Solar system colonization and unused natural resources are among topics La Rouche movement member Mark Fairchild will discuss at NIU tonight.

Fairchild, a one-time candidate for lieutenant governor, will speak at 7:30 p.m. in room 405 of the Holmes Student Center.

The Rockford politician’s bid for office in 1986 was foiled by his running mate Adlai Stevenson, who “viciously slandered” the organization and called it a “neo-nazi hate group,” he said.

Fairchild said he wants to tell students about the “miscarriage of justice” his mentor Lyndon La Rouche experienced when he was given 15 years in prison for “masterminding a plan not to repay political loans.”

Fairchild said “East-coast liberals” were behind La Rouche’s arrest because La Rouche inspired thousands of people to run for office.

He also said he believes there is no limit to technological growth and the world is not running out of natural resources. “As our understanding of the universe improves, our notion of a natural resource is redefined,” he said.

Just as nuclear energy was not considered a resource 100 years ago, there are now other energy sources waiting to be tapped, Fairchild said.

Fairchild also said man can use resources from other planets. “We can grow forests on Mars,” he said.