Spain

END OF AN ERA IN CATALONIA, AS MATADOR DRIVES LAST SPEAR IN SPAIN…….

 

Whatever your opinion is about bullfighting, the end of a sport 700 years old is nothing to be clapping about. Besides, the day when dumb animals receive ‘rights’ -and by default elevated to a parallel status with human beings- is the day humanity ceases to be seen an unique creation. At least that’s path being followed presently. It’s the gray zone Vlad talks about. KGS

The last Ole! Bullfighting comes to an end in Catalonia

Almost seven hundred years of Catalan bullfighting history ended on Sunday night with the final death blow dealt by its hometown hero.

By Fiona Govan, Barcelona

7:47PM BST 25 Sep 2011

While Jose Tomas, Spain’s finest matador, was the undisputed star of the evening, the honour of killing the last bull on Catalan soil fell to torero Serafin Marin, a native of Barcelona.

When Marin delivered the estocada, a half tonne bull dropped to the sand, just as reflections of the sun faded in the matador’s suit of light.

On a day when bloodthirsty spectacle was staged for the last time,Spain’s leading exponent of the sport took a triumphant bow in his favourite arena.

[…]

Marin, 29, decried the ban.

“The parliament has prohibited bullfights because it is a “Spanish fiesta” — the ultimate symbol of Spanish nationalism,” he said an interview ahead of the bullfight. “The ban has nothing to do with animal welfare.” Indeed, many have questioned how Catalonia can ban “la corrida” while continuing to allow other bull related cruelties, such as the “correbous”, where a bull with flaming torches attached to its horns is chased through the streets.

“They are banning the national fiesta whilst still allowing the Catalan correbous to continue,” Tim Parfitt, British author of “A load of Bull” and a Barcelona resident told the Daily Telegraph. “It is hypocrisy.”

The owner of La Monumental is demanded millions in compensation over the ban and promoters and breeders from across Spain are planning a class action to sue the Catalan authorities over denying them a means to earn a living.

More here.

7 Responses

  1. I think bullfighting is great but never liked that they killed the bulls in Spain. They can still do variations of bullfighting without killing the bulls as it has been done in Mexico for decades. It takes just as much valor and agility and isn’t cruel to the animals.

  2. Sorry, I wrote that last comment because I jumped to conclusions that are not explicitly explained in the part of the article presented on this page (and the telegraph article refuses to load so I can’t read it). Are they banning bullfighting altogether or just the killing of the bulls? Is the stated reason for banning it that the bulls are killed?

    If cruelty to animals is the reason then this does not mean the end of bullfighting because it has been done non lethally in Mexico for decades.

  3. Though it has been in Catalonia for 700 years the variations of the sport itself are far far older. There are depictions of men on leaping bulls on greek urns that are thousands of years old. While I don’t think they should kill the bulls, stopping it altogether would be a profound insult to our shared Europian history.

  4. The Emir of Dubai wants to turn the La Monumental bull-ring site into the third-largest mosque in the world. The Counterjihad party PxC was protesting against it on Saturday.

    1. if you have anything in print or a link, please send it my way please!

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