Beastie Yauch And Cult's Astbury Talk Politics At Tibetan Concert

06/14/1999 4:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(6/14/99, 1 p.m. PDT) - The Tibetan Freedom Concerts were held in Sydney, Tokyo, Amsterdam, and Chicago yesterday (June 13). The purpose behind the event was not lost on the participants at the Chicago area concert, which was actually 90 minutes away from the Windy City in Alpine Valley, Wis.

Those who spoke at the pre-concert press conference included the Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch, Live's Ed Kowalczyk, the Cult's Ian Astbury, and representatives from the Milarepa organization (who stage the concert) and Tibet, all of whom shared their views on why they were at the concert.

After the press conference, Astbury said that his participation in the event comes from the heart. "This is truly not an egocentric experience for me," he told LAUNCH. "This is truly out of pure heart and altruism. And I'd be quite happy to do this, even if I wasn't in a band. I mean I'm not here for any showboating or career move...pointless. You know, that's something I transcended when I was a kid."

With the goal of getting in touch with his spirituality, Astbury visited Tibet just last year, where he witnessed the persecution of the Tibetan people. "Somebody once said, 'How do we connect with the kids that come to the shows...so when they go away they feel they've been a part of something?' The thing is, without the audience being a part of this, the whole drive of the movement is lost, 'cause individuals taking action is the most important thing. You don't have to be a rock star or a politician or an actor to feel the benefits of Tibet or Buddhism."

For the most part, the fans did their part. Despite the early rain, 31,000 (out of a capacity of 35,000) arrived for the show. This year's concert was not covered live by MTV, but will air on HBO's Reverb in two installments planned for October.

At the press conference, Yauch and company lobbied hard to get people to spread the word about the World Bank proposal to move the Chinese People into western Tibet.

Representatives from Milarepa say the move, which is known as the Western Poverty Reduction Project, will further endanger the culture of Tibet. Yauch noted that fans could get online at www.tibet99.com and sign letters objecting to the project. More than 2,500 Tibetan nomads will be relocated to farms, losing almost one-eighth of their land, which never required a title, he said.

"The World Bank right now is actually looking at a project to relocate 60,000 Chinese people into a region of Tibet called Chamdo, where there are only 10,000 Tibetan people living," Yauch said. "So, if they do succeed in relocating these Chinese people, it's going to completely overwhelm the local population and significantly contribute to the cultural genocide that's going on."

Yauch admitted stopping the Western Poverty Reduction Project is a short-term goal. As for long-term goals, he said, "We're looking for the Tibetan people to feel happy with some kind of outcome--to have basic freedoms, to have some basic human rights, and to have Tibet be free in some sense. What we're really asking for [is for] the Chinese government to go into negotiations with the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile. And at least begin a dialogue. That's the step that we're pushing for right now."

To read a Live feature, click here.

-- Darren Davis, Brian Ives, and Gary Graff (Chicago)

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