FNS_EP06_Master_FINAL
===

[00:00:00] ​

[00:00:02] Erin Potts: I remember feeling like we were on the cusp of something. 

[00:00:07] Rebecca Rankin, MuchMusic: And welcome to the third annual Tibetan Freedom Concert here in Washington, D.C.

[00:00:13] Erin Potts: We sold 122,000 tickets in 27 minutes. We had a ton of congresspeople and congressional staffers and celebrities. We were planning what was gonna be the largest rally for Tibet yet on the steps of U.S. Congress. It was like everything was what we had hoped and more on that concert. 

[00:00:40] John Norris, MTV News: Although the forecast had called for a chance of thunderstorms, by mid-afternoon, the only things raining at the third annual Tibetan Freedom Concert were music, moshing, and message.

[00:00:49] Erin Potts: I do remember there had been concern that there would be thunderstorms or rain on the first day in particular, but I don't remember that day being particularly stormy at all. The concert that morning was going as expected. The bands, everybody was on time.

[00:01:09] Kevin Jackson, Concertgoer: We're having fun today. This is a great event.

[00:01:12] Flea, Red Hot Chili Peppers: And let's send all that good energy and all that fun to the people in Tibet.

[00:01:15] Kevin Jackson, Concertgoer: Is everyone with me? You wanna send your love to Tibet?

[00:01:19] Flea, Red Hot Chili Peppers: Hello, this is Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

[00:01:22] Flea, Red Hot Chili Peppers: Chili Peppers are here for the second time. We played here in '96. We are here to support the cause. We're here to-

[00:01:27] Erin Potts: Our backstage area was outside of the stadium in one of the parking lots, and we had all these tents and stuff, and I was back there, and I was actually talking to Deyden. 

[00:01:35] Deyden Tethong: We were on a high. Everything was going really beautifully. Blue skies. It felt like a summer day. The weather, the sellout crowd, the spirit of everyone there, it was all working. 

[00:01:50] Erin Potts: And then Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters were on, and during their set, everything changed. I can't remember what we were talking about, but we looked up and the sky was turning green, and I was like, "Whoa, what's going on?"

[00:02:10] Erin Potts: And then the loudest explosion I have ever heard. 

[00:02:15] Deyden Tethong: I remember that sound and just really not understanding what it was. 

[00:02:19] Erin Potts: It was so loud that Deyden and I jumped into each other's arms like cartoon characters. 

[00:02:24] Deyden Tethong: We grabbed onto each other, um, and it was jarring. 

[00:02:30] Erin Potts: I just remember yelling at her, "Get everybody inside."

[00:02:35] Erin Potts: I mean, I was terrified.

[00:02:40] Erin Potts: I knew something was really, really wrong, um, but I didn't know what. And then somebody came up to me and told me that the Secret Service had found five people dead and that they suspected a bomb.

[00:03:03] Erin Potts: I'm Erin Potts. This is Freedom Needs a Soundtrack, the story behind the Tibetan Freedom Concerts and how an unlikely group of people turned music and hope into action.

[00:03:24] Erin Potts: This series is a Rangzen production, produced by Adonde Media.

[00:03:33] Erin Potts: Episode Six: After the Storm.

[00:03:41] Erin Potts: I remember walking into the main production office, this big room, and I just felt crushed and responsible at the same time. I actually collapsed. Like, my knees gave out. 

[00:03:55] Deyden Tethong: Everybody scattered, in that both the audience members and then all of the production people and artists we had in the back. 

[00:04:05] Erin Potts: And I remember my husband, uh, trying to prop me up.

[00:04:10] Erin Potts: And then almost immediately, our head of safety came over and told me and a group of other people that it wasn't a bomb, that it was a lightning strike. 

[00:04:23] John Norris, MTV News: As many as a dozen fans were injured, some more seriously than others, when without warning, lightning struck a metal railing in the stands at RFK Stadium.

[00:04:31] Dr. Julian Orenstein, Medic: It was pretty clearly a lightning strike, and about 30 seconds later, we heard that there was someone in trouble in the stands behind us. 

