The Bull Tribune » Number 35

Antoni Tàpies supports the suppression of bullfights

admin — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 11:41:28 +0000

Barcelona.– On the request of NGO ADDA the prestigious painter and essayist, Antoni Tàpies, signed on April 19, 2010 the declaration against bullfights in which he attests that he believes that bulls are animals possessing physical and mental sensibility and that bullfights inflict on these animals an atrocious suffering. The artist requests the Catalonian Parlament to modify the Catalonian law for the Protection of Animals (22/2003) and remove the clause that makes an exception for bullfights, leaving them outside of the scope of the law and so allowing bullfights to take place in Catalonia. (April, 2010)

Lisbon against bullfights

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:15:03 +0000

Lisbon (Portugal).-On April 10, 2010, a demonstration took place against the recently created department dedicated to promoting bullfihting in the Department of Culture. The demonstration was organized by several animal defence affiliations headed by ANIMAL and the Anti bullfighting Movement who represented the largest group of demonstrators, estimated at approximately 4.000. The marchers congregated in front of the Lisbon bullring “Campo Pequenho”, at 2 p.m. and paraded through the streets, finishing before the Portuguese Parliament building. (April, 2010). (For more information see www.youtube.com/watch?v=uszEE1JjGaY)

Madrid goes into the street

admin — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:27:58 +0000

Madrid. – Fearing fall out from the proposed prohibition of bullfighting in Catalonia, Esperanza Aguirre (Madrid People’s Party) announced a few weeks ago his intention of declaring bullfights a ‘“Bien de Interés Cultural” (‘In the Interest of Culture) or “BIC”, a decision supported also by the Valencian Community and that of Murcia, both of the People’s Party. But his words have acted as catalyst that has united movements for of the defense of the rights and wellbeing of animals, bullfight abolitionists and conservationists. As a result last March 28th, saw the biggest demonstration against bullfights ever seen in Madrid. With a multitude of banners and pennants, headed up by the slogan TORTURE IS NOT CULTURE, it passed through the streets of Madrid filling them from the Puerta del Sol, to the head office of the CAM (Autonomous Community of Madrid), where the demonstrators met with a group of writers, journalists and other professionals to protest the cruelty of the inaptly named “holiday”. Finally a manifesto, agreed by all the groups represented, was presented that demonstrated the strength of the Spanish animal welfare movement. The march finally disbanded at 2 pm.
Although the event was awaited with interest by the Madrid press, many of the following day’s newspapers, such as El Mundo, completely ignored the event. Others such as ABC – Madrid edition – merely included a photo of the demonstration and joined it to those of other demonstrations, such as one made by house servants. In the Cañada Real and El Pais – also the Madrid edition – a photo of the procession appeared together with a brief, though generally correct, report of the event, although they gave an estimate of the numbers as between 2.000 and 3.000 participants, lower than that of most witnesses. La Razón, within the Bullfighting section of the paper, included a short report, without any photograph, declaring that there were fewer than a thousand participants, whereas the daily newspaper Publico gave a fuller report of the event, together with a photo of the lead banner.
But what they tried to ignore in Madrid, has been widely reported by the foriegn press correspondents present in the capital. Euronews, BBC World, and many others took up the story spreading it to the rest of the world. Reports of the numbers of demonstrators varied widely, some quoting La Razón’s sneering “less than thousand ” and some the estimates of the organisers who reckoned the number of participants to be actually nearer to 20.000.
Editors of this bulletin who were present at the event estimate that the numbers were somewhere between 7.000 and 8.000 people.
Maybe this demonstration will help to make up the minds of those Catalonian deputies who are still undecided. In their hands they hold the possibilty of acting on the side of progress and eradicating in Catalonia a barbaric and cruel spectacle that, so far into the twenty first century, has no place in an advanced country. (March 28th, 2010)

Spectacular advertisement board against children bullfighters in Mexico

admin — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:28:27 +0000

México.– On the occasion of the celebration of the month of the child, the “Mexican Antibullfighting Association”, has placed another spectacular advertisement in one of the busiest avenues of the city of Mexico, directed this time to children. The gigantic advertising board, which measures 13 by 7 meters will be displayed in the avenue for two months. It shows a cartoon character of a child bullfighter with the following text: “What do you do with your hands? Do you hurt or embrace?” The members of the affiliation hope with this banner to raise the awareness of Mexican children and adults and to convince them to oppose the cruel tradition of initiating the children in the bloody spectacle of the bullfighting.

