all our (punk) power

some things that punk is about:

from allourpower.org:
All Our Power is a punk-activist conference whose mission is to educate, mobilize, and connect people of all ages from the punk community and to give participants the tools needed to become activists in their larger communities in order to build a broad grassroots movement for fundamental change.

PUNK: just a label, one among many for a creative, compassionate, questioning lifestyle; a spirit or attitude of truth-telling and do-it-yourself-ism, applicable for all times and places, and any stage of life.

PUNK is NOT necessarily a form of adolescent rebellion, a fashion, a certain type of music, or hairstyle or personal adornment… it is about the inside, the deep reality, not superficialities.

As the word “PUNK” has for centuries referred to people who were considered worthless, unimportant, and weak, punk politics most fundamentally suggest a stand with such throwaway people, reclaiming the term to suggest the immense value of all people, and the need to be in effective, on-going solidarity with them and their struggles.

Anyone who buys into these ideas, wants to make them real… anyone who is up for doing what they can with whatever they have wherever they are RIGHT NOW… those people are welcome in our idea of PUNK, no matter their taste in music, fashion, their age, race, religion, or nationality.

this initiative is supported by various bands and groups, among which anti-flag - not necessarily my favorite band, but one that i appreciate on several levels. i saw them earlier this year, and that was a great show, with good clean fun and mike park!

speaking of things that punk is, and mike park, here's 10 minutes of a PLEA FOR PEACE and north hangook falling show - so lovely.





mike park really is punk guy extraordinaire. here's a chinkees video, too:


and skankin' pickle live, back in '93 (about the time i first got into ska):


---
i found out about allourpower.org through an event announcement from
ak press

All Our Power: Punks Active, Bridging
Communities, Building a Movement
Oct. 6-8, St. Stephens Church,
16th & Newton Streets NW, Washington D.C.

A mixture of free workshops, music, films,
and community outreach, the mission of the
conference is twofold: 1) to educate,
mobilize and connect people of all ages from
the punk community and; 2) to give
participants the tools needed to become
activists in their larger communities in
order to build a broad grassroots movement
for fundamental change. Inspired by the book
ALL THE POWER: REVOLUTION WITHOUT ILLUSION
and fueled by a start-up grant given by
punk band Anti-Flag as well as a series of
DIY fundraisers, All Our Power builds upon
recent efforts such as Punkvoter,
Don't Just Vote, and Bands Against Bush,
projects that visibly illustrated both the
potential  power punks have as a culture
and community, and its limitations.