[00:04:39] Deyden Tethong: For us, as the producers of the show, it was all hands on deck. 

[00:04:44] Erin Potts: We got everybody into the tunnels underneath RFK Stadium and into our production office, and so it was just mayhem in there.

[00:04:54] Erin Potts: At the time, we just heard three people were injured, and there was gonna be a medical evacuation of at least one of them. 

[00:05:01] Dr. Julian Orenstein, Medic: This woman, she was lying there. She wasn't breathing. She was in a full cardiac arrest. 

[00:05:06] Erin Potts: Afterwards, we heard that the woman who had suffered the direct strike of the lightning had to be resuscitated, and it took a long time to stabilize her before they could move her.

[00:05:16] John Norris, MTV News: As the 25-year-old victim was transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital, torrential rains began to fall. 

[00:05:22] Concert Organizer (onstage): Please listen. This is important. We're not kidding around. I want everybody on the corners to back away from the Jumbotron. 

[00:05:31] Erin Potts: We were trying to figure out how to keep 66,000 people safe and what was going on.

[00:05:37] Erin Potts: The weather service had told us that they thought we had enough time to get everybody out of the stadium and into the Metro and into cars. It wasn't even much of a discussion of whether or not to cancel. It was more like, "How are we canceling?"

[00:05:49] Erin Potts: And we immediately walked to the stage, and I think it was Adam and Michael Stipe from R.E.M. made the announcement that we were canceling the rest of the show for the day and asking everybody to get home as quickly as possible. 

[00:06:05] Adam Yauch, Beastie Boys (archival): As far as we know, as long as the weather's fine, I guess we're gonna go on with the show tomorrow, and we're gonna try to schedule the bands that didn't get to play today.

[00:06:13] Erin Potts: Fans were not happy that we were canceling, but of course, they didn't know the severity of what had just happened. 

[00:06:18] Rebecca Rankin, MuchMusic: Okay, where are you ladies all from?

[00:06:19] Unidentified concertgoers: Toronto! Toronto!

[00:06:21] Rebecca Rankin, MuchMusic: You came an awfully long way, are you disappointed?

[00:06:23] Unidentified concertgoers: Um, yeah. It really sucks. Yeah.

[00:06:26] Rebecca Rankin, MuchMusic: Now, are you gonna come back tomorrow?

[00:06:28] Unidentified concertgoers: Definitely.

[00:06:28] Rebecca Rankin, MuchMusic: You gonna be here?

[00:06:29] Unidentified concertgoers: Yeah, we're gonna be here. 

[00:06:31] Erin Potts: It was with National Weather Service assurement that that day two was gonna be a very pleasant day weather-wise, and that we could safely hold the second day of the concert.

[00:06:44] Rebecca Rankin, MuchMusic: Well, what a difference a day makes. Sunny skies here in Washington, D.C. for day two of the Tibetan Freedom Concert. Day one was cut short after people were injured when lightning struck inside of the stadium. As a result, Tracy Chapman and Beck have been forced to cancel their appearances altogether. But R.E.M., Radiohead, and Sonic Youth have all been scheduled in to a jam-packed day two.

[00:07:03] Erin Potts: It was a pretty amazing lineup, even if I didn't get to see much of it.

[00:07:09] Erin Potts: We were still putting out some fires and, you know, trying to fit as many of the bands from day one that couldn't play onto day two, which meant we had to, like, shrink people's set times. So that was how I spent most of that day. Day two, the energy was really, really different. I felt it, I think, most with the artists, but also with the audience.

[00:07:33] Erin Potts: Like, everyone seemed somehow more committed to what we were doing. At that point, we knew that Lysa, the woman who had been seriously injured, was gonna make it, and, you know, had a long road of recovery ahead.

[00:07:56] Deyden Tethong: For all the concerts, we had, uh, Tibetan activists or Chinese activists or people that were working on an important issue in their community speaking from the main stage. I had asked my sister, Lhadon, to be a speaker at the show. 

