Bullfighting

Vegan Antitaurino Activist, Plaza San Martin, Lima, Peru

Animal-rights protestor Jessica Santilla, demonstration at Plaza San Martin, Lima, Peru, Nov. 2008 / photo c. Jorge Vera

El Fotografo and I met this protestor at an antitaurino (anti-bullfighting) rally held on the opening day of the Plaza de Acho bullfights, last November.

Jessica Santillan is 20 years old, a student and an ardent vegan. Unlike many of the antitaurinos I met in Lima that day, Santillan believes that slaughtering animals for food is as morally reprehensible as killing bulls in the bullring. She and her boyfriend were holding up a sign that said “Neither bulls in the Plaza nor cattle in the slaughterhouse.” They were wearing matching toro outfits and chained together.

Some of the demonstrators that day smiled as they held up their signs during the rally. Santillan just looked pissed. I liked that. I told El Fotografo she would be good to photograph. A large color shot of her ended up running with my 11/21/08 story in the Miami Herald, as the face of Peru’s antitaurino movement.

I doubt she ever saw it. They don’t sell the Miami Herald in Lima.

I am an American writer who lived in Lima for seven years (2007-2014), where I covered Andean traditions, melting glaciers and daily life in the capital for Miami Herald, MSNBC and Huffington Post. I now live and work in northern Florida where I champion climate change advocacy and compassionate, affordable eldercare.

19 Comments

  • Alexander Fiske-Harrison

    I guess that in being vegan, they seek to utterly equalise our relationship with animals and thus remove the hypocrisy one often sees in anti-bullfighting protests, but where do they draw the line? The bacteria that perish in our stomach acid, the insects that die under foot. The fact is that from the first replicators in the primordial pools of early earth onwards (see, e.g. Richard Dawkins’ ‘The Selfish Gene’), life has existed *at the expense of* other life. There is something life-denying in their stance. Not to say that one can then justify all cruelty as life-enchancing… it is more complex. Please do take a look at my blog ‘The Last Arena – In Search Of The Spanish Bullfight’ (http://fiskeharrison.wordpress.com/).
    Xander

  • Barb

    Xander — thanks for stopping by and introducing yourself. Your yearlong quest to understand bullfighting in Spain is a fascinating one. (Say hi to Uceda Leal if you meet him. I’m the redheaded American woman who interviewed him at Acho.)

    Yes, you are right. We are all preying on one another on this earth, even the Buddhist monks who won’t kill an insect for fear of incurring more karma.

    I was intrigued by Santillan’s position because it had more moral integrity than that of the other antitaurinos I met in Lima, who told me (over and over), “Yes, I eat anticuchos, but I think bullfighting is wrong.” That seems hypocritical to me given the suffering of animals in slaughterhouses, and in the cramped farms/holding pens that they must endure during their brief lives — which, if you are going to be an animal-rights activist, should engage your attention as well.

    “Life-denying.” I supposed that’s at the crux of it — whether you can find meaning in a ritual slaughter or not.

    For me what I believe gets confused in debates over bullfighting is the distinction between animal welfare and animal rights. Many people confuse the two. They think, “Oh, if I don’t want animals to suffer, then I must be for animal rights,” but it isn’t that simple. The animal rights movement believes that animals have the same rights as humans and that animals should not serve people and should not be used as sources of food, leather, etc.

    The animal welfare movement, on the other hand, accepts that we humans use and consume animals, but rejects that animals should suffer needlessly.

    I fall more into the animal welfare movement. Since I eat meat, wear leather shoes and ride horses on occasion, I think it’s hypocritical for me to posture as an animal-rights activist. Nevertheless, the suffering that goes on in bullrings (particularly with the picadores) is something that I believe should be examined. The question is, Do the art and spectacle and catharsis of the bullfight justify the torture and slaughter of the toro? (Actually, 6 in a corrida.) That is the question I wrestle with.

  • suddenly susan

    thought you might be interested in some comments left on my blog by a bullfighting enthusiast (and apparent scholar):

    “The origin of bullfighting is religious – the pagan bull rituals in Mediterranean religions. The brave bull was a sacred animal, a Dionysian animal, and it was artistically run and sacrificed by priests to transmit the Dionysian power to the land and the people. These Dionysian cults and the rituals of Mithraism are the origin of Spanish bullfighting (or ‘bullrunning’ if we translate accurately from Spanish). The current torero plays the role of the ancient priest. In fact, his clothes are a modern adaptation of the ancient ritual clothes.

