‘We have power’: Positive Force DC will commemorate its 40th birthday with five days of punk music and protests - News

To mark its 40th anniversary, Positive Force D.C. has planned a five-day event for this summer centered around the power of the District’s punk rock scene.

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Since 1985, Positive Force DC has harnessed the power of D.C.'s groundbreaking punk rock scene to do good in the nation's capital. Now, to mark its 40th anniversary, a five-day event featuring concerts, protests, and community service is planned for this summer.

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Positive Force DC commemorates 40th birthday with 5 days of punk music and protests

Since 1985, Positive Force D.C. has harnessed the power of D.C.’s groundbreaking punk rock scene to do good in the nation’s capital. Now, to mark its 40th anniversary, a five-day event featuring concerts, protests and community service is planned for this summer.

“Positive Force held its first public event and its first public meeting in June of 1985,” said cofounder Mark Andersen in a WTOP interview. “We had all been brought together by the D.C. punk scene — we were trying to challenge ourselves, in our scene, to step up and do something that made the world better.”

Andersen remembers the issues of the day when Positive Force was founded during the Reagan administration: “The nuclear arms race, poverty, homelessness, the wars in Central America, apartheid in South Africa — these were the things that were on our minds at that time.”

Now, during President Donald Trump’s second administration, Positive Force D.C. is raising money through Kickstarter for a 40th anniversary gathering from June 19-23, 2025.

Andersen said he believes the U.S. is facing a potential “authoritarian takeover.” But he added, “We have power — it’s not the power that someone in the Oval Office has, but it is the power we have, and we must yield it for the good of our community.”

While describing the group’s activism as progressive, Andersen said Positive Force “doesn’t pledge allegiance” to any political party.

“There was going to be plenty for us to address, had Kamala Harris won,” he said.

What to expect

The event will start on Juneteenth, June 19, with a racial justice rally and concert, headlined by the Messthetics, at Malcolm X Park in Northwest D.C.

On June 20, a benefit concert for Ayuda and Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network will be held at St. Stephen’s Church and headlined by Girls Against Boys and Swiz.

The June 21 benefit concert for Gaza Soup Kitchen and We Are Family D.C. will take place at St. Stephen’s Church. It will feature Soulside, Holy Rollers, Tsunami and include guest appearances by Pete Stahl and Enoch Thompson of Scream.

A June 22 benefit concert for Defend D.C. Coalition and SMYAL will include Bed Maker, and be held at St. Stephen’s Church.

Andersen said more information will be provided soon on the planned protests: “We know for sure that we’re going to be at the Russian Embassy on the June 20 at rush hour.”

Positive Force D.C.’s Kickstarter page quotes Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.”

Andersen said there has only been one protest in the group’s 40-year history that resulted in mass arrests.

“We are planning nonviolent actions — sometimes those actions are confrontational,” Andersen said. “We still want to challenge our world, and ourselves.”

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