[00:08:16] Lhadon Tethong: It was, like, a, a huge honor. I was a little nervous, but I think I just mostly was excited to represent.

[00:08:24] Deyden Tethong: I was a little bit older than she was. She, at this point, was really coming into her leadership. She was somebody born and raised in the West, but with this deep passion and gift of connecting the issues with young people. She could do that in a really powerful way, and do it from the stage. 

[00:08:51] Lhadon Tethong (onstage): I've been asked to speak here today on behalf of Tibetan youth across the world...

[00:08:56] Lhadon Tethong: I was very nervous before. That was, like, the biggest speech I ever gave. But in the moment, it just kinda goes quiet, and I feel like the truth of the Tibetan struggle and the, you know, our people's right to be free, like, that just took over. 

[00:09:13] Lhadon Tethong (onstage): We need the principles on which this peaceful and compassionate culture is based. And perhaps more than ever before, the Tibetan people need you. They need your energies. They need your talents. They need your hope and your freedom to ensure that they are not forgotten. 

[00:09:33] Erin Potts: I felt like when she spoke at the D.C. Tibetan Freedom Concert, it was like she was stepping into that voice.

[00:09:39] Erin Potts: You know, for her to be standing in front of 66,000 people, and for that audience to see this Tibetan woman, I think was really inspiring, and it was really amazing to watch. 

[00:09:52] Lhadon Tethong: I really looked up to the Milarepa Fund team and of course, like I didn't know the Beastie Boys very well, but I certainly, Adam was just a, a very good, kind, decent person.

[00:10:05] Lhadon Tethong: And, and that, the authenticity, like now I look back at it and think, god, like the authenticity of these people and their humility. And these individuals like Erin and others, like their connection to Tibet was so deep and so real. So many of them spoke Tibetan. I just, I, that blew my mind. I think for me and a whole generation of young Tibetans, um, it really helped us kind of find our footing.

[00:10:32] Lhadon Tethong: You know, we had our voices, but figure out how to project them even louder and set us up in a lot of ways for success or to lead our own movement as a result of being involved in the freedom concerts. 

[00:10:45] Erin Potts: As much as D.C. was like the pinnacle of our work, that was also a pinnacle moment. You know, here were young people standing on the stage, stepping into their power as leaders.

[00:10:59] Erin Potts: It was like this tingly moment of seeing what we hoped would happen come true.

[00:11:11] His Holiness the Dalai Lama: Nonviolence is based on compassion. 

[00:11:14] Thom Yorke, Radiohead: This is Thom from Radiohead, and we're proud to have been asked to perform at the 1998 Tibetan Freedom Concert. Please join us in support of the nonviolent struggle for human rights of the Tibetan people. This summer, President Clinton... the leader of the free world...

[00:11:26] Deyden Tethong: The uniqueness of the D.C. concert was that the actual show was a build-up to this key day, which was the rally.

[00:11:37] Thom Yorke, Radiohead: Come down to the Capitol Lawn in Washington, D.C., on Monday, June the 15th, and raise your voice for Tibet. 

[00:11:43] Erin Potts: The idea was that we would have a lot of musicians, politicians, and a lot of activists all talking from that stage, speaking to Clinton directly, saying,

[00:11:53] Erin Potts: "When you go to China, you have to talk about human rights, and you have to push for unconditional negotiations."

[00:11:59] Josh Schrei, Milarepa Fund: We are here to tell you that the American people and people across the world care about what is going on in Tibet. We are demanding an end to the suffering of the Tibetan people... 

[00:12:07] Erin Potts: We estimated 15,000 people came to that rally. We had suggested that people might want to skip school to come to our rally, and I looked out at the audience, and I was like, "Oh yeah, there's a lot of kids that are probably skipping school right now."

[00:12:21] Erin Potts: You know, I always say, "Don't let school get in the way of your education." Uh, so that was a very educational moment, I hope, for the thousands and thousands of kids who came. 

[00:12:32] Deyden Tethong: This was culture. This was young people. This was sort of all of these things coming together to be able to show the power of that moment.

