Bullfights, again

by Col·lectiu Emma

The decision adopted by the Catalan Parliament on July 28 to extend to bullfights the existing prohibition of spectacles involving cruelty to animals has attracted much attention from international media.Col·lectiu Emma has already attempted to describe the circumstances surrounding this whole affair (links here, here and here) and would only like to recall now that the process that ended yesterday was first and foremost the result of a grassroots initiative promoted by animal-rights groups. There are also cultural issues involved that can be ascribed to the different sensibilities prevailing in Catalonia and in Spain. And, in the context of the traditional tensions between both societies, the matter has taken a political dimension, mostly as a result of the emotional and symbolic value that Spanish nationalism attaches to bullfights. Thus, unlike a similar law that was passed in the Canaries in 1991 and went practically unnoticed, this latest move in Catalonia has been interpreted as an attack by Catalan separatists against some basic component of the Spanish essence.

We believe that this is a triumph of civilization, and Catalans can be proud that their representatives have voted to banish such a barbaric custom from their land. We wouldn't think it necessary to make any more comments on this issue except for the furious reactions that have been observed in Spain in the last couple of days. Far from accepting an outcome that has been arrived at by democratic means, the Partido Popular plans to bring the matter before the Constitutional Court or, alternatively, to promote a state law declaring bullfights a "patrimony of cultural interest", in an attempt to override the Catalan decision. As to the press, "The nationalist farce puts an end to bullfights in Catalonia" or "The animals have won" (next to a photograph of the Catalan President and Vicepresident) are only some indicative headlines in the Madrid papers. The starchy ABC daily has gone as far as to publicize a new boycott on Catalan products that seems to be under way and, while it stops short of showing support, it appears to condone it when it warns, enigmatically, that "anything can happen when one plays with the ancestral genetics of a people" (" Cataluña quiere toros. Pásalo").

Catalans have been the target of similar abuse and reprisals before, with various pretexts, most recently as a response to the announced reform of their home rule charter – the Estatut. So such examples of irrationality don't come as a suprise in these parts, but we think that pointing them out may help foreign observers to put things in their right perspective when trying to understand the spiny relationship between Catalonia and Spain.