Dharamshala — On the eve of the Tibetan spiritual leader's 82nd birthday, Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, launched Friends of Tibet's 'Vision Wellbeing' in Mumbai.
July 6th is celebrated worldwide as World Tibet Day, in accordance with the Nobel Laureate's birthday, to show support for the leader and his people.
'Vision Wellbeing', an 18-minute long film by C-Wing, a Mumbai-based design firm, was made in solidarity with Tibet and Tibetan people and was produced using selected images from various activities of Friends of Tibet and the philanthropic work carried out by Friends of Tibet Foundation since 1999.
Sethu Das, Director, World Tibet Day Foundation, says “one positive action each of us can take on World Tibet Day, no matter which country we live in, is to urge our government and our elected representatives, to approach the Chinese Government on behalf of the Tibetan people in order to restore its lost religious, social and political freedom. One of our goals with World Tibet Day is to put pressure on decision makers in China to agree to negotiations with the Tibetan government in exile in India without any preconditions.”
Organizers of Friends of Tibet and World Tibet Day expect more than 40 countries to join the event with various events and related activities in July this year, and organizers are encouraging all concerned citizens to join this global event on Thursday, July 6, 2017 by taking action to spread the message of Tibet and observing the day as World Tibet Day.
World Tibet Day (WTD) was initiated in Chicago in 1997 at an informal meeting between Tendzin Choegyal, the Dalai Lama’s younger brother and Richard Rosenkranz, a Pulitzer Prize nominee in history and a former correspondent from the US Senate. Rosenkranz proposed the concept of WTD, saying it could become an annual worldwide event, aimed at helping the Tibetan people regain essential freedoms. When they offered the idea to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, he unanimously gave them his blessing and warm support. Founded in 1998, World Tibet Day has grown into one of the most important events on the Tibetan calendar.
