July 26, 2000

CAFE UTNE LAUNCHES SHADOW CONVENTIONS DISCUSSION FORUM

MINNEAPOLIS, MN. -- Cafe Utne, Utne Magazine's Webby Award-winning discussion community, today launched "Shadow Conventions: a Citizen's Intervention in American Politics," the official online discussion community of this summer's upcoming Shadow Conventions. Held concurrently with the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, the Shadow Conventions will be staged to draw attention to issues largely ignored by the major party conventions.

"We will take advantage of the massive media presence at the National Conventions to put the spotlight on three critical unaddressed issues -- the corrupting influence of money in politics, poverty and the growing inequalities, and the failed drug war," says Shadow Conventions founder and syndicated columnist Arianna Huffington. Speakers at the Shadow Conventions are to include Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), campaign finance reform activist Granny D, rapper Chuck D, Gov. Gary Johnson (R-NM), Rev. Jesse Jackson, activist and comedian Harry Shearer and humorist Al Franken.

Cafe Utne's online conference provides visitors an opportunity to discuss the issues raised by the Shadow Conventions directly with many of the featured speakers and convening organizations. Featured discussions will be announced online at both http://cafe.utne.com and http://www.shadowconventions.com.

Shadow Conventions 2000 was born from a series of conversations last spring between Huffington and a number of writers, political analysts, policy experts, public interest advocates, entrepreneurs, artists, public officials, and concerned citizens. Conveners of the conference also include activist organizations Call to Renewal, Common Cause, Public Campaign, The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation, National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support, United for a Fair Economy. For more details, point your browser to http://www.shadowconventions.com.

Cafe Utne (http://cafe.utne.com) was founded in 1995 by Utne Magazine, and recently won a prestigious Webby Award for "Best Online Community." Utne Magazine magazine is the nation's leading digest of the alternative media. With a paid circulation of 225,000, the bimonthly magazine has been nominated three times for the National Magazine Award for General Excellence. Utne Magazine Online (http://www.utne.com) offers magazine archives as well as current book, magazine, music, web site and product reviews, and the Utne Web Watch Daily (http://www.utne.com/daily.aspx), a daily review of the best alternative writing on the Web.