[00:12:40] Josh Schrei, Milarepa Fund: I'm very pleased to introduce a great friend of all of ours and a longtime supporter of Tibet, Adam Yauch. 

[00:12:47] Erin Potts: Adam spoke at the rally, and he was talking about nonviolence and sort of the why behind what we were doing. 

[00:12:55] Adam Yauch, Beastie Boys (onstage): I think we're all really, in a sense, working towards world peace because the, the values that are within, uh,

[00:13:02] Adam Yauch, Beastie Boys (onstage): Tibetan culture and Tibetan religion of compassion for all beings and nonviolence, these are the, the basic principles that are gonna help humanity...

[00:13:12] Erin Potts: We had congressional people who were advocating for unconditional negotiations with Tibet through political means to get Clinton to say these things. 

[00:13:23] Adam Yauch, Beastie Boys (onstage): If Bill Clinton is gonna be going over to China and negotiating with them, making deals for us to bring our trade in there for our big business to make money, then I think that, that it's all of our responsibility to put that pressure on him and to let Bill Clinton know that he's not gonna get away with this, that this is gonna be remembered.

[00:13:42] Erin Potts: So Bill Clinton did end up saying the word Tibet in his speech in China. 

[00:13:46] President Bill Clinton: In a similar vein, I urge President Jiang to assume a dialogue with the Dalai Lama in return for the recognition that Tibet is a part of China, and in recognition of the unique cultural and religious heritage of that region. 

[00:14:03] Erin Potts: It wasn't unconditional negotiations, but still saying that word, I mean, it sounds so small, but it was such a significant moment.

[00:14:12] Erin Potts: I mean, it was this moment of global support. It acknowledged that Tibet exists and that China couldn't ignore it anymore. And it was the result of decades and decades of grassroots work.

[00:14:31] Erin Potts: A lot happened in the two years following the D.C. concert. We were really trying to train up young people as organizers in nonviolent action. So we did all these different kinds of activities and campaigns, and even some of the concert funds were used to support that level of training. In 1999, we did another concert, but we totally changed the format.

[00:14:55] Erin Potts: We had it in four cities around the world on the same day. So Tokyo, Sydney, Amsterdam, Chicago. It took so much out of us. It felt like we really needed more time before we had to produce another concert. But Adam didn't want to do that. He wanted to keep doing concerts every year. Adam and I definitely had some strategic differences in how we thought the future of our work should go.

[00:15:21] Erin Potts: And then a lot happened in the following years. I was married. I think I was probably burnt out, too. And in 2000, I was pregnant. All of those things led me to the decision that I should leave Milarepa. It was a really, really hard decision. You know, that organization and those concerts were like my first babies before my real babies ever came, and that staff, we were family.

[00:15:47] Erin Potts: But it felt like my stepping back was really important, and all those young Tibetans who were coming into leadership roles, like, I wanted them to have my seat.

[00:16:03] Deyden Tethong: Lhadon has always been, I think, destined to do this work. After she had finished her university, she started with a chapter of Students for a Free Tibet, and then she eventually came and ran the Students for a Free Tibet office in New York. 

[00:16:21] Lhadon Tethong: I went to work for Students for a Free Tibet full-time, and then eventually I became the executive director of the organization around 2002.

[00:16:32] Lhadon Tethong: Our work was focused on various campaigns. China had been given permanent normal trade relation status, and we were all involved in trying to, to fight that. And also, we were always working on political prisoner campaigns, always pushing for political prisoner cases to be linked to and raised with Chinese leaders' visits or big summits.

[00:16:59] Lhadon Tethong: And the Drapchi 14 nuns were really a big focus of the whole movement. The fact that we could hear them singing these freedom songs inside, I mean, it just, it was so inspiring and just felt so urgent and pressing to work on their case. When we found out Ngawang Sangdrol was released, we were... I mean, it was such emotional news to get.

[00:17:26] Lhadon Tethong: And then I do remember when we first saw a picture of her and just being, yeah, blown away by how young she was. I will never forget when the first pictures of her... yeah, she was so tiny. Like, she was like a giant in our mind. But then seeing her when she actually came out was... oh, god, just, yeah, it was so moving.

