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A History of the Milarepa Fund
The Milarepa Fund was officially started
in May of 1994, the very same month that the Beastie Boys released
Ill Communication. The concept for the Milarepa Fund actually came
about a year earlier. In 1993 while the band was still involved
in the recording process, the decision was made that a certain amount
of the album's royalty profits should be set aside to benefit the
Tibetan Monks who had been sampled on two songs: "Shambala"
and "Bodhisattva Vow". The organization was to be named
after Tibetan saint Jetsun Milarepa who had enlightened people through
his music. Adam Yauch soon realized that the Milarepa Fund could
be larger and more successful if other people with nonviolent beliefs
were to come together and contribute to the organization. Yauch
would go on then to enlist the help of Erin Potts, who was responsible
for a great deal of the day to day aspects of the organization. |
| Years ago, only a handful of people could
point out the small country of Tibet on a map and even fewer knew
of the harsh struggle the Tibetans were facing day by day with the
Chinese occupation. Today, more people (along with the United States
and other country's governments) know of the monstrocities occuring
in Tibet, but few have had the compassion or courage to speak out
against it. This created a obstacle for Potts and Yauch to overcome,
because it was difficult to build support for a place that people
had not given much thought to previously. The Milarepa Fund took
advantage of the fact that the Beastie Boys were co-headlining the
1994 Lollapalooza Tour. They decided to tag along on the tour, setting
up information tents in each city and in the process, formed the
model for how future educational seminars would be conducted. Those
who took the time to read through the Milarepa Fund's pamphlets
soon discovered that the organization was not just about Tibet -
it was about beliefs that were applicable on a worldwide scale. |
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Pamphlets were just part of the educational
process with the aid of Ian C. Rogers and Brad S. Benjamin, Milarepa.org
took its message of nonviolence online. The following is an excerpt
from one of the earliest versions of Milarepa.org:
"Regardless of their philosophical,
political, or spiritual beliefs, most people know that compassion
and a responsibility towards others are essential for building
a healthy society. The Tibetan people's struggle for freedom is
the embodiment of a compassionate effort towards a strong community.
In spite of the great political and spiritual upheaval caused
by the Chinese invasion, the Tibetans have sustained their cultural
celebration of non-violence and universal responsibility. The
growing attention towards their plight shows the global desire
to shift from physical, economic and military dominance to the
use of compassion as a means to achieve change.
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Central to any widespread change are young
people. Youth form a creative, energetic, idealistic, determined
and intelligent force and given the resources, we are capable
of using the tools of our culture to amass a widespread movement
for change. As an organization, the Milarepa Fund actively supports
the social change that the Tibetan struggle embodies, and we support
the youth of the world who represent a powerful vehicle to achieve
that change."
The importance of the Milarepa Fund to
the Beastie Boys became very apparent by 1995. While some fans
had embraced all aspects of beastiemania from Mike D's involvement
in X-Large to Yauch's interest in Tibet, there were others like
Brent Williams who felt the band's side projects were interfering
with their ability to be musicians. Brent's concerns were printed
in the letters section of Grand Royal Magazine issue #5. He was
not alone; soon others began to harbor animosity towards the Milarepa
Fund. Beastie Boys related message boards and the mailing lists
were full of people pointing the finger of blame at the organization
for the 4 years it took for the Beastie Boys to release Hello
Nasty.
It was true that between 1994 and 1998
the Beastie Boys had spent a great deal of effort and time organizing
three huge Tibetan Freedom Concerts in the United States, but
the trio of two-day long shows that were held each year in June
brought in fans from around the country. Where as in the past
with Lollapalooza, the information booths had been set up around
the concert; the benefit concerts were set up with awareness and
information as the centerpieces. The 1996
Tibetan Freedom Concert was held in San Francisco's Golden
Gate Park and is considered by many to be the single greatest
cultural event of modern rock history. Milarepa had enormous success
with the event and brought in proceeds that would later be distributed
to many like-minded organizations.
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Using funds raised during the summer’s
benefit concerts, the Milarepa Fund sponsored the “Free Tibet
Tour” which took place in the fall of 1996. The idea for the
tour came out of a meeting that the Students for a Free Tibet had
held. So joining forces with both Students for a Free Tibet and
the International Campaign for Tibet, the Milarepa staff took off
on the road. From one side of the United States to the other, they
carried the cry for Tibetan independence to colleges, universities,
and high schools from the 18th of October to the 17th of November.
Milarepa staff member Jon Voss said the following about his experience
while on the road. “The tour featured education booths, Tibetan
music and dance performances, an activist resource center for the
signing of petitions, multi-media exhibits on the message of non-violence,
a training workshop on lobbying local, state and federal government
leaders, an economic action camp to encourage consumer activism,
and interfaith meetings between members of different religious groups
interested in working religious freedom in Tibet.” For those
that were not able to make it to San Francisco that summer, the
Free Tibet Tour was the next best thing.
In 1997 the Milarepa Fund hosted the second
annual Tibetan Freedom concert at Randall’s Island, New
York. Again, fans turned out in droves to see two days of solid
entertainment while being immersed in Tibetan culture. It was
decided upon fairly early that the third
Tibetan Freedom Concert (1998) would take place in Washington
DC. On the Monday following the two day benefit, concert goers
were encouraged to meet on the lawn in front of the Capitol Building.
Cable news station C-Span covered every minute of the Free Tibet
Rally and it appeared as though the nation’s law makers were
finally taking notice.
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| Sadly the fourth
Tibetan Freedom Concert (1999) did not draw the media attention
of the three previous benefits. The roster of performers was fantastic,
but small compared to the legendary line-ups of years gone by. Instead
of having the single benefit in the United States, the talent was
divided up among shows on three continents. After taking a year
off (2000), a fifth Tibetan Freedom Concert had been planned for
the summer of 2001. Destined to be held in the United Kingdom, British
fans were heart-broken when word came out that the benefit had been
canceled. Fans at the time were anxious to hear the Beastie Boys
perform “Alive” in concert, but would end up waiting until
October 28th, 2001 for that to become a reality.
Following the disastrous events in September,
the Milarepa Fund helped organize the back to back performances
which were held in New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom on October
28th and 29th, 2001. The Beastie Boys headlined both shows and
proceeds raised from the concerts went to benefit an organization
called New Yorkers Against Violence. Both shows were overwhelming
successes and helped many fans get through an emotionally trying
time.
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The Milarepa Fund continues spread the message
of nonviolence online, while often being the first place Beastie
Boys announcements are made. For example, if Adam Yauch happens
to be scheduled as a rally speaker somewhere in the United States
the Milarepa.org site will be the first to announce it. Besides
fairly frequent updates, the site also boasts a politically charged
message board that encourages its participants to talk through issues
that are affecting the world in which we live. For those that want
to financially support the Milarepa Fund, the organization offers
different levels of contribution to mesh with budgets which may
vary from wealthy rock star to the starving college student. |
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