Adam Yauch: Beastie Boy With A Cause, by Gregg Greenwood
Beastie Boy Adam Yauch is flexing his philanthropic muscle, using his talents to bring attention to causes that need aid. He is the "two-cents" man at Milarepa, a non-profit organization promoting concert in San Francisco on June 15th & 16th to help raise awareness to the plight of the Tibetean people who are generally being opressed by China. We met and Adam let me know what is going on and what he thinks can be done about it.
GG: What is Milarepa?
AY: It's a non-profit organization that spreads awareness about Tibet, and generally appempts to raise consciousness about the environment of human rights. It helps filter money to places where good can be done. Sometimes we have a surcharge on our concert tickets and that money goes to the Milarepa fund, some of that money covers Milarepa's overhead some money goes to other organizations doing good work, most youth oriented organizations. Sometimes the money we collect will go back into the area where it came out of, we might give the money to youth organizations in that town. The money collected also supports Milarepa going on tour with us and distributing information to people interested, they had a booth on the Lollapalooza tour.
GG: What kind of thing do you want to accomplish with Tibetan freedom movement/action?
AY: Mainly we are hoping that people will learn about what's actually going on over there. So few people know about the human rights abuses that are going on in Tibet and China. People are going to learn more about how we affect it - we as individuals in America and Europe or anywhere in the world, we are constantly affecting human rights over there and that it's not some separate, far away thing that has nothing to do with us. Every time we go shopping or buy something that's made in China, or you buy something and don't look where it's made we end up giving money to the corporations, or even our American corporations that are doing business with China - your basically supporting those human rights abusers. There are people in jail, prisons labor camps that are making a lot of the products that are sold here in the US. Basically the Chinese government is able to give really cheap costs to American corporations for manufacturing things because of prison labor - which are mostly political prisoners, people who've done nothing more than expressed their freedom of speech on the street and said "we want democracy" It sounds like I'm exaggerating, but this is literally what goes on. Someone can go out on the street and just talk about democracy and that person will be arrested and put in jail indefinitely in a prison labor camp. There are estimates of 18-20 million people in prison labor camps in China and child labor, that's why they (China) are able to give such cheap manufacturing rates American businesses.
GG: Can you give us a little overview of some of the things you're going to try to overcome in Tibet? The reasons why you're doing this? A history of how ...
AY: The country was invaded by the Chinese in 1949 - let me just make one point real quick about the problems with the Chinese government, the Chinese authorities is as much a problem for the Chinese people as they are the Tibetan people. There are little or no human rights in China. There are basically like genocide...they're going around sterilizing the women, there a forced abortions going on, they are not allowed to learn there language, they tear down the Tibetan buildings and building new Chinese buildings, they are not allowed to practice their religion, if you say anything about Tibet being free you get locked up in jail, a little kid running down the street with the Tibetan flag, a seven year old kid, would be locked up in prison and tortured....it's going on right now as we speak. You look at it like some piece of history ...and people are like "how could this have happened"....then you think that this is fucking going on right now in china...there are stories and stories of nuns being raped, being raped with cattle pods and monks have the electric cattle prods being stuck down their throat and being zapped...these are totally non-violent people who are sworn to non-violence because they won't say that Tibet is part of china...they say "no, Tibet is a separate country."
GG:How can and individual get involved with situation:
AY:The main this is to first become more aware of what is going on over there and it is important to know what is happening and the action will come natural. Boycotting anything made in china is real important, letting more people know about what is happening, writing letters to our government and ask that they take a stand. One big problem is that our government is not taking any kind of stand on it, because most of our people in government are paid huge a huge amount of money by corporations for their election campaigns...huge campaign contributions and the corporations asked that human rights issues be de linked from trade and economic issues. It has already been proven in the case with South Africa that if we take economic sanctions, put pressure on a country then it can make a huge difference. Our corporations are make so much money by trading over there that they try and pretend that it doesn't and our government is getting such huge campaign contributions that they try and pretend that it doesn't...it is really terrifying.
GG:Do you feel you can make a difference?
AY:Everybody can and everybody does, whether they are aware of it or not. We are constantly effecting a situation with all of our actions, some more subtle that others, especially going shopping or talking about this stuff or goofin' on it, gettin' beavis and butthead with it......nuns getting tortured....whatever..ya know. Everything we do is constantly is effecting the situation, that's the main thing, getting people to be more aware... It is a easy just looking to see if it says "Made in China" on it, or going to the people in the store and saying that I'm not gonna buy this cause it is made in china so they get aware of it. Writing to companies and letting them know that your not going to support they as long as they are doing work in china. Spirituality is about awareness, getting awareness about how what you do effects other people and why you are doing what you do. you can go out an drink with your friends and have a good time and laugh all night and raise your level of awareness and notice why you are doing what you're doing and how it's effecting other people..that really is what spirituality is about, living your life and then if at some point you start to realize something doesn't work for you to get drunk every night, then that's a different thing then not doing it because you're doing some great thing for somebody.
GG: OK - your increased awareness, how has it affected your snowboarding, your music. Can you cite some positive affects?
AY:I don't really know, I probably enjoy my life more than at other times. Because life can be a real roller coaster when you get caught up in the drama's of life let yourself be carried by emotions and conflicts about stuff and get attached to objects. Like, "I love my car" and then someone goes and dents it and you go through some crazy drama like oh, my god, someone dented my car. Or my girlfriend decides she wants to go sleep with someone else and your like - oh, my girlfriend slept with somebody else - you can lose your mind. But the more you can let go of attachment or ideas and concepts about holding on to stuff. Attachment and aversion, those are things that they teach you about in Buddhism we normally look at something and immediately feel either attachment to it or aversion of it we either want it or we want it away from us. The more we do that more you make yourself upset, leading into karma. You should be able to look at something and not feel the attachment, just see it.
