excuses for the State of the Nation, is creating quite a stir), U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., campaign finance reform activist Granny D, and columnists Jim Hightower and Molly Ivins.

Hightower's brainchild, the Rolling Thunder tour is designed to reinvigorate democracy at the grassroots level by bringing together activists of various causes. The eight-hour event is similar to Ralph Nader's "People Have the Power" tour that passed through Austin in January, but differs in that Hightower is aiming for more of a festival or county fair type of vibe -- complete with a dunk-a-lobbyist booth, clowns, folks dressed as armadillos, and face-painting and crafts for the kids.

Hightower says he drew inspiration for the tour after noticing a pattern during his national speaking tours: Cities often had large activist populations, but lacked cohesiveness. "I'd go to places like Tucson, and there would be all kinds of different groups [that made up] entirely different crowds -- and all of them were progressives. This event gives people an excuse to come together in training workshops, so they can organize and learn how to take back power. We mix all that in with great music and food."

National and local workshop leaders will represent a Who's Who among activist groups, including the Washington, D.C.-based Citizen Policies Institute, the Universal Living Wage Campaign, the Prison and Jail Accountability Project, the Texas Globalization Group, Acción Zapatista, and Austin Against War. Some former Enron employees who lost their jobs in the energy giant's collapse will also be on hand, Hightower said, and members of the International Socialist Organization will present a comedy sketch of the Enron fallout. The musical lineup features local and national artists, including Michelle Shocked, Marcia Ball, Davíd Garza, MC Overlord, Grupo Fantasma, Ruben Ramos, and L.A. rapper Medusa.

Hightower's vision of the Rolling Thunder Tour follows the model of the Chautauqua movement that began in 1874, when families would gather for days on the shores of Lake Chautauqua in New York to share ideas in the spirit of education and enlightenment. At the turn of the century, the movement set off on national tours; one of its popular stops -- the 26-acre Chautauqua Park in Boulder, Colorado -- still serves as a public space for readings and other performances, as does the original Lake Chautauqua park.

"Ten years ago, even five years ago, we never would have been able to do this," Hightower said. "But people are now realizing that this is where our strength is -- at the grassroots level, not in Washington." The political climate changed substantially after Sept. 11, "and now we have Bush and that crowd telling Americans they can't speak out, they can't dissent. ... People want very much to get together now. We've got groups that have never worked together who are now ready to. There's a seriousness now that wasn't there before." From Austin, the Rolling Thunder tour will travel to Tucson in April, Atlanta in May, and Chicago in June. More cities will be added to the schedule throughout the year.

The Saturday, March 23, event takes place from noon to 8pm at the Travis County Expo Center. Tickets are $5 ($10 at the door), available at Wheatsville, Waterloo Records, Cafe Mundi, La Tejanita Records, Eco Wise, and all Half-Price Books and Planet K locations. Get more info at www.rollingthundertour.org, or by calling 970-9328.

On Friday, March 22, Clean Campaigns for Austin will host a reception/fundraiser for Granny D (aka Doris Haddock), the great-grandmother who walked 3,200 miles from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., to promote campaign finance reform. Granny D will sign copies of her book, Walking Across America in My 90th Year, 5:30-7:30pm, at Mother Egan's, 715 W. Sixth.