French lessons in protecting the corrida
(Photo from aplausos.es)
The defeat of the latest attempt in France to ban bullfighting has important lessons for other countries where the future of the corrida is threatened.
The proposal to prohibit bullfighting came from a self-declared “radical ecologist”, the sole representative of a political alliance who sits with the Left-wing La France Insoumise group in the French Parliament. It received a lot of media coverage, both in France and abroad, and gave rise to several months of discussion in France in the lead up to its parliamentary debate on November 24.
The taurinos are well organised in France, and the long-standing Union des villes taurines françaises (UVTF), consisting of mayors of over 50 towns in southern France where bull festivities take place, and the Observatoire national des cultures taurines (ONCT), established by ex-matador André Viard, worked closely together to present arguments against the proposed ban, which would have overturned a law passed in 1951 permitting bullfighting where this forms part of local traditions.
The arguments they put forward consisted of general principles and were as follows:
Respect for liberty and diversity of cultural expression
The constitutional right to regional distinctiveness
Rejection of ‘antispeciesism’ that, in this instance, would cause - were bullfighting to be banned - the programmed destruction of countless activities and traditions.
On November 16, the Legal Commission of the French Parliament, comprising members of the various political groupings who look into legal matters, voted by a large majority against the proposed ban. This involved a broad spectrum of parties, from the Communists on the Left to the Rassemblement National on the Right, voicing the above arguments in favour of bullfighting’s continuation.
Then, on the Saturday before the debate, rallies were held in 12 localities across a broad geographic area - in Alés, Arles, Auch, Bayonne, Béziers, Dax, Langon, Istres, Mont de Marsan, Nîmes, Pau and Perpignan - demonstrating widespread public support of a motion being sent to the President, Emmanuel Macron, expressing opposition to the prohibition proposal.
The three regional presidents covering the South of France also made statements. The socialist Carole Delga, President of the Occitanie Region, responding to the proposer’s argument that no one on the Left should support bullfighting, called this, “a mediocre attack - I choose to defend a cultural legacy and the bullfighting tradition.” Fellow socialist Alain Rousset, President of Nouvelle Aquitaine, said, “Tauromachy is a traditional practice - there are many aficionados and they should be respected.,” while Renaud Muselier, a conservative and President of Region Sud, gave the assurance, “We’ve no wish to export bullfighting to the north of France. All we want is to continue with our freedoms. We respect everyone else and only ask that they respect us too.”
Underlying these statements, of course, is an understanding at a political level of the economic benefits that bullfighting brings to the areas in which festejos are held.
Emmanuel Macron commented on the debate the day before it took place. “Bullfighting is not going to be banned tomorrow,” he said, “We should move towards conciliation and an exchange of ideas. This matter should be approached with respect and consideration.” An experienced politician, those last two sentences could, of course, be interpreted positively by both those for and against bullfighting. What the comments did reveal, however, is that prohibiting los toros is pretty low on the list when it comes to considering political priorities.
In the end, faced with some 500 amendments to his proposed legislation, demonstrating the overall lack of political support for such a move, and a parliamentary timetable that made completing the debate an impossibility, the originator of the proposal chose to withdraw it and lambast his colleagues instead.
Some commentators have speculated since that the thinking behind the move all along was to gain more publicity for antibullfighting arguments, rather than hoping to change French legislation on the matter. Certainly, arguments for prohibition will continue to be heard in future. What this episode has done, however, is brought out the tactics and contexts with which further attempts to ban bullfighting in France and elsewhere can be defeated.