Human Rights Now!

Human Rights Now! was a worldwide tour of twenty benefit concerts on behalf of Amnesty International that took place over six weeks in 1988. Held not to raise funds but to increase awareness of both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on its 40th anniversary and the work of Amnesty International, the shows featured Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, and Youssou N'Dour, plus guest artists from each of the countries where concerts were held.

Human rights activists and former prisoners from around the world, led by Sonny Venkatrathnam from South Africa, participated in the tour. At each location, the artists and Amnesty leaders held a press conference to discuss human rights, and concert-goers were provided with copies of the Universal Declaration in their language and opportunities to sign the Declaration themselves and join the worldwide human rights movement. The tour featured concerts at large sports stadiums such as Camp Nou in Barcelona (90,000 people), Népstadion in Budapest (80,000), JFK Stadium in Philadelphia (78,000), Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires (75,000), and the National Sports Stadium in Harare, Zimbabwe (75,000). Only Paris and Toronto got arena shows. The Paris concert was originally going to be held at a large racing track that could accommodate 72,000 people, but the promoters changed their minds and it was moved indoors. More than one million people attended concerts over a six-week period, volunteers distributed 1.2 million copies of the Declaration, and hundreds of thousands of concertgoers signed a petition urging governments to ratify international human rights treaties and defend advocates for human rights.^[1]

The tour was made possible in part by a grant from the Reebok Foundation. The twenty concerts were the second stage of what subsequently became known collectively as the Human Rights Concerts – a series of music events and tours staged by the U.S. section of Amnesty International between 1986 and 1998.

La gira fue concebida originalmente por el director ejecutivo de la sección estadounidense de Amnistía Internacional, Jack Healey , tras una sugerencia del exdirector ejecutivo David Hawk, con una contribución limitada del productor Martin Lewis , quien años antes había reclutado a músicos de rock para actuar para Amnistía en la serie de eventos benéficos Secret Policeman's Ball . ^{[ 2 ] [ 3 ]} Healey desarrolló el concepto con el famoso promotor de rock Bill Graham , quien había trabajado con Healey en la gira más corta de Amnistía, solo por Estados Unidos, en 1986, titulada A Conspiracy of Hope , y quien actuó como director de la gira. Healey fue productor ejecutivo, liderando el equipo de tres productores: Mary Daly, Jessica Neuwirth y James Radner, padre de George Radner. Las estrategias de medios para la gira, basadas en conceptos originados por Healey y Lewis, ^{[ 4 ]} fueron desarrolladas por Healey y Daly y ejecutadas por la directora de medios de la gira, Magdalena Rose-Ávila, y Charles Fulwood , director de comunicaciones de Amnistía Internacional Estados Unidos. ^{[ 4 ]}