[00:17:56] Ngawang Sangdrol: It was 2002 when I was released. Totally, I spent in prison, um, 11 years. My health is very bad after 1998, and for the medical treatment suddenly they released me.

[00:18:21] Ngawang Sangdrol: I found out first time about our recording when I came to the Washington, D.C. Oh my god, first time I heard our voice!

[00:18:45] Ngawang Sangdrol: I listened so many times. Wow, everybody can hear that, in the world! I'm not strong woman. I'm not, um, brave, but I believe in something, and I'm proud what I'm doing, so this give me more energy. They're punishing my body, but they not able to punishing my mind.

[00:19:16] Lhadon Tethong: So the Freedom Concerts kind of opened up this whole world of disciplined and engaged, like, Western style activism. Like, that's what it did for us as a young generation of Tibetan activists. We had these training camps where we learned to do more hanging banners, and civil disobedience, and all these protests and direct actions that would g- grab more attention for the issue.

[00:19:42] Lhadon Tethong: So we planned for many years for what we would, uh, do during the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and the idea was always the Chinese government is saying that they're welcoming the whole world and trying to pretend like they're this modern, open nation. So our plan was to build a international kind of team of people to go and engage in nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience in Beijing itself.

[00:20:17] Reporter, Canada AM: Members of Students for a Free Tibet, they were trying to draw attention to human rights issues in the country... 

[00:20:23] Lhadon Tethong: So in 2007, in the summer, we knew there would be coverage around the countdown to the Olympic Games, and so we thought,

[00:20:32] Lhadon Tethong: "Let's be there, and let's insert ourselves into that story." And so we did a banner hang on the Great Wall of China.

[00:20:40] Reporter, CBC: They unfurled a banner saying, "One world, one dream. Free Tibet 2008." Within minutes, they posted this video of their daring exploit on the website YouTube. 

[00:20:54] Lhadon Tethong: "Catch Me If You Can," I think was the name of the action, which was gonna be just like we go around and we blog, and we sp- I speak openly. They're saying it's open, and then let's see how open it is, knowing eventually they would have to shut us down.

[00:21:07] Lhadon Tethong: So I did my thing for five days or something before they detained me. 

[00:21:12] Reporter, Canada AM: Lhadon Tethong, the executive director of the group, was also detained for blogs criticizing the Chinese government. 

[00:21:18] Lhadon Tethong: And they detained me the same day as our other team did the Great Wall banner hang. Eventually, they actually deported us all together on the same plane.

[00:21:34] Lhadon Tethong: Suddenly it was announced that Beijing was gonna run the Olympic torch around the world, which was just the worst best idea they ever had. We saw that route, and it was going through Paris and London and San Francisco, and we were like, "Okay, great. Run this torch around the world, and we will be there every step of the way to challenge you."

[00:21:58] Lhadon Tethong: That was the spring of 2008, and Tibetans inside Tibet had engaged in a massive uprising, and there had been so many protests and so much incredible, shocking footage came out of Tibet of Tibetans inside sort of rising up and Chinese military crackdown. 

[00:22:20] Reporter, AP: Gunshots echoed through the streets of the ancient capital, Lhasa.

[00:22:23] Reporter, AP: And the largest, most sustained demonstrations in nearly two decades are reportedly spreading to other towns. 

[00:22:29] Katty Kay, BBC World: China was quick to blame the disturbance on Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and claimed it was all an attempt to sabotage the Beijing Olympics. 

[00:22:37] Lhadon Tethong: And then there was this torch relay, like, a month later.

[00:22:40] Jayne Secker, Sky News: It was supposed to be a celebration of sporting excellence to come this summer in Beijing. But despite the tightest of security, within minutes, demonstrators had turned the event into chaos. 

[00:22:52] Erin Potts: It was a big coalition of people that were working, uh, on the Olympic protests. When the torch came to San Francisco and was running through, you know, the streets and across the bridge and all these things,

[00:23:05] Erin Potts: I had to go to a doctor's appointment or something on the other side of the, of Golden Gate Bridge, and Deyden said, "On your way back, look up."

