The “Building a New World Conference” began on Thursday as part of a weekend-long event taking place May 22-25 in Radford and hosted by Radford University. This will be a highlight for the summer in Radford, with leaders in various fields discussing topics of world peace and other issues of concern to the nation as a whole.

Organizations attending the event and offering speakers include the Backbone Campaign, and the controversial organization known as The World Can’t Wait—Drive out the Bush Regime. With the election coming up in November, the conference attendees will be able to get more insight to issues that will be surrounding the citizens’ voting decisions. Topics such as the right to health care, immigrant rights, domestic violence, income tax, animal rights and the survival of the homeless will be discussed.

In the days to follow, each hour or two hour long segment will have keynote speakers discussing the topic of their studies. Music, food, and other festivities will follow. Speakers such as Cindy Sheehan, William Blum, Michael Parenti, and Kathy Kelly will present this weekend.