Bullfights in Catalan countries were banned in 2012 and although years later the Constitutional Court annulled the abolition, no one is programming festivities in the community anymore
The bulls are not returning to Catalonia. Virtually all parties involved in this debate agree that it will be difficult to see another bullfight in a Catalan arena. Parliament abolished bullfighting in 2010. The ban came into effect in 2012. It has been more than ten years since La Monumental de Barcelona closed its doors to bullfighting. At the last bullfight scheduled to date, on September 25, 2011, José Tomás, Juan Mora and Catalan Serafín Marín led men from the bullring on Calle Marina in the Catalan capital. Those who were there still shed a tear and remember it with great nostalgia, but aware that every moment in the past was better, especially when it comes to bullfighting in Barcelona, where three bullrings operated on a regular basis . at the beginning of the last century.
“It is impossible for the bulls to return to Catalonia,” says Anna Mulà of the Procorrebous platform. This entity has taken over from Prou!, which promoted the popular legislative initiative that finally succeeded in getting the Catalan Chamber to ban bullfighting in Catalonia. There was an intense social and parliamentary debate. The abolition went through with a very narrow vote: 68 votes in favour, 55 against and 9 abstentions. Some parties, such as the CiU or the PSC, failed to maintain voting unity in the parliamentary group. Supporters of the ban CiU (not 25% of their group), ERC and Iniciativa and against abolition, PSC (minus 3 deputies), PP and Ciudadanos were positioned. Catalonia became the second autonomous community in Spain to veto bullfighting in 1991, after the Canary Islands.
In any case, the return of bullfights would still be legally possible, as in 2016 the Constitutional Court annulled the abolition approved by Parliament. The argument he put forward was that Catalonia was invading state power, as the PP government had declared the national holiday a cultural heritage. “There is no turning back,” Anna Mulà insists, but “it would be unthinkable,” she says.
In Catalonia there are only two squares where festivities can take place: the Monumental in Barcelona and the one in Olot (Girona). The first is private, it belongs to the Balañá family, which owns cinemas and theaters in Barcelona. The second is municipal. Sources from the company that owns the Monumental confirm that “there will be no bulls”. They are aware that there would be a good fight in a city that declares itself an animalist. “Even if the company that owns the square wanted to plan a bullfight, the city council would not grant the necessary permits,” says Mulà. In Olot, more or less the same. “The mayor has already told us that there will be no bulls,” said Pepe Amores, president of the bullfighting club of the city of Girona. “Today the return is difficult,” agrees Welcome López, from the El Prat de Llobregat rock (Barcelona). “People are resigned, we’ve gotten used to not having bulls,” says Lorena Paricio of the federation of bullfighters in Catalonia.
Paricio believes the group has done what it could in Catalonia, although he also believes the industry in the rest of Spain could have done much more to help them. “We feel alone, abandoned,” he says. In his opinion, the world of bullfighting is not united and ultimately pays for it, unlike the anti-bullfighting, who, in his opinion, go to a bullfighting. “Someone must have stood up: between prohibition and politics, they have left us by the hand of God,” says Bienvenido López. “They banned us because the bulls smell like Spain,” he says. “There was no animal debate,” he says.
This position is shared by almost the entire bullfighting world. “The bulls left for political reasons,” says Pepe Amores. “Part of the debate was identity related: in Catalonia they wanted to distinguish themselves from the rest of Spain,” said Paricio, who also believes the vegan lobby had influence. “The false stereotype has been created that the bullfighting fan in Catalonia is a Spanish facha: it hurts me to be called a facha because I am a bullfighter,” criticizes Pablo Miró, winner of a prize for studies on bullfighting. “It’s a hobby like ballet or theater,” he defends. Paul is 18 years old. He studies engineering at the University of Barcelona where he doesn’t know anyone who likes bullfights. “Some people are even surprised when I tell them about my hobby,” he says. He does not try to convince anyone, partly because this issue is no longer discussed in university settings. “Society has turned the page,” says Anna Mulà of the Procorrebous platform. “The bull industry has collapsed in Catalonia,” he says. As a member of animal organization Prou! and denies that the background was identity. “It’s the excuse the bullfights make,” he adds. He believes that “they had nowhere to go” and that they appealed to identity because “they didn’t want to get into the real debate”, which they say has to do with ethics.
Although there are no bullfights in Catalonia, there are still fans. And the bullfights try to keep the flame alive in case “one day the political landscape changes” and they are allowed to sit in the square again. They cling to the Mallorca case. The Parliament of the Balearic Islands did not ban bullfighting, but rather regulated it, to the point of almost abolishing it. However, the Constitution overturned the most restrictive articles and last summer the bulls returned to Palma de Mallorca after a three-year absence (also due to the pandemic). “One bullfight a year in Barcelona would be enough,” agrees Bienvenido López.
Meanwhile, fans have to make a living to kill the bug, because watching videos is not enough, says Pablo Miró. They travel to Castellón, Valencia, Zaragoza, Seville, Bilbao or Madrid. And especially to Ceret, in the south of France, near Perpignan. It has become the place of ‘exile’ for the Catalans. It has a capacity of 4,000 seats and more than half of the seats are occupied by fans from Catalonia, said the president of the El Prat supporters’ club. Bienvenido travels to all squares with protest banners. He says they used to applaud him years ago. Those of the Catalan resistance were recognized in all Spanish squares. Not anymore. “We’ve been forgotten,” he laments. The club has 34 members. For 55 years. They maintain, yes, a tradition in the El Prat festivities. They block the street and organize bullfighting sessions. “A lot of people are coming,” he says.
The Federation of Bullfighting Entities and the Peñas (there are seven of them) keep the school as the jewel in the crown of the sector in Catalonia, where they train future bullfighters, following them with the passion of football fans. They also organize conferences, dinners, courses, lessons and excursions. Activities with which they try to ensure that the world does not disappear forever. “The hobby is being lost,” said Pablo Miró. “There is a generation that has never gone to the bullfights in Barcelona; For example, I have never seen a bullfight in Catalonia,” he says. Pablo opposes the bans because of “democratic beliefs.” If bullfights disappear in Catalonia, he says, let it be because of their own weight, but not because of abolition. “Because we are a minority, there should be no bulls,” he concludes.
Catalan animalists are satisfied with the work done. They are considered the “spearhead” of an anti-bullfighting movement that has spread throughout Spain and also throughout Latin America. Although they admit that the ban in all of Spain is still a long way off. “It’s a taboo subject,” says Anna Mulà, pointing in particular at the PSOE, which she accuses of not having dared to do it. “If the bulls disappear, it will be natural, because there are many half-empty squares,” he says. His criticism is aimed at the government departments, who, according to him, inject many millions into the sector through community aid to the countryside.
The next goal of the anti-bullfighting platforms is to abolish the ‘correbous’ (release of bulls, heifers, bullfighting bulls…). Although they will have it much more complicated there than with the bullfights because there are popular roots, especially in the south of Tarragona, in the Tierras del Ebro. “But there are cities like Olot, Roses or Badalona that have programmed ‘correbous’ and don’t do them anymore,” warns.
Source: La Verdad
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