Breaking news: Catastrophic torture allegations might cost China the Olympic Games
Okay, so this time it’s serious.
Forget about Tibet, ignore Sudan – and who gives a fuck about all the members of the Falun Gong rotting away in Chinese prisons, if we don’t care all that much about what happens to Muslims and Christians there.
And all those political prisoners? Well, Jeez Marie, if they really wanted to live in a democracy they could have stepped into one of those leaky boats a little bit sooner, right?
Right.
For when it comes to human rights the world doesn’t give a good Goddamn what China does or doesn’t do.
However, this time it seems that the Chinese government really has gone too far – and it might cost them.
‘Cause it’s one thing to torture and kill a few miilion of their countrymen – but quite another to…
… no, it’s truly unspeakable!
But it means WAR – or at the very least it should mean a boycot of their precious Olympic Games:
Animal welfare activists in Beijing are up in arms over a decision by the city government to clear the capital of its stray cats as part of a sweeping Olympic facelift.
No one knows exactly how many homeless cats roam the city’s streets and alleys but the Capital Animal Welfare Assocation says 160,000 to 200,000 animals at the very minimum are at risk from the new campaign.
Strays are already being caught and transported to a holding pen in the suburban county of Changping. Animal welfare activists described seeing the cats crowded together in cages the size of a microwave oven. They estimated almost 90 per cent of the animals were clearly diseased and many had been neutered with rudimentary surgery that had led to infections. The order states that strays still unclaimed after 14 days will be “dealt with”.
Qin Xiaona, head of the animal welfare association, told The Times: “This is nothing less than torture. And the situation is much worse than this for dogs.”
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February 26th, 2008 at 09:32
I predict a coming plague of rats, just in time for the Olympics…
February 26th, 2008 at 09:34
Well, it IS the Chinese Year of the Rat, after all…
J.
February 27th, 2008 at 02:45
Good point. There was a silly “war on chickadees” anti-pest movement in China decades ago, and result of that was infestation of locusts.
February 27th, 2008 at 02:49
True! I’d forgotten about that. Thanks for reminding!
Gods, but governments can be incredibly stupid, can’t they? (And not just Chinese governments, of course.)
J.
April 7th, 2008 at 06:12
I recently blogged on this myself and I hope something can be done to bring change… Too many people / nations are interested in profit over people.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:31
Indeed (and thanks for commenting) but I don’t see how we can change that in a hurry - or at all,
J.