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BEGINNING OF THE END FOR BULLFIGHTING?

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Dave Bull / 2009-12-27 18:59:14

Some love the spectacle and tradition that it evokes and some, like me (perhaps it’s in the name?), think it is cruel barbaric and out of date. Bullfighting.

This ancient cultural event is controversial wherever you are but here in Spain, the times, (as Bob said) they are a changing. The younger generations appear to be not as interested, or indeed as keen, as their forefathers to go along and watch a bull or two get slaughtered in the name of sport, tradition, culture or whatever title you want to give it.

And now the first step on the road to its abolishment has come with a vote to ban bullfighting in the Catalan region, so is it the beginning of the end for bullfighting in Spain?

In a closely contested secret ballot, representatives of the Catalan Parliament voted by 67 to 59 to support a motion brought by animal rights campaigners and signed by some 180,000 people. The ban will have to be given final approval by the Catalan Parliament next year before it becomes law.

Animal rights protestors celebrating Friday’s decision in the Catalan Parliament to prohibit bullfighting in the region, say that the vote reflects growing disaffection among all Spaniards toward the controversial activity, and is just the first step toward a nationwide ban.

However, as you would expect with something that is so embroiled in the nation’s culture, it is not straight forward but to get the vote through in this region is a promising start for the campaigners. Although Catalonia has some of the oldest bullrings in Spain, and Barcelona was once the only city in the country with three plazas de toro the activists say that they are rejecting the nation’s culture but rather defending the animals.

The conservative Popular Party voted against the motion, calling for respect for what it says is a deep-rooted, uniquely Mediterranean tradition that dates back to the days of Ancient Greece.

The two main political parties in the region, the Catalan Socialist Party and the right-wing CiU, are divided over the issue, and preferred to leave deputies to make up their own minds; hence the decision for a secret ballot.

However, bullfighting in Spain is becoming less popular and in 2006, Gallup carried out a survey among 1,016 Spaniards to gauge bullfighting’s popularity. The results reflect changing tastes over the last two decades, with 81 percent of those under 34 saying they were uninterested in bullfighting. The figure fell to 78 percent among the
35-to-44 age group, while surprisingly, of the over-65s, only 41 percent said they were interested in bullfighting.

This year there have been 891 bullfights in Spain, a drop of more than a third on 2008. Estimates suggest that there are probably around 2,000 fighting bulls in Spain whose sell-by date is coming up: the rules say that only bulls aged between four and six are allowed to fight in the ring.
In 1991

The Canary Islands included bullfighting in a law that prohibited the suffering of animals for public enjoyment. The ban came after a decade that had not seen a bullfight in the Atlantic archipelago, and there was no opposition. The ban was principally aimed at preventing dogfights, cockfights and pigeon shooting. Illegal cockfights continue to be held in some rural areas.

The Platform in Defense of the Fiesta, along with the Federation of Bullfighting Entities have argued that a ban on bullfighting would curtail basic freedoms, saying that if bullfighting is to end, then it should be because people no longer want to see it.

The activists claim that this is the beginning of the end for what many people see as a barbaric and out-of-date sport and in 2010 they believe they will take the pressure to the central government to push for an overall ban.

But throughout Spain, bullfighting is no longer the powerful draw it was a few generations ago, when matadors were top-flight celebrities. Today's crowds at bull rings are largely middle-aged, while younger generations find their heroes on football fields or concert stages.

Tags: Bullfighting