Fighting Bob Fest Is Back for Its Ninth Annual Event

In the midst of a tough election season in which the conservative Tea Parties are the media’s darlings, progressives in Wisconsin are meeting on Sept. 11 at Fighting Bob Fest in Baraboo to network and brainstorm about the most pressing issues facing the country.

Heading up the discussions will be Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.; Wisconsin Reps. Tammy Baldwin, David Obey and Gwen Moore; and progressive muckrakers and pundits Thom Hartmann, Greg Palast and Jim Hightower.

Jackson and his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition have started up a new campaign for social economic justice with the United Auto Workers (UAW). They want fair industrial and trade policies, strengthened workers’ rights and civil rights, and to rebuild America instead of waging unnecessary wars overseas.

Jackson will receive the Robert M. La Follette Lifetime Achievement Award at the event.

Also at Fighting Bob Fest, breakout sessions will be held on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, which allows for more corporate influence in elections; a progressive view of Israel and Palestine moderated by The Progressive’s Matthew Rothschild; health care reform and universal coverage; re-imagining our food system; and Robert (Fighting Bob) La Follette’s career.

Fighting Bob Fest, now in its ninth year, is the largest gathering of progressives in the country and seeks to carry on La Follette’s fight for clean government and ethical reforms.

That tradition is kept alive by Bob Fest participants and its organizer, former gubernatorial candidate and progressive lawyer Ed Garvey.

“Our democracy is absolutely threatened by the Citizens United ruling,” Garvey said. “We have to build a coalition or it’s over.”

Fighting Bob Fest will be held on Saturday, Sept. 11, at the Sauk County Fairgrounds in Baraboo. Two buses will leave Milwaukee; seats must be reserved in advance and cost $20 per round trip. For more information, go to www.fightingbobfest.org.