prayer flags

Barbed wire fencing lines a hillside road in Dharamsala, India.  Tibetan prayer flags are a common scene in the northern Province of Himachal Pradesh.

freedom

The one constant found in all countries, cultures and creeds is the innate desire for freedom.  We will fight at any cost for it, protest until beaten and jailed, move to the un-known for a better way, even do the un-thinkable in the name of whatever you believe in, secular or otherwise.  The following image was taken in Dharamsala, India during a three day protest for Tibetans, both living within their borders and abroad.  This otherwise sleepy town was transformed into a constant wave of refugees, monks and Indian locals all supporting the most desired cause of all, freedom.

My most recent article/photos published with Fluster Magazine. Enjoy!…

Fluster Magazine

A Tibetan Protest

by Joey Panetta

[scroll down for italian version]

While photographing my way through India a few years back, I stopped off in the small mountain village of Dharamsala, in Himachal Pradesh. I anticipated some great photo opportunities here as this was the home town of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in exile, countless Tibetan refugees and only a couple days away from the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

I wasn’t wrong. As the world celebrated the start of yet another Olympic Games, this small town was on another agenda; shops would close and hundreds upon hundreds of locals, foreigners, monks and Tibetan refugees would march the streets in protest of a Chinese assimilation that has been a major concern in Tibet for over half a century.

It was this pre-emptive photo op that allowed me to emotionally go beyond covering yet…

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