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The debate over bullfighting is much more than an argument over animal rights, representing the differences in lifestyle and views across Spain’s various regions. For example, the city of Barcelona in the Catalonian region is home to one of the oldest bullrings in Spain, yet bullfighting is not popular there, with many of the city’s citizens regarding it as barbaric. Anti-bullfighting activists argue that most of those who attend the bullfights are in fact tourists.
 
There is also the possibility that Catalonia’s decision to push the ban could be a move to show they are different from the rest of the Spanish states. Those against the ban argue that it is dangerous to the national economy as thousands of jobs depend on it, with an entire industry being based around the bullfight.

Meanwhile even in Korea there are debates over bullfighting. Every year a bull fighting festival is held in Cheongdo to celebrate a 1000 year old tradition. Spanish bullfighting involves humans fighting against the bulls with swords, spears and horses, ending in the death of the bull and very rarely in the death of human bullfighter (“el matador”). Meanwhile the Cheongdo bullfights see bulls fighting against bulls. What’s more, none of the bulls in the Korean event ever die, instead they struggle and wrestle against each other with their horns. It’s not just an event for Korean animals either, with bulls from Japan, the U.S. and Australia competing.

The origins of Korean bullfighting are said to originate in the territorial fights of bulls to establish which patches of grass belonged to which animal. Farmers used to help their bulls to win, seeing that if they had the stronger animal they would be more successful. These traditions continues today and while the matadors of Spain spend  years learning to elegantly overcome the beasts unleashed before them, Korean farmers put the same amount of effort into training their bulls to be effective wrestlers.

Nevertheless people in the nation have protested against the Cheongdo bullfighting festival, claiming it to be barbaric and inhumane. Therefore it is unsurprisingly that emotions should run so much higher in Spain with the bloody reputation their bullfights have.

On the one hand it’s always sad to see a nation lose a tradition.Yet on the other hand it is hardly fair for animals to be killed and injured for the entertainment of people. What do you think about bullfighting, both in Korea and in Spain?

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