    In Spain and Southern France a good torero is considered an artist, a semi-priest and a semi-samurai by aficionados. He is usually connected with writers, artists and intellectual people, so he is neither a sportman nor a showman, but a man of culture. Bohemian and passionate lives off-arena are usual among toreros, so frecuently they also become sort of romantic characters. And yes, they have ‘cOjones’, they are very brave. And some of them are really handsome. Their beauty is an aditional thrill on-arena. Frenchman Sebastien Castella and Spaniards José-María Manzanares Jr, Miguel Angel Perera or Cayetano Rivera-Ordoñez (Hemingway’s Pedro Romero’s great-grandson), stars of the new generation, are gorgeous examples. Google their names and have a look.

    It is easy to misunderstand what you don’t know. I have no respect for people who consider ‘barbaric’ some venerable traditions just because they don’t match their stupid politically correct ideas.”

    she left another comment on my post about a bullfight in madrid.

  • Barb

    Susan,
    Thanks for posting information on the origins of bullfighting. The sport is very ancient — probably one of the few rituals from thousands of years ago that still survives today.

    The traditionalists (such as the woman who left a comment on your blog) cherish bullfighting because of its long history and its glamorous components. I would be the first to agree that bullfighting can be a compelling event to watch and that you can get swept away by the mystique. You have to see great bullfighters fight in the ring, in person, to understand that.

    I don’t necessarily agree, though, that bullfighting should be defended just because it is an old tradition. To draw an analogy — clitorectomies (ritual cutting of female genitals) is a very old custom in various cultures, but that does not make it defensible in the modern-day world.

    The real value of a ritual is: Does it provide deep, instrinsic meaning to people today?

    That is the question that defenders of bullfighting must address. Does the ritual of the bullfight provide a transcendent, profound experience for viewers that justifies the bloodshed? Or does the admitted cruelty and torture outweigh the so-called art in today’s society?

    Big questions.

    What are your thoughts, Susan, since seeing your first bullfight? I’d be interested to know. I don’t take sides on this issue, so don’t worry about coming across as PC or nonPC. I try to understand bullfighting beyond the politicized framing that currently surrounds the issue.

  • suddenly susan

    i’m still conflicted in many ways about bullfighting because i can see the torturous aspects in bullfighting but i also see the artistry and skill behind it. so on the cruelty-to-animals spectrum it’s not the same as say, kicking a dog just because you felt like it.

    the other thing i struggle with is, do i have the right to judge another culture, as an outsider? when brigitte bardot criticizes korea and koreans for eating dogs, i kind of want to say to her, “um, you come from a country that cherishes foie gras. why don’t you focus on that then start casting stones?”

    i have a video clip from the bullfight on youtube with 36 comments. most of them are of the “stupid spaniards/mexicans” and profanity-laden variety. it makes me bristle and want to defend bullfighting, even though i’m not 100% behind it. does that make sense to you?

  • Barb

    Susan, that makes a lot of sense to me. Most antitaurinos see bullfighting as a black/white issue — bullfighting is bad, people who hate bullfighting are good — rather than as a complex issue, which it is.

    What I find disturbing (and telling) is how readily antitaurinos jump from hating bullfighting to hating and insulting people who don’t hate bullfighting. The most shockingly hateful, and even violent, emails I’ve received on this blog are from supposed pacifists who oppose bullfighting. Some of them believe that if someone does not believe in this position 100%, that difference of opinion gives them the right to abuse the other person verbally, call names, etc. That behavior raises a red flag for me.

    I find that I can discuss bullfighting — both pro and con — with people who have been to a corrida and seen it for themselves. My conversations with people who haven’t been to one in person are less satisfactory and less nuanced.

    Thanks for sharing your views. It’s good to know that I’m not the only traveling American/expat who has come to see another side of this issue.

  • Jordi Casamitjana

    Hello all

    I thought I would just add my piece here, since it seems destiny is making it ideal for me. To start with, the title fits me perfectly. I am also a vegan, I am indeed anti-bullfighting, and I was in that demonstration in Lima where that photo was taken. Besides that, I see now the post of Mr. Alexander Fiske’Harrison, with whom we share a long lasting debate on the subject of bullfighting in other blogs.

