By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY

06/04/97 - 11:39 PM ET

The Beastie Boys' current mission bears little resemblance to the hedonistic war cry of 1986's (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party).

This weekend, the Beasties, U2, Alanis Morissette, Bjork, Blur and scores of alterna-rockers are fighting for Tibet's right to parity in the free world.

They'll perform Saturday and Sunday before 100,000 fans in New York at the day-long Tibetan Freedom Concerts, designed to raise awareness of human rights violations Tibet has suffered under Chinese occupation.

It's a sequel to 1996's San Francisco show, which netted $800,000 for the Milarepa Fund, founded to promote compassion and the nonviolent liberation of Tibet.

"The music is the bait, that's the idea," says Beastie Adam Yauch, who adopted the cause after meeting Tibetan refugees on his treks to Nepal. He realizes fans are coughing up $40 to hear rock tunes and not political appeals, but "once people are there, we hope they'll help preserve a culture on the verge of being wiped out.

"By raising awareness, we can put pressure on corporations and the government to act responsibly and stop putting greed ahead of human rights," he says.

He joins critics who say upcoming trade bills dropped human rights stipulations because companies demand access to China's cheap labor force and its 1 billion consumers. Milarepa is urging a boycott of goods made in China, and Yauch hopes concern about Tibet will threaten youth's MTV-bred love affair with Bill Clinton.

"He needs to act like the president he proposed he'd be and stop acting in the interest of big business," Yauch opines.

Yauch's timing couldn't be better. Free Tibet, a rockumentary of last year's concert, is due this fall. The Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, is the toast of Hollywood. Martin Scorsese is preparing Kundun, a Dalai Lama biopic. Brad Pitt is filming Seven Years in Tibet. And the world is already suspiciously eyeing China's reclaiming of Hong Kong.

"I'm optimistic that we can help," Yauch says.