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Bye-Bye Bullfighting announces series of articles by well-known authors

Bye-Bye Bullfighting today kicks off a series of guest blogs about bullfighting. We are proud to present a variety of experts such as veterinarians, lawyers as well politicians, journalists and ex-torreros who describe their experience, with the cruel sport, tell us about how they see it and what is wrong with it.

The following first article is from Pilar Rahola, a well-known Catalan journalist, writer and former Spanish MP. We will publish more stories in the coming weeks.

Enjoy reading. We look forward to your comments.

Michelito, the child matador by Pilar Rahola

Michelito by la Ville d'Arles

This is not an article about bullfighting, however it describes the killing of bulls. This is an article about childhood, about the violation of a boy’s rights that are exploited commercially and celebrated publicly, about an apathetic administration that sits idly by when this violation takes place, about a father’s nefariousness over his son and degrading him to a source of income.

This is an article about blessed mortals who visit a plaza (a bullfighting ring) to joyfully watch a child who takes the risk, to be amused by the dark perversity to see a child in front of a bull and to shed crocodile tears if the bull takes the child on its horns.

And it is an article about the bullfighting critics who give it all the cheers in the world. His last bullfight in Cali which sent the 12-year-old, who has been a matador since he was ten, to hospital, to give but one example: “It was all about rotating and dodging, if not running to evade an attack. Tripping, he had to stab four times until the sword of death hit properly.”

The bull had been sufficiently weakened by its wounds and its horns had been shaved. But still a young bull weighing 306 kg was able to inflict injuries on Michelito. Sadly, this had not been the first time Michelito was taken on the horns. Once, in Lima [Peru], he got badly injured and some bullfighting critics argued that the boy was unable to fight a bull and that he should be demoted to the rank of becerristas (bullfighting apprentice) and return to a bullfighting school.

In the meantime, however, he acted like the goose that lays golden eggs in the bull rings in Latin America, making his his father happy, who sensed the business deal of his life in Michelito. The child matador also raised expectations in some fighting bull breeders and the audience watching this kind of violent event was literally drooling.

There are other boys like him, in this glorification of barbarism, and a child bullfight was announced to commemorate the anniversary of the arena in Mexico. The only conclusion you can draw from these enthusiastically announced news is that the world has gone mad. And of course awful and cruel, too.

And let’s not think about the world on the other side of the Atlantic, but remind ourselves that [the matador El] Juli came to “fame” exactly because he started fighting bulls at the age of 15 and became the youngest matador in history as a result. The world applauded him and rejoiced at his performance and celebrated the fact that a minor carries out such madness.

The question is: What do they cheer for? The risk that a minor takes? The imagination that such a gentle person thwarts a big animal? Do the applaud death? The problem is that we allow a 10-year-old to pursue a career as matador (butcher) and applaud his attacks on bulls. All of that is dirty, sad and perverse.

But then, what can you expect from a spectacle that is based on torture and death?

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This article is re-published courtesy of Pilar Rahola
Translation by Caroline Waggershauser and Florian Leppla

Open letter to CEO Herbert Hainer re adidas pro-bullfighting ad

Dear Mr Hainer,

Many of our supporters have contacted us with regard to your advert featuring Derrick Martell Rose in a bullfighting arena.

I can understand adidas’s desire to portray its products in an unusual location and the spot would be enjoyable to watch and adequate if in reality the bull had the chance to win as Rose does in the spot.

The reality, however, is very different. The bulls are tormented during their entire period in the bullring. Lances are driven into the bull’s back and neck muscles to both weaken and anger the bull. Next, the terrified animal is stabbed with barbed spears and further disorientated. Eventually the matador forces the by now exhausted and severely weakened animal to do a few charges before he attempts to kill it with a sword. If this fails, the procedure is repeated until the bull finally collapses.

While the crowd applauds the matador the bull, often while still conscious, is dragged out of the arena. The matador may also be ‘rewarded’ with a trophy in the form of a bull’s ear and tail.

I am sure you will agree that this is a barbaric and torturously lengthy death for the bull.

As I am sure you are aware the Catalan parliament has voted in favour of a bullfighting ban which comes into force in January next year. In the whole of Spain bullfighting has been unpopular for years as recent opinion polls show. It has also been unprofitable and has only survived on subsidies paid for by the Spanish and EU taxpayer.

I am surprised to see that adidas is so far behind the times and promotes a cruel sport that I am sure a lot of your customers disapprove of.