    I personally do not subscribe to the division between animal welfare and animal rights. I consider myself both, a follower of the animal rights philosophy, and a practitioner of animal welfare politics. Contrary to what many people think, the animal right philosophy does not say that humans and non-human animals should have the same rights. We just say that we both should have rights, even if they may be different. In the same way that children and adults all have rights, but they are different (one can vote and the other not, for example), we consider that all animals have the right to a full life as natural as possible and free from pain, fear and distress. How you apply that philosophy in real terms is the real world is the realm of animal welfare.

    Where I draw the line? In mammals, in plants …in bacteria?. Well, for me the line is ‘sentient being’. If the creature has a nervous system and senses that make it ‘sentient’, then I will try to do my best in not contributing to its death, suffering or distress…and this is why I am a vegan. Is my life completely cruelty-free? Of course not. Being vegan is not a pure ‘state’, but an ‘approach’. We vegans ‘do our best’, and every vegan does it differently, because it is not equally easy to be vegan everywhere in the world..

    And, of course, it is also why I am anti-bullfighting. However, I know the subject very well because I work for an anti-bullfighting organization, because I was born (and grew up) in Spain, and because I do go to bullfights to study them in detail and obtain images to show other what happens there. In my case, the more I learn about it, the more I discuss it, and the more I study it, the more convinced I am that it should be abolished, and as soon as possible.

  • Barb

    Hi, Jordi,
    Thanks for your thoughtful reply and for elucidating where you “draw the line,” as you say. How interesting that you were in the demonstration at Acho/Plaza San Martin that day. We have lots of pix of demonstrators; maybe you are in some of them. 🙂

    Readers, what you do think of Jodi’s idea that kindness must be extended to all “sentient beings,” starting with those that have nervous systems? (I guess the jellyfish wouldn’t make the cut.) Is that philosophically and ethically sound? Or overly idealist or impractical in your opinion?

  • Jordi Casamitjana

    Barb.
    In that demo, black T-shirt, black cap, beard and sunglasses; no banner or placard. Perhaps you can find me in your photos….if you give me some clues, perhaps I can find you in mine 🙂

  • Jordi Casamitjana

    Perhaps to illustrate the subject further some of you may be interested in information about the latest opinion poll about bullfighting undertaken in the whole of Peru a few months ago. If so, let me know and I will post you the website where you can find it (if links to other websites are allowed, that is).

  • Pico

    Hey Barb,

    Such a touchy subject you have in here, heh?

    I guess bullfighting is one of those ‘traditions’ that Peruvians inherited from our conquerors, and one that I believe will disappear in the not-too far future. And I think it has to do more with newer generations that do no have a cultural connection to bullfighting and movements to bring to light animal cruelty.

    Having said that, I was raised watching bullfight broadcasts on TV and idolizing the ‘bravura’ of ‘el matador’ and the art of the ‘capa y el estoque’, I have some mixed feelings about the whole situation.

    I attended a bullfight in 2005 and I was not really sure what to expect. My first impression wast that there might not be that many enthusiasts left since the Plaza de Acho was half empty. Either people do not like it, cannot afford it, or it is irrelevant at this point.

    However, once the ‘corridas’ started something strange happened. The colors seemed so vibrant, the “matador’s” moves so fluid, mesmerizing, like in slow-motion, the contrast of the bull’s red blood against the darkness of its fur was incredible. And I started thinking to myself, how is it possible to find such beauty in such a cruel spectacle?

    The ironic thing is that even to bullfighting aficionados, the ‘picadores’ are always the most brutal of elements.

    Cheers

  • Pico

    I forgot to add to my previous post. To give you an idea how ingrained such traditions are in the Lima culture, listen to words of the vals “Camarón” by the venerable Chabuca Granda.

    I have not heard a more beautiful description of a “Gallo de pelea”, another one of the traditions left by the Spaniards.

    Saludos

  • Barb

    Pico — yes, what you experience at a bulfight can run strangely counter to what you think you’ll feel. (I like your description of it very much.)

    Like you, I think the bullfighting tradition will eventually disappear. The spectacle isn’t relevant to many people, and that distancing only increases as a country becomes less agricultural and more “modern.” People can get their ya-yas out with violence in movies, so the real-life killing becomes superfluous.

    That said, I think the matador’s art and dance with the bull is phenomenal, and I wonder why the bloodless style of bullfighting can’t be substituted. Fans of bullfighting pooh-pooh that idea, but it seems like a natural evolution of the art.

