Positive Force DC, a group that has promoted radical social change and youth empowerment since it formed in 1985, will highlight the connections between punk rock and activism this weekend at the All Our Power conference. Billed as a punk-activist conference aiming to educate, mobilize and connect the punk community, All Our Power will hold free workshops about a variety of issues at St. Stephens Church.
"Positive Force has done a lot of things over years, but this is the first time we've done something this ambitious," said Mark Andersen, co-founder of Positive Force and author of the contentious punk rock history, "Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capitol."
"It's going to be a mix of concerts, workshops, panels, films and community outreach. We're excited for it, and after 21 years it felt like a good time to push things to next level," Andersen said.
Andersen describes punk activism as a big tent that covers everything from lobbying on the hill to service work to direct action.
"It's not just about the big sexy protests or throwing stuff at the police," said Andersen.
"In a certain sense I still believe in that but throwing a brick doesn't make a revolution. Talking to your neighbor, someone different than you, that can be more revolutionary," he said.
The name of the conference comes from a Clash lyric, "all the power's in the hands of people rich enough to buy it." Andersen titled his second book from the lyric. "All the Power: Revolution Without Illusion" was published in 2004, and offers lessons to young radicals on how to implement social change. Andersen said that his interest in radical politics came from punk rock.
"The Sex Pistols, the Clash, Patti Smith, all those folks back in the day opened my eyes not only to my own power but a whole range of issues that needed to be dealt with," he said. "For me there's no activism without punk. This conference is trying to celebrate the potential power of punk activism and give us a challenge to do a better job of realizing that power."
One of the main focuses of All Our Power is building connections between punks and other individuals in their communities. The subject is something Andersen is used to. For over a decade, Positive Force DC has been bringing bags of groceries to the elderly, working at shelters and building connections.
"It's challenging, because for a lot of us punk meant different. It meant you were at odds with the majority and the mainstream," Andersen said. "That's really a valuable starting place. If we are really talking about something as radical as revolution, we can't be outside of the mainstream. We have to become mainstream without losing our values."
Community building at the grassroots level is a lesson Andersen says can be best learned from the right wing.
"They've been kicking our asses for 30 years. You can blame it on a lot of things, that they have a lot of money or that they manipulate the media. All that may be true, but it doesn't excuse our failure. If you want to look at grassroots organizing, look at the right," he said.
Students from the AU club Hunger and Homelessness will be feeding the conference on Saturday. Laura Taylor, a member of Hunger and Homelessness and a sophomore in the School of International Service, will be helping out with the Saturday lunch.
"Positive Force DC does great work," Taylor said. "The workshops for the conference seem really direct. Hopefully it won't just be lifestyle anarchists who want to talk about irrelevant stuff."
D.C. political pop-punk band the Max Levine Ensemble will be playing an acoustic show on Friday night to open the conference with local singer-songwriter Rachel Jacobs at the Arthur S. Flemming Center. Later that night, area progressive-hardcore all-stars Mass Movement of the Moth will play with Medications at the Black Cat.
The conference will close with an affordable housing benefit and CD release party for Joe Lally of Fugazi at St. Stephen's Church, for a punk-approved admission price of $5. Lally will perform along with political hip-hop act and schoolteacher Head-Roc, Pash and Travis Morrison & the Hellfighters.
Conference topics include affordable housing, community organizing, counter-recruitment and a screening of the documentary "Afro-punk: The 'Rock 'n' Roll Nigger' Experience."
For more information on the schedule or directions to the shows, check out the conference website at www.allourpower.org.
