Catalan ban questions future of bullfighting in Spain (News Feature)

By Sinikka Tarvainen Dec 18, 2009, 14:44 GMT

Madrid - Many people cannot imagine Spain without bullfights, but a ground-breaking decision by the Catalan regional parliament brought that vision of the future closer to becoming a reality on Friday.

The parliament of the economically powerful north-eastern region of 7.4 million residents gave preliminary approval to a bullfighting ban in Catalonia, making animal rights campaigners rejoice and the bullfighting lobby raise its arms in horror.

It will take about half a year for the proposed ban to go through the legislative process, and it could be watered down before being tabled for final approval by parliament.

The mere possibility of a ban, however, was enough to spark a debate about Spain's 'national fiesta' not only in Catalonia, but in the rest of the country as well.

If Catalonia outlaws bullfights, it would become the first Spanish region to do so after the Canary Islands, which banned them in 1991.

The Canaries law did not target bullfights, which were no longer taking place in the islands, but cockfights, which remained popular.

Liberal Catalonia, however, has a strong anti-bullfighting lobby which regards bullfights as being incompatible with modern ethics, as Anna Mola of the anti-bullfighting group Prou told parliament.

The platform collected 180,000 signatures to back its ban proposal which was debated by parliament.

Bullfighting fans say the fierce Iberian race of fighting bulls would become extinct without 'corrida de toros,' the Spanish term for 'running of bulls,' while bullfighting opponents stress the suffering of the animals in the bullring.

Not only do bullfighting assistants stick long darts into the bull's neck, but the matador often fails to kill it with a single thrust of his sword, and wounds it several times.

In Catalonia, a region with separatist currents, bullfights are also seen as representing a Spanish rather than a Catalan identity.

The planned ban was a 'political attack' against 'something very Spanish,' top bullfighter Enrique Ponce charged.

The regional capital Barcelona declared itself an 'anti-bullfight' city in 2004, and dozens of Catalan municipalities have followed suit.

Two of Barcelona's three bullrings were closed down, leaving the Monumental as Catalonia's only bullring to still stage corridas on a regular basis.

Bullfighting was a 'cowardly' bloodsport which left the animal no chance to defend itself, Mola argued. Matadors do get gored, but it is very rare for them to get killed by bulls.

More than 200 artists, intellectuals and other prominent people signed a manifesto against the proposed bullfighting ban, saying it would violate Catalonia's tradition as a tolerant region respectful of individual freedom.

Artists like Pablo Picasso were inspired by bullfighting, which the US writer Ernest Hemingway exalted as a noble art form, the bullfighting lobby argued.

The planned ban was 'a highly serious attack against Catalonia's historic and cultural heritage,' former senator Miguel Cid said.

In today's 'comfortable' society, 'people fear death and do not want to see that it is a part of life,' bull breeder Eduardo Miura said.

The popularity of bullfighting, however, has declined in all of Spain, where young people prefer footballers or musicians to celebrity bullfighters.

Only 19 per cent of people younger than 34 years take an interest in the spectacle, compared to 41 per cent of those over 60, according to a 2006 poll.

Bullfighting seasons are becoming shorter and some 2,000 fighting bulls may need to be sent to slaughterhouses for lack of corridas, the daily El Pais reported.

Advocates of bullfighting attribute such problems to the country's economic crisis.

Bullfighting remains a multimillion-dollar industry in Spain, with different categories of bullfighters, managers and bull breeders.

If the ban is passed in Catalonia, however, anti-bullfighting activists intend to start campaigning for similar measures in other parts of Spain.