I very much hope that you reconsider your decision to promote bullfighting and stop the broadcast of the advert.

Yours sincerely,

Florian Leppla
Campaigns Manager Bye-Bye Bullfighting

Help stop adidas promoting bullfighting

For the promotion of its new trainers adidas has chosen a bloody location: the Madrid bull ring, Las Ventas. NBA star Derrick Rose ‘plays’ against the actors in a corrida, the deadly Spanish bullfight. The only difference to the real world is that Rose escapes the banderillas and the matador’s sword unscathed. The bull, however, always dies a long and painful death.

adidas completely ignores the cruelty that is inherent in bullfighting. Bullfighting is killing for entertainment and should not be portrayed as a harmless sports event.

We cannot allow adidas to get away with this!

Please email CEO Herbert Hainer and tell him what you think about the advert. You might want to mention that Catalonia has recently banned bullfighting and that most Spaniards have no interest in it. It is also worth pointing out that most adidas customers are probably against bullfighting.

Unfortunately there is no direct address for Mr Hainer, so please email his PR chief Jan Runau at jan.runau@adidas-group.com and the Group Social and Environmental Affairs sustainability@adidas-Group.com at adidas HQ in Bavaria.

Don’t forget to be polite and straight to the point.

Anti-bullfighting protesters attacked in French bull ring

This video depicts brutal attacks against peaceful protesters in the bullfighting arena in Rodilhan near Nîmes in southern France on 8 October.

UK newspaper celebrates Portuguese bullfighting saying ‘the horse is the star of the show’

The Independent, a UK broadsheet, has fooled readers into believing that the Portuguese style, where the bull is not killed in public, is a ‘better’, acceptable bullfighting. It sadly joins German weekly Die Zeit and others in publishing free pro bullfighting PR.

Forcados amadores de Agualva-Cacém (Portugal)

Adrian Mourby, in “In the bullrings of Portugal, the horse is the star of the show”, Sunday 16 October, makes readers believe that, despite bloody Spanish corrida and thanks to the Portuguese style, bullfighting is somehow acceptable or even admirable (‘the horse is the star’).

This notion of a corrida light, if you like, is, however, an illusion. Any discussion as to whether the bull suffers less at the hands of a cavaleiro than a torero distracts from the fact that bullfighting in whatever form is an outdated and cruel past time that has no place in a modern society. It is killing for fun and utterly unacceptable.

Mourby does his best to convince readers of his corrida light idea, but actually describes the distraction from the suffering that takes place in the ring:

“I expected to be shocked by seeing an animal wounded in this way, but the cavaleiro attacks so quickly that you never catch the impact and your attention is then taken up by the enraged pursuit of rider and horse around the ring by a 670kg bull.“

He also emphasises that the bull is not killed in Portugal. That might be true, but after being chased through the ring and having been stabbed with barbed darts, the bandarilhas, the bull dies right after the fight behind the scenes – either from its wounds or by the hands of a butcher.

Killing is illegal, but there have been exceptions

While killing the bull in public is illegal, matadors not necessarily go to jail if they break the law, as suggested in the article. In 2007 renowned bullfighter Pedrito de Portugal was arrested and fined 100,000 Euros for killing a bull in the arena. He was soon released after angry protests from aficionados in front of the police station. Questioning the law Pedrito said: “Killing the bull is an art, and the way we do it in Portugal deprives the bull of his dignity.”

Another striking example is the town of Barrancos, close to the Spanish border. It ignored the law and encouraged the public killing. The government, obviously annoyed with the rebellious population, rewarded them with an exception to the law. As a result it has been legal in Barrancos to kill bulls in the arena since 2002.

Frankly, I am disgusted that the Independent, a progressive paper that has promoted animal welfare on many occasions, publishes such a blatant pro bullfighting story dressed up as travel recommendation for Lisbon. They should know better.

German weekly Die Zeit publishes shocking pro-bullfighting PR

The German weekly Die Zeit has recently published a clearly one-sided article about bullfighting which portrays a matador in a very favourable light  and completely hides the suffering and prolonged death of the bull. Furthermore, author Ronald Düker argues that Europe will lose a part of its culture following the Catalonian bullfighting ban. 

He interviewed the Spanish matador José María Manzanares and is clearly fascinated by him and his profession. By frequently linking bullfighting to art, describing the matador’s outfit with sheer admiration and emphasising that he was on the cover of every fashion title out there, Düker does not even make the effort to hide which side he is on. 

