Catalonian vote bans bullfighting

CATALONIA ran its legislative sword through one of Spain's most cherished traditions yesterday, banning bullfighting and delighting activists bent on extending the ban to Madrid.

•Activists celebrate in Madrid after bullfighting, below, was banned in a parliamentary vote Picture: AFP/Getty Images

After impassioned debate that pitted animal rights against a pillar of Spanish tradition, cheers broke out in the regional 135-seat legislature when the speaker announced the ban had passed 68-to-55 with nine abstentions. It will take effect in 2012 in the north-eastern coastal region whose capital is Barcelona.

"We are euphoric with the banning of bullfighting in Catalonia. It's the beginning of the end," said Nacho Paunero, president of the animal rights group Refuge, which has collected 50,000 signatures in a bid to force a similar vote in the Madrid regional parliament.

"We want debate in Madrid now."

Catalonia is a powerful, wealthy area with its own language and culture and a large degree of self-rule, and many in Spain have seen the pressure for a bullfighting ban as a further bid by Catalonia to stand out from the rest of the country.

The ban on bullfights will lead to the closure of Barcelona's only surviving bullring in 2012. Today only 14 fights are held at the loss-making venue each year, out of a nationwide total of roughly 1,000 bouts per season.

"There's been a fall in interest from youngsters, there's a generation gap between bullfighting lovers and youngsters," said Evangelista Garcia, owner of La Gran Pea restaurant located next to the ring, which seats 19,000.

Spanish conservatives have taken the drama around the "fiesta nacional" very seriously, seeing a stinging anti-Spanish rebuke in the grass roots, anti-bullfighting drive which started in the region last year.

But Joan Puigcercos, an MP from a Catalan pro-independence party, insisted this was not about politics or national identity but rather "the suffering of the animal. That is the question, nothing more."

Unlike Catalan nationalists, Catalonia's socialist first minister Jos Montilla voted against the ban. "I call now for (political] responsibility and moderation. I lament the pretensions of those who wish to use this vote as a thermometer to gauge the state of relations between Spain and Catalonia," Mr Montilla said.

"The suffering of animals in the Catalan bullrings has been abolished once and for all. It has created a precedent we hope will be replicated by other democratic parliaments internationally, in those regions and countries where such cruel bullfights are still allowed," said Leonardo Anselmi of PROU, the animal rights groups whose signature-collecting campaign late last year forced Catalonia's Parliament to debate and vote.

Victoriano del Rio, a Madrid-area bull breeder whose family has been in the business since the late 18th century, called the ban a pointless act by "mediocre" politicians who want to attract attention.

He predicted the ban would not damage bullfighting and could even backfire, causing aficionados to embrace it even more.

"The fiesta carries inside it something very important," he said, "and will withstand these ups and downs."

The law comes amid rising tension between Spain and Catalonia, brought to light recently when hundreds of thousands took to the streets in Barcelona on 10 July to protest over a recent court ruling which limits Catalonia's powers of devolution.

In Barcelona, Catalan authorities were criticised over a refusal to put up a giant TV screens in public during the World Cup. Barcelona authorities did however do so during the tournament's final.

As the impact of the bullfight ban sunk in, one young man in Barcelona - wearing a Spanish national football team shirt - bemoaned. "First there's the rise of independence movement, the thousands of separatists at the demonstration, then we were stopped from celebrating Spain's' victory and now this bullfight ban - all this marks the end of Catalonia and Spain as part of the same country," he said.

Background

Bullfighting is closely associated with Spain and its origins can be traced back to 711, when the first bullfight took place in celebration for the crowning of King Alfonso VIII.

Bullfighting was originally a sport for the aristocracy and took place on horseback. King Felipe V took exception to the sport however and banned the aristocracy from taking part, believing it to be a bad example to the public.

After the ban commoners accepted the sport as their own and, since they could not afford horses, developed the practice of fighting the bulls on foot, unarmed. This transformation occurred around 1724.

The bulls used in the fights are of pedigreed lineage raised on special ranches, the most celebrated being those of Miura, from Sevilla, which have killed more famous matadors than any others.

Few bulls are allowed to survive, and the few that do are not used again as their memory is remarkable.