Stop 2010 World Cup Animal Sacrifice More than Just Another Petition

Note: For those who have not been following the story, please see: https://thewordwright.wordpress.com/2009/10/25/2010-soccer-world-cup-animal-sacrifice-planned/

A week ago, I felt as though mine would be the only voice screaming to FIFA and the South African 2010 Soccer World Cup Local Organising Committee to disallow the animal sacrifices planned by the so-called traditional leaders here in honour of the event. Minutes within launching the petition (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Stop-2010-World-Cup-Animal-Sacrifice) on the Care2 network though, it became apparent that I was wrong – other voices were joining mine from right across the world.

The chorus grew rapidly and is but a few voices short of the 2,000 signatory milestone.  Judging by the overwhelming public response, 10,000 signatures are within reach! A month and a day remains before the self-imposed deadline for submitting the Stop South Africa from Sacrificing Animals at 2010 Soccer World Cup petition to the FIFA Executive Committee.

Driving towards success in the mean time ….

To improve our chances for success in stopping South Africa from sacrificing animals for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, we have to manage our drive as a carefully orchestrated CAMPAIGN. Unless we do that, we will probably be brushed off and ignored.

We figured that a really good target would be each and every one of the 2010 World Cup Sponsors and Partners – both locally and abroad.

The 2010 World Cup Sponsors are:

• Budweiser
• Continental
• MTN
• McDonalds
• Satyam
• Castrol

The FIFA Partners are:

• Adidas
• Coca Cola
• Sony
• Hyandai
• Visa
• Emirates

The FIFA South Africa Partners are:

• BP
• Neoafrica
• Telkom
• FNB
• Prasa

Next week I will be sending an email to the Board of each of these sponsors and partners. In brief the email will contain:

• a link to the Reuters article which broke the news of the impending sacrifices -http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLN24914120091023, and
• a link to the Stop 2010 World Cup Animal Sacrifice petition on the Care2 network

We will also be asking them, as sponsors / partners of FIFA and the 2010 Soccer World Cup, whether they agree with the proposed sacrifices of animals to honour the event. Naturally I will remind them that should the sacrifices happen, they will by virtue of their presence at the 2010 World Cup, be viewed as in support of this abhorrent practice.

Their responses will be duly noted both here and on the Care2 Network Site.

Once the petition is submitted …

Do we sit an wait for a response, hoping that someone somewhere in the great rambling FIFA organisation will send us some sort of an acknowledgement or perhaps even go to the trouble of discussing the matter with their South African ‘leg’?

This kind of tack would be downright naive.

The high level plan of action is thus, that over and above submitting the most crucial document in the campaign (namely the petition) to the FIFA Executive Committee, we will be sending copies of this petition to the FIFA CEO, the Chairman of the South African 2010 World Cup Local Organising Committee, and the 2010 World Cup Sponsors and Partners.

To ensure that we prevent the ‘out of sight out of mind’ trap, we will be asking supporters of the petition (those that are prepared to remain involved for a while longer) to send a pre-formulated email message to all the above organisations on a daily basis. Email addresses will be supplied.

Right now…

Securing as many signatures as possible is of paramount importance. If you have not done so yet, please sign and ask others to do the same. The petition is located at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Stop-2010-World-Cup-Animal-Sacrifice.

Thank you 🙂

Campaign Progress: Stop South Africa’s planned 2010 Soccer World Cup Animal Sacrifice

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” —Ghandi

If you have not been following the story, and stumbled across this blog entry, please have a look at:

https://thewordwright.wordpress.com/2009/10/25/2010-soccer-world-cup-animal-sacrifice-planned/

The campaign to stop South Africa from proceeding with the sacrifice of animals in ‘blessing’ the 2010 Soccer World Cup is doing well!

Update on Stop South Africa from sacrificing animals at 2010 Soccer World Cup Petition

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Stop-2010-World-Cup-Animal-Sacrifice

The initial dripping support has grown into a steady trickle and the petition now sports, at the time of this writing, 655 signatures. Considering that the petition was only started at 9pm (GMT+2) on October 23rd, this is a very encouraging result! Thank you to all who have been of help.

FIFA Executive Committee

I contacted FIFA directly, provided the information as reported upon by Reuters and informed them that a petition is running in opposition to the application filed by traditional leaders in South Africa. I went on to tell them that I am not of the belief that any one of the committee members could possibly be in favour of sullying the image of the 2010 World Cup by allowing the blood of animals to be spillt in this way. I asked them for their support against the application and am awaiting their feedback.

Animal Rights Organisations

To ensure that organised support is lent to the “Stop South Africa from sacrificing animals at 2010 Soccer World Cup” campaign, I contacted PETA and Animal Rights Africa on Sunday night. Thus far I have not received any response from either. Naturally I will be approaching many more over the next few days.

Blogs

Many concerned blog owners have included a link to the petition in their blogs. Naturally the response from blog commenters were varied, some airing their concern, others airing their disbelief and others still their opinion that we are all a bunch of animal rights wackos. So be it. If you stick your hand up, the odd bite at it is to be expected.

Media

Thus far, I have only been commenting on articles covering the proposed sacrifice of animals in blessing of the 2010 Soccer World Cup. As soon as the petition reaches 1,000 signatories, I will be contacting newspapers and news channels directly. Hopefully this will catapult the campaign to higher levels.

What you can do to help the cause?

No activism is necessary. Simply send the petition link and, if you wish, a link to the original blog entry, to people you know. Here are the links again:

Blog entry

https://thewordwright.wordpress.com/2009/10/25/2010-soccer-world-cup-animal-sacrifice-planned/

Petition

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Stop-2010-World-Cup-Animal-Sacrifice

Who will the ‘Stop South Africa from sacrificing animals at 2010 Soccer World Cup’ petition be submitted to?

It was not an easy decision, but I eventually decided that the FIFA Executive Committee and the South African FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup Organising Committee are the most appropriate recipients. To ensure that both these bodies can act in a timely manner, the targeted date for submission is the end of November 2009.

Once again: A heartfelt thanks for your wonderful support 🙂