BULLFIGHTS: A NATIONAL CRIME

An open letter written in Spanish for several Spanish newspapers and magazines

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I am a Brazilian and recently watched a legitimate Spanish bullfight on cable television.

I thought this event was a type of circus in which the bull was placed at a significant disadvantage, with the objective to highlight man's courage facing the animal.

But I was wrong. The bullfight is much more than a circus it is a medieval horror show, where man's cowardice and brutality is praised to satisfy the bloodthirsty instincts of a vile species of man that is gross and degenerate who think they are civilized.

My first shock came on seeing the expression stamped on the faces of the spectators a little before the start of the “fight”. They were laughing foolishly, as if they were waiting for a movie or a play to begin. You could be sure that they would behave no differently if they were waiting to see a spectacle of Christians being devoured by lions. They would laugh and clap with the same enthusiasm, shudder in the very same macabre ecstatic way, and have the same morbid pleasure in seeing the other suffer.

The second shock was worse. It came with the sting shock of each banderilla that was pierced into the back of the animal. I simply could not believe what I was seeing. While the matador was swerving to avoid the bull in his shinny clothes under the spectators encouraging “Olé's” a fearless banderillero ran from behind to stick the darts into the bull. And the spectators clap loudly and encouragingly each time that happened…

The television station did the decent thing by saving the viewers from the final shock: the cruel death of the animal. One only heard the voice of the commentator informing the viewers how the exhausted and wounded bull was sacrificed by the bullfighter in a triumphal act of mercy.

Then the camera focused into the stands to show in detail how all the spectators were standing and frenetically clapping the hero of the day. One more time in a complete and unquestionable way the superiority of the animal man was demonstrated.

These in broad terms are the scenes of a monstrous crime that I was allowed to witness that took place thousands of kilometers away from where I was.

And when I surfed some Spanish sites on the Internet, about bullfights, to verify the nightmare I had seen, I saw some photos whose horror I could hardly bear. I saw tortured and massacred bulls; there were even some running with their horns on fire, trying hopelessly to escape from their executioners.

Oh, Spain! How painful is your legacy to the world! The names of Cortez and Pizarro still cause the blood to curdle in Latin America. Each new European generation are still shocked on reading about the atrocities of the Inquisition. And they now once again look in horror at you stimulated by your cruelty against animals!

Certainly there are other places around the world where there is cruelty practiced against animals, but not with the blessing of the State and the incentive of the people. You Spain are a sad exception.


Reply of the Spanish activist magazine “Minotauro” that fights against bullfighting in their country:

I have to tell you that your letter deeply stilled my heart. I guarantee you that I have never seen a more sincere view after a first contact with the world of bullfights.

Even for us that fight against this barbarity, it is difficult to imagine the horror that a sensitive person must feel looking at such a monstrous act.

Your letter made me confirm my convictions and double my effort to put an end to the bullfight.

What is more terrifying is that you only saw one side of the “spectacle.” Unfortunately there are more things that an unknowing spectator does not perceive that would make you understand why all sensitive people suffer when they see this atrocious act.

But in Spain the pressure is exceptionally strong, for in Bilbao, about 15 days ago, protesters were treated as criminals and in Madrid, in May, whoever expressed their disapproval of the “feast” were attacked by those that defended it.

All the same we know we are right and thus through this fact we shall achieve our objective.

And despite them being a minority, with power, they are a minority with the intent of convincing the world to the contrary.

With your permission I am including your letter in our “collaborators” section of my web site and will also take the liberty to keep you informed about all the new developments relevant to this matter.

MANY THANKS
MINOTAURO

Roberto C. P. Junior