Catalonia votes to ban bullfights in their region

[anythinggoes]

Bullfighting, considered by many Spaniards to be an essential part of their culture, suffered its most significant setback to date on Wednesday when lawmakers in Catalonia voted to ban fights in their region.

The law was immediately hailed as a victory by animal welfare groups over what they consider to be a barbaric and outdated practice.

“This is a historic day for all those who have worked to promote animal rights in a modern society like ours,” said José Ramón Mallén, a representative from Fundación Equanimal, an animal rights organization. “This is not about politics and Catalan identity but about ethics and showing that it is simply wrong to enjoy watching an animal getting killed in public.”

Still, the bullfighting issue has been overshadowed by a political debate over Catalan identity, at a time when similar issues also top the agenda in European countries from Belgium to the Balkans.

The Catalan vote came amid intense political bickering following a contested ruling last month by Spain’s constitutional court on a Catalan autonomy charter that had already been approved by Catalonia’s 5.5 million voters and the Spanish Parliament. While endorsing most of the charter, the court also infuriated Catalan nationalists — triggering a huge protest march in Barcelona — by striking out some of its points, as well as a legal claim to nationhood.

The bullfighting vote came ahead of Catalan regional elections later this year, in which nationalist parties are hoping to make advances.

On Wednesday, Catalan legislators, led by representatives from Catalan nationalist parties, approved the ban, 68 to 55 , with nine abstentions.

Lawmakers from Spain’s largest center-right Popular Party led opposition to the ban, both on cultural and economic grounds.

The economic impact of the ban, however, is likely to be limited because bullfighting’s popularity has long been on the decline in Catalonia, a region that was home to some of the country’s first bullfighting societies and whose main city, Barcelona, once operated three bullrings. Nowadays, just one bullring is left in Barcelona, attracting as few as 400 season ticketholders compared to 19,000 for Madrid’s main ring.

But supporters of bullfighting argued that losing Catalonia would set a terrible precedent for regions that have less bullfighting tradition and history than Catalonia. The vote also came at a time when bullfighting is already suffering from Spain’s economic crisis and lower consumer spending.

As an activity that is reliant on state subsidies, it has also suffered heavily from forced cuts in public funding. The impact has been particularly felt in smaller towns, where local administrations have bullfighting, which used to be the centerpieces of annual festivities. The number of bull fighting fiestas has fallen by almost a third since 2007.

The ban is to come into force in January 2012 to allow time for the industry to reorganize itself and for Barcelona authorities to decide what to do with one of the world’s leading bullrings, La Monumental. The bullfighting sector is expected to claim about 300 million euros in compensation to offset losses resulting from the ban.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/world/europe/29spain.html

[UcudBmine]

it's about time

[blueheart]

finally! it was about time

[Iconic Shawn]

YAY! Peace on earth and everyone in Africa is now fed. Woooo~!

~S~

[2NaFish]

YAY! Peace on earth and everyone in Africa is now fed. Woooo~!

~S~

Beyond your not too funny comments, what do you actually think?

[Iconic Shawn]

I think worrying about an age old tradition so much and trying to change the world because you feel bad about some fucking bull dying is a croc of shit to even be discussing when there are real problems that effect conscience having people.

But if it makes people feel all good about themselves and their super sensitive morality then by all means let the good feelings roll.

If the world was the ocean, and its problems the water, what we've done here is take a spoonful (half filled with sand) out and throw a party.

I particularly support bullfighting.

~S~

[2NaFish]

I think worrying about an age old tradition so much and trying to change the world because you feel bad about some fucking bull dying is a croc of shit to even be discussing when there are real problems that effect conscience having people.
~S~

Do you think by banning bullfighting, catalonian officials have held up other legislation that could otherwise improve the world? My impression was that law makers were able to do lots of stuff. Obviously, this has stopped them fixing things, otherwise you wouldn't have made such a ridiculous post; please enlighten me, what was stopped in order to do this?

Once you've done that, you can head out on to the streets and demand the reintroduction of the British Monarchy to the american colonies, being as you're such a fan of tradition. Or maybe your point about protecting traditions was also ridiculous.

[Iconic Shawn]

I think you're making it a little too complicated dude.

To me its bullshit.. BUT, the people there supposedly voted, they got enough signatures and did what they had to do.

No more bullfighting, no more dodgeball and no more steel chair shots or blood in wrestling all fall under the same bill of pussyfied, womanized society annoyance to me.

In 50 years the only thing we'll be able to do is play on Sesame Street and gossip about celebs.

~S~

[2NaFish]

I think you're making it a little too complicated dude.
~S~

thats the most simple way it can be put tbh. I can't point out the hypocrisy, irony or flat out ignorance of what you said any other way.

[mooney]

YAY! Peace on earth and everyone in Africa is now fed. Woooo~!

~S~

you know, if all the money spent by governments on weapons and wars was spent on feeding, clothing and sheltering the poor.... oh hang on wait, im sensing you like the military and wars and all that "manly" tough guy stuff...?

[Iconic Shawn]

I feel war is part of humanity and will never go away.

The idea of peace on earth is just as legit as any belief in any religion to solve all your problems.

I don't promote war though I do support it when its just.

Justice.. apparently has different shades depending on who's looking though so again... square one.

My stance, in the least, is more in tune with reality than "peace on earth" and "feeding / clothing all the poor of the world".

~S~

[mooney]

I feel war is part of humanity and will never go away.

The idea of peace on earth is just as legit as any belief in any religion to solve all your problems.

I don't promote war though I do support it when its just.

Justice.. apparently has different shades depending on who's looking though so again... square one.

My stance, in the least, is more in tune with reality than "peace on earth" and "feeding / clothing all the poor of the world".

~S~

seeing as there is absolutely no reason or meaning for the existence of us as a species, id saying looking after you're own species was a pretty reasonable and realistic thing. War isn't part of humanity. it's not a natural thing nor is any war "just". Explain how a war is just? im curious.

Religion isn't legit in the slightest. It's pure unsubstantiated bullshit used to control people. Let's be clear about that.

[King bumb.l.foot II]

It is a great move imo, long overdue

[polar]

The law was immediately hailed as a victory by animal welfare groups over what they consider to be a barbaric and outdated practice.

The ban is to come into force in January 2012 to allow time for the industry to reorganize itself and for Barcelona authorities to decide what to do with one of the world’s leading bullrings, La Monumental. The bullfighting sector is expected to claim about 300 million euros in compensation to offset losses resulting from the ban.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/world/europe/29spain.html

if bullfighting was a dying sport and seriously losing steam and going to die out naturally, why waste time government time on it and kill even more jobs prematurely.  spain is a pretty fucked up nation on the whole, with the "green economy" which has killed them and massive unemployment, seems like a pretty retarded way to spend time.  they are already collapsing which will cause the EU and rest of the world a billion problems, might as well take more food out of people's mouths while you can