I doubt that’s good journalism, but would not really raise an eyebrow over it. The disappointing and frankly repulsive part comes when Düker links the demise of bullfighting with the economic crisis in Europe.

‘The imminent ban of bullfighting amounted to abolishing a cultural currency. One believes this ritual is a stain of the Mediterranean pre-Enlightenment and wishes for a Europe where such barbarism is no longer accepted.’

He then goes on to lecture his readers:

‘The spectacle of bullfighting depicts live […]. At the same time it is the most formal ritual you can think of – a danced art- and cultural history of Europe since it stretches back to the very beginning of the Occident.’

Maybe it is just me, but all I can see is blood, suffering and an animal that awaits a very painful death. No doubt, this man has truly fallen for the PR fairy tales from the bullfighting industry. If you describe a cruel spectacle such as bullfighting with such a flowery language and do not mention the suffering of the bull with one word you close your eyes to reality.

A shame, really. Die Zeit is an excellent paper and I am appalled that the editor’s allowed such a blatantly one-sided piece to be printed.

Despite horrible injuries, bullfighting continues – financed by the tax payer

In one of the last bullfights of the season Spanish matador Juan Jose Padilla was gored by a bull in Zaragoza, Spain last Friday. He slipped and fell just after placing the banderillas, small harpooned daggers, into the bull. The bull’s horn then hit his face and pierced his jaw.

Padilla was rushed to hospital where he underwent a 5-hour surgery. He survived the accident, but parts of his face will be paralysed and he may lose sight in one eye.

I don’t intend to list all the horrible things that can happen in a bullfight. And I don’t praise the bull for injuring the matador, nor do I applaud the fact that a human being is injured. On the contrary, it is tragic that such incidents happen.

What I don’t understand is how many more people will have to suffer serious injuries or get killed before bullfighting is stopped. 

In almost all bullfights the bull dies a long and painful death. In some of them the matadors get hurt, sometimes injuries are very severe and can lead to his death. 

Bullfighting is driven by a ruthless industry that pays star matadors like Jose Tomas up to £400,000 for one appearance in the arena, paid for largely by the taxpayer, in Spain and the whole of Europe. Bullfighting is an unprofitable business – as well as it is unpopular by the way.

Is it coincident that such a nasty accident happens in one of the last bullfights of the season, months before the ban in Catalonia enters into foce on 1 January? Maybe. It definitely is yet another argument, and a very strong one indeed, to scrap the whole gruesome spectacle. For the bulls’ and the matadors’ sake.

Simple reason to get rid of bullfighting: It’s disgusting!

I have just read this excellent article in the Guardian and wanted to share it with you. Alexander Chancellor in Comment is free reminds people that while there may be tradition and ritual involved, bullfighting, first and foremost, is repulsive and bulls haven’t asked for the fight.

Forget the tradition, ritual, costumes, music and the balletic nature of the spectacle; forget the symbolism and Spanish fascination with death; forget Ernest Hemingway and all that: it is difficult not to feel some revulsion at the manner in which the bulls are put to death.

Bullfighting in Madrid. At Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas in Madrid

Sitting among the audience in Las Ventas in Madrid he, spotting the grand children of the Spanish king in the royal box, reminds readers that Spanish state TV cease broadcasts of  bullfights in 2007 in order to spare young people the gruesome experience. But what use is it if parents bring their children to the live event – and the royals leading by example?

Chanellor then draws an interesting parallel to very early attempts to ban bullfighting. Some 500 years ago the pope, worried about the health of the matadors, attempted to stop it. But he soon realised that the Spanish would never accept such a move. The situation now is quite different. The Catalan parliament voted in favour of a ban following a successful petition of the campaigning platform Prou who collected 180,000 signatures demanding to end bullfighting. The main reason here, of course, was the welfare of the bull.

In closing I quote a rather simple line arguing why bullfighting should cease to exist. For me it is sufficient, however, and surely a good enough rebuttal to aficionados bragging about tradition and the importance of bull breeding.

The bulls haven’t asked for the fight, and they don’t appear to derive any pleasure from it, whereas the matadors are colossal show-offs, who long for the adoration of the crowd. The stages before the final showdown are the least appealing. The lancing of the bull by a picador on horseback is followed by the planting by the banderilleros of barbed sticks into his shoulders, from which they hang limply, oozing blood.