[00:23:13] Erin Potts: So I was driving across Golden Gate Bridge, and I look up, and there's this ginormous banner that has been dropped off the bridge that says,

[00:23:22] Erin Potts: "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet '08."

[00:23:26] Erin Potts: And a picture of that banner against the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge was on the front page of The New York Times the next day.

[00:23:34] Erin Potts: And that's the work of so many people to get that to happen, and Lhadon was a big part of that. It was, ahh, it was gorgeous.

[00:23:55] Erin Potts: About a year later, I found out from a friend that Adam was sick, and then the Beastie Boys had put out an announcement that they were canceling their tour. 

[00:24:06] Reporter, Artisan News Service: Yauch and bandmate Adam Horovitz revealed the shocking news via YouTube, and they were totally candid about what was going on. 

[00:24:13] Adam Yauch, Beastie Boys (archival): I started feeling this little, like, lump in my throat.

[00:24:16] Adam Yauch, Beastie Boys (archival): They did tests, and I actually have a form of cancer in the gland that's over here. So I'm actually gonna have to have surgery... 

[00:24:26] Erin Potts: I remember thinking, like, okay, he has to have surgery. Like, it'll be okay. 

[00:24:32] Adam Yauch, Beastie Boys (archival): It's a pain in the ass, but this is something that's very treatable and, in most cases, and they've caught it early, and it's not anywhere else in my body.

[00:24:40] Adam Yauch, Beastie Boys (archival): So that's the good news. And, uh, we'll be back doing this soon. So, so that's what's up. 

[00:24:47] Erin Potts: A couple years later, I think it was 2012, the Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 

[00:24:54] Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) and Michael Diamond (Mike D), Beastie Boys: Oh, hi, everybody. Hi. We're the, uh, Beastie Boys from New York City. 

[00:25:01] Erin Potts: I remember seeing the video of them accepting the award, and... there's Mike.

[00:25:06] Erin Potts: There's Mike right there ... it was just Adam and Mike, and not Adam Yauch. And that was when I knew he was not well. And then my husband and I were heading out on our first vacation since having our second kid. Um, and we were going through security at the airport, and all of a sudden my phone started ringing, and texts, and it was all people from that period of my life.

[00:25:39] Erin Potts: I didn't answer anything. I got through security, and I just went to the news immediately. 

[00:25:43] Wolf Blitzer, CNN News: Sad news, especially for fans of hip-hop. Uh, Adam Yauch, also known as MCA, has died from cancer at the age of 47. Yauch also directed several Beastie Boys music videos and was active in the Tibetan, uh, independence movement, uh, starting a nonprofit organization.

[00:25:59] Wolf Blitzer, CNN News: He will definitely be missed. 

[00:26:02] Erin Potts: I was just bawling, bawling, bawling. We got on the airplane, and my husband was like, "Why don't you try to write something about what you're feeling right now?"

[00:26:14] Erin Potts: And I, I was writing it on my phone, so it was, like, with my thumbs, and I wrote this thing about his legacy, about how he changed what it is to be an artist and an activist, and how we can all honor him by continuing the work that he did.

[00:26:38] Erin Potts: I'm a little bit too serious of a person. He taught me that we need to joke and we need to have fun, and that I go back to the moment that I met him and how I was ready to dismiss him as someone that I didn't think I could be friends with. I was ready to dismiss him for what I thought and what I assumed about him, and I'm so grateful I didn't.

[00:27:14] Erin Potts: Because I've learned from him that people can change.

[00:27:22] Erin Potts: And I think that when we are trying to create change in the world, when we're trying to make the world a better place, knowing that people can change is more important than we realize.

[00:27:43] Erin Potts: There's a lot of ways we can think about the impact of the Tibetan Freedom Concerts. I mean, we can look at the growth of Students for a Free Tibet from, you know, 35 chapters before the first concert to hundreds and hundreds of chapters all across the country, all across the world. We can look at the number of political prisoners that we worked on who were released.

