2008 Summer Olympics? The Good News for Dogs...

Sunday, July 22, 2001 - CHINA

It may be hard to believe, but last week the International Olympic Committee may have given dog-friends a great boost when they selected Beijing as host city for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said, "A little sunlight is the best disinfectant", and I'm beginning to agree.  One thing is for sure: by hosting the Olympics, Beijing and much of the heretofore unrecognized East will certainly be opening its window shades and letting in all the sunlight it can get.

And why not?  These regions believe they have nothing to hide.  In an article published just two weeks ago, the NY Times printed:

"Under the awnings, a woman holding her toddler stopped to buy two sandwiches from a man who pulled the meat from a dog's rib cage, his fingers glistening with grease. No one seemed upset by the spooked look of the live dogs bound for slaughter, their ears flattened and heads lowered, with anxiety in their shiny black eyes.

"When told of Westerners' squeamishness about eating dogs, Mr. Han [the proprietor] raised his eyebrows and asked, 'But aren't you afraid to eat beef these days?'"

Gotcha, right?  Well, this could lead to a nearly-endless debate on culture, philosophy and pantheistic evolution (which is just a wee bit beyond the scope of DogsInTheNews), but suffice it to say that "just because everyone else is doing it" is not a valid excuse, and perhaps the effort to save dogs from wretched death is just one arm of a much larger movement.

Now, if we take a step back for a moment to consider issues beyond that of our furry friends (although Wags is still busy working on his formula proving that the universe does in fact revolve around him), we may find that there may be a few unlikely allies out there.

People worldwide are protesting Beijing's Olympic show on the basis of everything ranging from air pollution to political oppression to military actions.  In the U.S. Congress, some 60 House members and more in the Senate have sponsored bipartisan resolutions that the 2008 Olympics should not be conducted in Beijing unless China releases all political prisoners and improves civil liberties.

Students for a Free Tibet, with 600 chapters nationwide, launched a campaign under the banner "No Olympics for China until Tibet is Free."  And Tibetan immigrants across the United States are mailing white silk "khata" prayer scarves as reminders that China punishes Tibetans who challenge Chinese rule.

Unfortunately, European leaders recently declined to join the United States in sponsoring a United Nations censure of China.  But maybe that's a good place for European dog-lovers to start.

Start what?

Start letting the sunlight in.  As much as I personally believe that petitions are often vain efforts that are generally crumpled up by diplomats and thrown away as if they were big, brown letters from Ed McMahon, they do succeed in spreading the word quite well.  The important part is not to let it stop there.

But for now, you might be interested in visiting the e-petitions listed below.  Next week we'll have a similar list: 2008 Olympic sponsors, and we'll start to home in on who our dogs' political friends are in Congress (or Parliament).

Online Petitions:
Action Animals Network
Asians for Humans, Animals and Nature
Phoenix Animal Charitable Trust (PACT)
PACT (to be sent to Olympic Committee)
Stop Eating Cats in China

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