I'm sure this has been discussed before but this is a quote from El Mundo and I'm wondering how valid it might be refernce the general status of public opinion ....

"In an editorial published Tuesday, centre-right daily newspaper El Mundo wrote that the issue had become a "political issue" in a region where the "idea is to ban everything that is Spanish".

MM - this is not intended to be a political discussion ....

I say let the vote stand, no matter who wins. Catalunya is voting next week, I think, on whether or not to ban bullfights in their region. Afterall, Catalunya is not Spain - everyone knows that.

Money usually talks and bullfights create a huge economic industry from the ranchers and land owners to the feed sales to the magazine/news paper sales to the concession stands to the ticket sales themselves. That's hard to deny, especially in times of worldwide economic crisis.

I've no doubt a similar industry would surround human, public executions should they be made so. Revive the Gladiators and, If they're in the majority, well, let that vote stand too.

My 2 pesetas.

Saludos, MadridMan

LOL @ your response!

Any one else have comments?

Please make your bullfighting-related comments here instead of in the shout box - which only lasts for a short period of time. Here, they're posted fo'-evar!

Saludos, MadridMan

i wonder if in years to come they would have illegal bull fights like cock or dog fights, wold be fun to see them try to get those bulls down a back ally

I'd doubt that, billy the man, since bulls are not as easily transported/housed as are cocks and dogs, but it would force people to travel to Mexico, for example, to see the bullfights.

And apparently, although the rule/law won't take place in Catalunya until 2012, there's no possibility of appeal.

Saludos, MadridMan

Nearer to "home" , Portugal and France still have bullfights though I believe in one of those countries they don´t actually kill the bull . In South and Central America , Perú has a bullfighting tradition as does Costa Rica .. In Costa Rica the bull is also not killed .
The problem is that those against the bullfight play the emotional card and that can be a powerful weapon , even in politics .
And as an aside in response to "Catalunya isn´t Spain " .. well they certainly changed their tune when Spain won the world cup ... but that´s for another thread !

Portugal is where they don't kill the bulls at the end of the fight.

The kill the bull in France, and in Portugal I think they have one or 2 corridas where they kill the bull in the ring, but the majority of portuguese bullfights , they kill the bull afterwards in the corral out of sight of the public .
The ban is defintely a political one , Spanish Catalunya sticking its nose up to the rest of Spain . Where as in French Catalunya, they love the bulls there, sticking their nose up to Paris.
Bullfighting has been bannned in Catalunya , but they still allow bull festivals including toro de Fuego

Interesting to see , at the European athletics championships in Barcelona , that the Spanish champion , Marta Dominguéz ( 3000m hurdles ) , paraded the Spanish flag with the tradtional symbol of a toro . The papers have picked up on it ! La Razón , a popular newspaper here , has a big front picture of her with the flag and banner headlines saying "Los Toros Se Rebelan" ( The bulls are rebelling ) . Jejejejejeje