Situation in Tibet is getting Worse': World Photographer

August 12, 2008./Geneva/TibetNet/TibetPress

Mr Michel Comte, the Swiss-born and an international acclaimed photographer, expressed concern over "the worsening situation in Tibet", during a photo exhibition on Tibet organized by Germany's largest newspaper, Bild, in Berlin, on the eve of Beijing Olympics. The German tabloid newspaper with over 17 million readers organized the exhibition titled "Pictures from Tibet" under its campaign, "A Heart for Children". Some 80 photos taken by Mr Comte are put on display at the German media group Axel Springer building's concourse in Berlin. The entrance free exhibition was opened to the public on 8 August and will be on display until 22 August. The photos were taken during his visit to Tibet in 1986 and to Dharamshala in June 2008. He met His Holiness the Dalai Lama in May 2008 in Frankfurt. "The situation in Tibet is getting worse," said Michel Comte, reading a letter he had received from a Tibetan he met during his travel to Dharamsala in June. The Tibetan friend who fled Tibet last year wrote about his family members being killed in Tibet by Chinese soldiers during the recent crackdown on Tibetan peaceful protestors. Germany's elder statesman and long time Tibet friend, Otto Graf Lambsdorff, spoke about the great risk Tibetans in Tibet take in sending their children to India to get better education and sometimes to the point that they may not see their children again. He also mentioned about the China current decree on Tibetan officials working in the Chinese administration to bring back their children from India or lose their job. Mr. Kai Diekmann, editor-in-chief of Bild, said that the situation of the Tibet is grave. He also said that his newspaper stood against Communism and dictatorship. Mr. Tseten S Chhoekyapa, Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Geneva, said that the exhibition was launched at a very significant moment in history - on the eve of Olympics Games in Beijing. He expressed Tibetan people's gratitude to Mr. Comte and Mr. Diekmann for organizing the exhibition to raise funds for the education of Tibetan children and Tibetan Medical Institute in Dharamsala. All the 80 photos were sold for Euro 1000 each. In early February 2009, a similar exhibition will be organized in Düsseldorf, Germany to raise money for Tibetan Medical & Astro Institute's new academy near Dharamshala.