World Tibet Network News Sunday, June 14, 1998

WASHINGTON, June 13 (AFP) - One of the most glamorous political causes in the world was showcased in the biggest rock and roll benefit in more than 10 years when the Tibetan Freedom Concert kicked off here Saturday.

More than 110,000 people streamed into RFK Stadium for two days of pop music -- headlined by Beastie Boys, REM and Pearl Jam -- interspersed with doses of Tibetan culture and political messages about the remote Himalayan territory controlled by China since 1959.

Organizers of the massive benefit show -- which include the Milarepa Fund and Amnesty International -- held a pre-show press conference on Saturday to send a message to President Bill Clinton two weeks before his June 25-July 3 state visit to China.

"I think what we really need to press on Bill Clinton ... is that he needs to go in there and ask for negotiations between the Tibetan government and Chinese government," said Beastie Boys band member Adam Yauch, a co-founder of the Milarepa Fund.

"And if he comes back having achieved anything less than that then his visit has been a failure," Yauch said.

Sean Lennon, son of slain former Beatle John Lennon, was another of the rock luminaries espousing Tibetan autonomy: "I just want to stress that it's Bill Clinton's responsibility to make China have negotiations with Tibet," said Lennon, citing the Tibetan adherence to non-violence as the allure of the cause for him.

Clinton was in Oregon on Saturday to address a graduating class at Portland State University.

The concert, called the biggest rock-and-roll benefit since the 1985 Live Aid concert for African famine victims, is the third such event, following two earlier shows in San Francisco and New York. Those concerts raised about 1.25 million dollars.

Activists also used the concert to urge the young, middle-class music fans to attend a demonstration planned for Monday on Capitol Hill. It is being billed as the largest rally for Tibetan autonomy in the history of the movement.