Voters should support candidates who oppose the vile sport of bullfighting, argues Marcus Papadopoulos
THE possibility of the far-right British National Party making gains at the forthcoming elections to the European parliament on June 4 is being billed by some political and media commentators as the most important issue facing the British electorate. While this is the most imperative political concern to accentuate, there are other issues which, if afforded sufficient publicity, would also resonate with the British people and encourage them to vote in an election that few consider relevant to their lives. One such issue is bullfighting.
This “sport” is actually one of the most barbaric and distressing forms of animal cruelty practised anywhere in the world. Although this horrific spectacle also takes place in some Latin American countries, it is in Europe where most of the world’s bullrings are found. The European Union – professed by its officials to be one of the international arena’s principal beacons of civilisation – is home to the torturing and callous killing of thousands of bulls every year, and all in the name of entertainment.
Brussels is either ignorant of or indifferent to a famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi, a man held in high esteem by many EU functionaries. “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
The British people have a proud reputation internationally as a nation of “animal lovers”. Indeed, Britain’s position at the forefront of the campaign for animal welfare has been enhanced since the Labour came to power in 1997. Hunting with dogs is now illegal and the testing of cosmetics on animals has also been consigned to history.
However, campaigning to eradicate animal cruelty is not just confined to the boundaries of Britain. In particular, as this country is a fully signed-up member of the EU – a political and economic bloc into which Whitehall pays hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money every year – what happens in Europe is something that concerns us all and, importantly, is something that we have some say over.
Bullfighting is a practice that most people are aware of, but few know the specific details. There are several reasons for this. First, since bullfighting is not practised in Britain, not much is known about it.
But contrast this with fox-hunting, which was a fixture in this country for hundreds of years. If asked to describe what happens in a bullring, most British people would probably say that it involves a man dressed in colourful clothes waving a red flag in front of a bull. This is the image that bullfighting organisers would like to keep. Publicising the facts would serve to boost calls for the abolition of the whole spectacle.
The widespread ignorance about bullfighting means it is necessary to document what actually happens when the bull enters the ring of death. While the pattern of a bullfight varies, according to geographical regions in Spain, generally the bull is faced with more than just one man with which to contend. First to come into the ring is an armed man on horseback (picador), followed by assistant bullfighters (banderilleros). These are responsible for weakening the animal. However, it is reported that bulls are routinely drugged or have their horns blunted before the “fight” so that they are already disorientated before they enter the ring
The weakening process involves a lance being driven into the bull’s neck and back by the picador to prevent the animal from raising its head. The banderilleros add to this pain by stabbing harpoons into the bull.
Next, the matador enters the ring and approaches the bloodied, terrified and exhausted bull and provokes it into charging him. The matador then attempts to kill the animal by driving a sword through its heart. If he misses, the bull is repeatedly stabbed in the head until paralysis occurs. This is followed by the cutting of its spinal cord. It is then down to the judgment of the crowd – usually in the form of chanting – if the bull’s ears and tail are to be cut off and awarded as trophies to the matador. What makes this last episode all the more harrowing is that some bulls are still conscious when parts of their bodies are being severed. All this takes place in a blood-soaked ring in front of cheering fans.
While bullfighting is held in Portugal and areas of southern France, it is Spain – the mother country of the spectacle – that boasts by far the most bullfights. According to official figures, almost 12,000 bulls are killed in Spanish bullrings every year. The actual figure could be even higher.
In 2008, the League Against Cruel Sports commissioned ComRes to conduct an opinion poll in Britain to discover how people felt about bullfighting. The results were emphatically against it. Eighty-nine per cent would never visit a bullfight, while 76 per want the tourist industry in Britain to stop promoting bullfighting.
Despite the British abhorrence of bullfighting, this country still gives unwitting support to it. Approximately
14 million British tourists visited Spain in 2007, thereby providing important revenues to the bullfighting industry.
The League Against Cruel Sports urges people to holiday in Spanish towns where bullfighting has been banned. And, together with its partners in an international anti-bullfighting alliance, it is publicising the fact that Spanish bull breeders receive subsidies from the EU’s agricultural budget. In effect, this means British taxpayers are helping to line the pockets of the bullfighting industry to the tune of some £20 million every year.
Regardless of what little publicity is received ahead of June 4’s European elections, bullfighting is very much a British issue, given our categorical disapproval of it and how British money helps to fund it – albeit inadvertently. Although the rise of extreme right-wing parties is dominating headlines in the mainstream media, the welfare of animals should not be sidelined. As long as human beings are prepared to kill animals in the name of sport – whether in a ring, a safari-hunting reserve or in any other setting – violence will remain like a cancer in the world. As Pythagoras put it: “For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other.”
The European elections will provide an opportunity for the British to register their disapproval of bullfighting by voting for candidates who oppose this shameful and barbaric spectacle. The campaign to end bullfighting must be made a high priority on Brussels’ agenda. The EU cannot strive to promote morality in the world while ignoring the plight of thousands of bulls which are wickedly killed every year within its territory.
EU policy-makers should consider the worlds of Emmanuel Kant and George Bernard Shaw. Kant said: “He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men.” Shaw asked: “While we ourselves are the living graves of murdered beasts, how can we expect any ideal conditions on this Earth?”
Marcus Papadopoulos is press officer for the League Against Cruel Sports, whose online campaign to ban bullfighting can be found at www.bullfightingfree.com
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What a step forward for humanity if this bloodthirsty sport disappeared, as it should have centuries ago! Dogfights and cockfights are banned in most ‘civilised’ countries. And to think that the U.S. ambassador to Spain is reported to be intending to attend a bullfight!