To add an ecological footnote to Sarah's posting, I remember on one occasion
when I went to visit with Ramón Margalef as I walked in the door he looked
up apologetically and told me that since the Spanish government had just
authorised the use of the Catalan language, he was busy translating his
classic textbook Ecologia into Catalan and had to cancel our appointment. As
one can gather from Sarah's postings, the Catalans take their language and
culture very seriously!
It is my understanding that the purpose of the banderillas is to severe the
neck muscles of the bull to lessen its ability to swing its horns.
Unfortunately bullfighting is not the only form of cruelty to animals
associated with Spain. One particularly gruesome custom is that many Spanish
hunters kill their dogs (galego español) at the end of each season, and they
do this by hanging them. If they are not happy with the dog's performance
they hang it so that its rear feet barely touch the ground, ensuring a
slower death (they call this dancing). You can see demonstrations against
this in cities like Madrid, but whther this is having any effect in the
country I don't know.
Bill Silvert
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sarah Frias-Torres" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: quinta-feira, 12 de Agosto de 2010 16:00
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] no problem RE: [ECOLOG-L] Perseid meteor shower and
more....
MikeThere is no need for apology, as my post was trying to correct a
pervasive error and misreporting that keeps showing up on CNN and many other
news broadcasts. I also provided a bit of history on this subject for all
those at the list server who might be interested in the recent development
of bull-fighting prohibition in Catalunya.
The Nazi reference to Franco's regime was two-fold. First, it reflected how
bull-fighting was forced upon the Catalan culture. We are talking about a
time, specially the first years after the end of the civil war, in which if
you spoke Catalan (our language) in the streets of Barcelona, you were shot
to death on the spot by police or the military. Imagine if speaking your
native language resulted in an immediate death sentence.
Second, the nazi reference to the regime was correct. The basic connection
between Franco and Hitler is out there in the history books for those who
want to read it. What readers of this forum might not be aware of is that
due to the recent "ley de memoria historica" (law of historic memory) we are
now uncovering the killing fields Franco and his nazi friends had over many
parts of Spain, as well as extermination camps that were called "re-training
centers". Obviously in this kind of oppression, anything labelled "national"
had to be complied with (including bull-fighting).This was also a time when
the democratically elected president of Catalunya, Lluis Companys, was
executed after a mock jury decided he was guilty (of being a president
elect!).There is much history that must be rewritten, but as they say,
history is written by the ones that win the wars, while the victims of
injustice rarely have a voice.
Why all this information has any relevance at all in the Ecolog forum?
Animal cruelty has many shades of gray. Sometimes it is an imposition, by
accident of history, "tradition", or simple inertia. In the Catalan case,
the citizen movement has ended the injustice. Unfortunately, we have to wait
until January 2012 for the law to be enacted... such is the nature of the
law. There are still many other examples of animal cruelty to deal with, and
it will take a great deal of effort to eradicate them.
There are people in Spain at large, and in Latin America, who enjoy
bull-fighting very much. So unfortunately, bull-fighting will continue for
many years to come. But at least, not in Catalunya. By the way, the fact
that some people enjoy watching an animal being tortured, in panic and agony
for the best part of an hour, and slowly killed through sequential stabbing
(which is what the "banderillas" and other implements accomplish)...
experiencing joy and pleasure from such a sight reveals the sadistic
personality of the viewer. In fact, enjoying animal abuse and cruelty
(whether by inflicting it or watching it unfold) is a basic characteristic
of a sadistic personality disorder.
Sarah Frias-Torres, Ph.D.
