http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080315/D8VE3B700.htmlhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=528694&in_page_id=1811http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-10-petfood_N.htmhttp://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hcqbO7l-1Bm1b77FTH0Ct5LxbuFQhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5233704.stmhttp://www.voice4dogs.org/tsinc.htm(last link is very ugly.. honest pictures & details - prepare yourself or don't look.)
Above are raw links to relevant articles about the cruelty of China towards animals the rest of the world considers pets. One of the articles is about what they are doing to Tibet.
I hate doing this because I just wrote a great article about my novel but I must do it. I beg every one who reads this - on bended Kneels -
to boycott the Olympic games in Beijing. I beg you - down on my kneels to protest China's abuses. China has an awful history of murder of animals and human beings. Look at what they are doing to Tibet right now - just weeks before the Olympics.. look at what they are doing to cats... to impress us with how clean their city is, of all things - they don't seem to understand that they control rabies and other dieases in sane, merciful ways.
They hold no life of any kind sacred and I protest the choice of Beijing as the focal point for this year's summer games. The cats in the picture above are doomed. They will be murdered and eaten, there are places where they are being taken to be killed in the most awful ways possible. They did the same to dogs, recently. These are the same species that give so many of us so much pleasure of a completely different kind - the pleasure of love, companionship and friendship, the love of their incredible beauty and lovely diversity. We kill cats, too, but we try to do it humanely. The word 'humane' doesn't seem to exist in the Chinese lexicon.
Please people, don't give the Olympic authorities what they want most - your money and attention. In four years the games will be in a decent part of the world, hopefully, one where life is loved and respected. Holding the games in the barbaric country of China makes as much sense as holding them in Saudi Arabia or Iran - where dogs, Christians, Jews and women have no rights of any kind. What are the Olympics for if not about the rights of the individual to excel in every possible way? China does not love individuals and does not encourage the Greek idea of beauty and excellence by extreme effort. Their poor people are not encouraged to be individuals, I have friends that escaped that country who have told me how bad it really is, there. As a descendant of the ancient Greeks who settled Agropoli (my mother's home town in southern Italy) I can not think of many cultures of the world further from the Greek ideas that gave modern Western culture its wonderful diversity and love of beauty.
Please, all of you who love the human race & cats and dogs as much as I do - don't watch the games, don't buy anything they sell to commemorate the games. Protest with your dollars and your feet. Do it, people - your pets will thank you, the people of Tibet will thank you, I thank you. Let us show the Olympic commitees and the the country of China that we have the power to oppose them.
You may also try writing to American companies that advertise the Olympic games. No, we should not expect China to change, but we need not be silent to their cruelty and abuses. I do my best to refrain from buying Chinese goods - but we all know how hard that is, now. I Do try, though, I would rather give my money to the good countries. Please do the same. Be not silent, friends, let your voices be heard!