[00:28:08] Erin Potts: It's about a dozen. We can look at how many people came to the concerts or heard the concerts through the broadcasts, through the internet. Six million people, like, it was a lot.

[00:28:20] Erin Potts: I get asked a lot like, "You know, what impact did they have? Tibet's not free." It's like, yeah, the concerts didn't end the occupation of Tibet, but they changed what felt possible.

[00:28:32] Erin Potts: They expanded who showed up, who took action, and how culture can move people. 

[00:28:40] Deyden Tethong: The impact has been sort of indescribable.

[00:28:44] Deyden Tethong: I think, for the people that are fighting for their cause and for their country, just having somebody who's not from where you are to just recognize it and give you that sense of, "Yeah, this is important, and we see you." That's everything.

[00:29:05] Deyden Tethong: And then more practically, there are a lot of steps forward, and then there are many steps back, especially because so many forces are coming into the mix. Change takes a very long time. Sometimes, you know, far beyond our lifetime. It certainly is longer than our parents' generation lifetime. But the impact has been that Tibet stayed relevant.

[00:29:33] Lhadon Tethong: The Freedom Concerts helped at a critical time and place to breathe a whole new life into the Tibetan movement,

[00:29:43] Lhadon Tethong: to take us to another level, to challenge China on the international stage when we really needed it the most. 

[00:29:50] Deyden Tethong: Lhadon, she's always been remarkably headstrong and pretty fearless. That is also what her name means in Tibetan, is fearless.

[00:30:01] Deyden Tethong: She has gone on to establish and run an organization called Tibet Action and continues to work on Tibet issues and particularly in technology and digital security. She is probably one of the more recognized people in the Tibetan movement. 

[00:30:19] Lhadon Tethong: The situation on the ground is awful, but the Tibetans inside, they have not given up.

[00:30:24] Lhadon Tethong: And I think the story of Tibet has never been more relevant than it is today, even if it has less attention. Now it's so clear to me, as I look around the world, that the freedom that we've been fighting for, for so long for people inside Tibet, like this is the global story and struggle right now. And I think Tibetans have offered some kind of example of how to be in this world and fight for everything that we believe in, but as to limit damage and harm to others.

[00:31:01] Lhadon Tethong: I hope that that's a legacy of Tibet and Tibetans in the world.

[00:31:17] Ngawang Sangdrol: Tibet is full of nature. It's very beautiful and our culture is the compassion culture. Everything's perfect there. But the one thing is that we don't have freedom. Of course, my hope and dream for our country, you know, His Holiness and all the Tibetan people freely can go back to our country.

[00:31:39] Ngawang Sangdrol: If I'm not dying today, I'm standing up for this.

[00:31:56] Erin Potts: We'd like to dedicate this series to the memories of the 1.2 million Tibetans who have died as a result of the occupation,

[00:32:04] Erin Potts: T.C. Tethong, who was born in a free Tibet and worked his entire life to see it free again,

[00:32:10] Erin Potts: and Adam Yauch, without whom so much of this never would have happened, nor have been as much fun.

[00:32:16] Erin Potts: We continue their work. Tibet will be free.

[00:32:24] Erin Potts: Freedom Needs a Soundtrack is a Rangzen production, produced by Adonde Media and distributed in partnership with KALW Public Media in San Francisco. This series was written and produced by Andrés Caballero. Project management and archival production were led by Mariano Pagella. Fact-checking by Ana Lucía Murillo.

[00:32:45] Erin Potts: Sound design and mastering by Martín Cruz. Martina Castro was the editor and one of the executive producers. The original theme song is by Money Mark. For Rangzen, the series executive producers were Deyden Tethong and myself, Erin Potts.

[00:33:02] Erin Potts: A very special thanks to all who were part of the concerts and to those who helped make this series possible.

[00:33:07] Erin Potts: You can hear the rest of the episodes for free on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This series features voices and audio that we gathered from archival sources. Find links and more information about the concerts at freedomneedsasoundtrack.com.