Collection of signatures in France

admin — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:23:52 +0000

Nimes, Francia. -The French affiliation CRAC Europe, (Committee Radicalement Anticorrida), is gathering signatures across their web page against the pretension that the UNESCO, with its head office in Paris, declares that bullfights qualify as “Non material Patrimony of Humanity”. To date, the affiliation has gathered more than 6.500 signatures, which will be sent to the French Ambassador in UNESCO. The text, which can be signed only by French citizens, states that: ” We do not want that the bullfights be registered as a Non material Asset of Humanity, which would constitute an enormous retrogression of civilization”. CRAC Europe also plans to spread, during May, 2010, in Nimes, various information pamphlets on the protection of children in Alès Plaza, on the occasion of the “Fair of the Children”, to denounce bullfights. (April, 2010.).

Peaceful march in Nîmes

admin — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:22:36 +0000

Nimes, Francia. – Next September 11th, 2010, the antibullfighting affiliation Alliance Anticorrida, organises, as it does every year in Nîmes, a big march in the city to raise awareness and sensitize public opinion about the cruelty of bullfights. The demonstration is timed to take place five days before the ” Feria de la Vendimia (the fair of the grape harvest)” of Nìmes, and at the same time as the “Fair of Arles”. The following messages will be spread: “no to the bullfights!”, “Abolish the barbaric spectacles”; “Torture is not our culture”, “no to the bullfights, yes to respect for life”.
Demostrators will gather in front of the Nimes railroad station at 2 p.m., to begin the march at 3 p.pm. towards the city centre and it will finish up in front of the city bullring.
(April, 2010). For more information: http://www.allianceanticorrida.fr/manif.html

Demonstration against bullfights in Palma

admin — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:19:43 +0000

Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain. – On April 11th, 2010, two hundred people demonstrated in Palma against bullfights and the torture that the animal suffers during the fight. Taking part were Animanaturis, the Animal and Plants Protection Society of of Majorca and animal defence organisations BALDEA and PACMA.
The demonstration departed from the Plaza Juan Carlos l and ended in the Plaza of Spain. In addition to chorusing anti-bullfighting slogans, and carrying banners with the motto “Torture is neither art nor culture”, the demonstration included a “performance” that simulated the torture of the bull in the square. There was also a reading of a manifesto affirming the condition of the bull as a sensitive being that suffers psychologically and physically, and the denunciation of the business of bullfighting. In addition to the Federation PSEM-Entesa Nacionalista, the protest was also supported by the coordinator of Youth, Antoni Noguera, who criticized the slaughter of animals as a public spectacle in the twenty first century (April, 2010)

Antibullfighting declaration in Portugal

admin — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 14:19:36 +0000

Lisbon.- Next April 10, Portugese animal welfare affiliations, headed by ANIMAL and the Anti bullfighting Movement of Portugal, have organized a declaration to protest against the recent creation of a department dedicated to bullfighting in the Department of Culture, driven the current minister, the pro-bullfighting Gabriela Canavilhas.
The demonstrators will meet in front of the Lisbon bullring “Campo Pequenho”, at 2 p.m. to deliver at 3.30 pm a declaration to the Portuguese Parliament.
(April, 2010)

The King supports the bullfighting faction

admin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 11:41:28 +0000

Seville. March 2010.-Last March 26th King Don Juan Carlos delivered the 2009 University Awards and Bullfighting Trophies, granted by the Royal Arsenal of Knighthood of Seville. He has only been present at this event on two occasions in his 32 years of reign, and his presence this year ‘happens’ to coincide with the debate in the Parliament of Catalonia of the ILP to prohibit bullfights. To questions posed by journalists on whether his presence this year could be understood as showing support to the pro bullfighting lobby, his Majesty did not hesitate to answer ‘of course’. We learn from this, that the neutrality that one expects of him is not respected as it should be. Neither is the King demonstrating the responsibility that he has toward all Spanish people, it being well known that opinion polls clearly show that the majority of his subjects wish to see an end to bullfighting.(March, 2010)

The essence of the debate

admin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 11:40:32 +0000

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)