The essence of the debate

Barcelona. – The consequences continue of the political manoeuvres of bullfight supporters on the debate begun in Parliament immediately after the presentation of the ILP (Popular Legislative Initiative) against bullfights in Catalonia. In issue 1,449 of the magazine ‘Tiempo’ (Time): an article entitled ‘Bulls yes, politics no’ raises the question whether the debate is about the atrocity that the bulls suffer in the arena or whether they are a ‘National symbol of Spain’. That this debate continues seems to indicate that the proportion of bullfight supporters in some of the political parties is much greater in the Catalan Parliament than in their national parties. It is clear to anyone with a modicum of common sense that the real sense and essence of the ILP is the protection and well being of the animal, a reflection on the injustice that allows him to be tortured to death, and the display of this barbarism as a public spectacle. However sheer common sense seems also to be sadly lacking in the President of the Community of Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre, since he declared a few days ago, with a great fanfare, that bullfighting represents a ‘Bien de Interés Cultural (an item of Cultural Interest) or BIC. (March 2010)