    Re picadores: I have spoken to some fans who hate the picadores’ cruelty, but when I went to the novillada in Acho in November 2008, those fights were conducted without picadores, and some of the rowdies in the “sol” section were screaming: “Donde estan los picadores?” They were screaming for the guys with the barbs — were outraged that they were deprived of that cruel spectacle. And I think they spoke for many members of the audience.

  • Amazilia

    Great post. I’m also get mystified by the attitude of some antitaurinos who get too violent defending their position. Also they don’t distinguish between the bullfighting in Lima with the ones that are practiced in the Andean regions that are totally different, I think that the practitioners and public in Lima are really asserting they belonging to the “conquistadores” caste, but in the Andes it has been largely transformed and the indigenous elements have take hold of the fiesta. It is mostly a celebration of fertility and a way to give a “pago” to the earthly gods. It is called “toro pukjllay” which means playing with the bull and usually the bull is not killed. Still I think there should be some kind of regulation to ensure that the bulls are not too stress out or damage in the transportation and handling in the ruedo. Another expresion of deep indigenization of this fiesta are the toriles that are performed in these corridas, here some examples:
    http://botella-al-mar.blogspot.com/search?q=toril
    Antitaurinos really have to think about this nuanced reality of multicultural Peru and be open to a dialogue of how better end cruelty against animals but respecting the traditions of people. There is no impediment to have corridas where the bull is not killed or wounded as is practiced in Portugal, conserving the ritual and dance-like part of the toreo.

  • Barb

    Thank you, Amazilia, for bringing to light another cultural aspect of bullfighting in Peru, that of Lima vs the provinces. You bring up something that I touched on in my original article for the Miami Herald last November, some of which got edited out of the final version — that bullfighting is deeply engrained in provincial life and taking the bullfighting protests there is an even greater challenge.

    “Antitaurinos really have to think about this nuanced reality of multicultural Peru and be open to a dialogue of how better end cruelty against animals but respecting the traditions of people.”

    Well said!

  • Jordi Casamitjana

    Respecting traditions is secondary to respecting the well being of human beings, animals, the environment, and to maintaining peace. This is something many people forget.

    The term ‘tradition’ has been hijacked by those that can generally be described as ‘abusers’ or ‘exploiters’ of others (whatever ‘others’ would be), and it is often used to justify their actions. However, every society of any country, when evolving and moving though the process known as ‘civilization’, has to question itself continuously about which new values has it acquired, and which traditions will have now to go because of them.

    This is how slavery , gender and sexual discrimination, child exploitation, imperialism, etc. disappeared (in some societies, that is); and this is also how bullfighting will disappear too, both in Peru and anywhere else.

    The question is, why someone not really benefiting directly from the abuse or exploitation would delay or deny such process, and why some people would overate ‘tradition’ above peace, welfare, cruelty-free or justice?

    Could it be because a misguided sense of what ‘freedom’ actually means? Could it be because amorality? Could it be because social laziness?

  • Barb

    Jordi, I’m curious to know what your position is on the ritual sacrifices that traditional people perform in the Andes — the occasional sacrifice of a llama or an alpaca to an apu / mountain lord.

    August 1st is the day that such sacrifices typically take place, but they can also take place at other times. The animal is held by the owner and its throat is slit, and there’s a ceremony to dedicate the animal to the apu. It can be done by a family or in a community group.

    Would you consider that animal abuse as well? Or do you place that in a different category from bullfighting? If so, why?

    Even though I myself would never sacrifice a llama to an apu (it’s not part of my customs), I respect the rights of traditional people to do so, since it has spiritual meaning for them. Your thoughts?

  • Jordi Casamitjana

    I am against it, as I am against human sacrifices that was an integral part of Amerindian ancient societies.

    Why the former continue and the latter not? Because the evolution of civilization. We are not talking about one civilization imposing its values over another, but ‘all’ civilizations evolving towards a fairer world for all. It is not good enough that the Peruvian ethnic groups stop this practice and change it for bullfighting, just because this was the ‘next’ culture they came across. They have to go beyond that and grow by themselves away from ritualized torture. They can simply remove the animal from the ceremony, and do the rest without it. Only if they do that they will be adapted to today’s world, and therefore their identity will survive. Otherwise, they are not really a ‘nation’ of people, but only ‘curators’ of a cultural relic that has no place in today’s world, and marginalizes them

    Each society has the right to evolve, and forcing it to maintain an outdated tradition eliminates that right.