Ralph Reed picketed it, human-rights activists from across the South attend it, and it’s probably here to stay – organizers say the Human Rights Festival this weekend makes a powerful statement through its history and actions.

The festival, started in 1979 when University students gathered to remember the deaths of four Kent State University students killed during an anti-war demonstration in 1970, will feature prominent human rights movement leaders like Charles Tisdale, publisher of the largest black-owned newspaper in Mississippi, and former war protester John Sinclair.

Other speakers for the event, to run from 2 p.m. to midnight Saturday at College Square, include Athens mayor Gwen O’Looney and University Law Professor Eugene Wilkes.

"I’ve been speaking at the festival for the last seven or eight years," said Wilkes, who will speak Sunday at 6 p.m. "I always talk about things related to human rights and individual rights."

Last year, Wilkes’ lecture was titled "Newt Gingrich, Anti-Christ."

Every year, the festival’s organizers choose a charity to support through a fund-raiser held during the event. In the past, festival organizers have contributed to several local organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, the AIDS Coalition of Northeast Georgia and the Athens Area Homeless Shelter. This year it will sponsor an art auction, including works by well-known folk artist Howard Finster, and an exhibition to benefit the Citizens for Midwifery Inc.

The CFM is a non-profit group that lobbies for a legal certification of the practice of midwifery through education and consumer action.

The festival begins with a welcome from O’Looney and will end with a concert Sunday night at 10:45.