Forbes: Will Bullfighting Survive The Next Decade in Spain?

 This week I found a particularly interesting article from Forbes on the topic of bullfighting. I believe it will be interesting to learn what they have to say about the controversial subject, as Forbes is a multi media platform that has articles on politics, science, finance and much more. It is published eight times a year, and on 30th December 2019 published an article on speculating "Will Bullfighting Survive The Next Decade in Spain?" https://www.forbes.com/sites/anagarciavaldivia/2020/12/30/will-bullfighting-survive-the-next-decade-in-spain/?sh=1fe00e6545b3.

It notes that the “annual rate of bullfighting decreases more and more with every year, especially among young Spaniards”, (Garcia Valdiva, 2019, Forbes), suggesting that as people become more educated they are more aware of the negative aspects of the sport and arguably this is why “ in 2018 the number of bullfights held fell to a historic minimum of 1,529” (Garcia Valdiva, 2019, Forbes). This again exemplifies the diminishing popularity of the sport and why it is “going out of fashion”, (Garcia Valdiva, 2019, Forbes). The statistics that this article gives are very precise, and as they are from 2018 means they are quite recent: “only 8% of the population attended a bullfighting spectacle last year, and of this percentage, 5.9% attended a bullfight or 'corrida' while the rest went to other events such as the popular running of the bulls.” (Garcia Valdiva, 2019, Forbes), therefore meaning that it’s popularity is small and the tradition is perhaps only carrying on because it is “tradition”. Sometimes, these customs and traditions carry on even when they are not supported or popular just because there is a feeling that the old ways have to be honoured. 

Furthermore, a national survey that was carried out found that: 

• "65% of Spaniards have an interest of between 0 and 2 out of 10 in bullfighting", (Garcia Valdiva, 2019, Forbes). 
• "This figure rises to 72.1% for people aged 15 to 19 and to 76,4% for those aged 20 to 24." (Garcia Valdiva, 2019, Forbes).
• "Only 5.9% of the population claim to have an interest of 9-10." (Garcia Valdiva, 2019, Forbes)

I can confidently say that these figures combined with the others I previously stated from Forbes show that the popularity of bullfighting is limited. 

The article also comments on the differences between certain regions on the popularity of the sport: "Andalucia, Castilla y Leon, Castilla - La Mancha and Madrid accounted for 77.9% of bullfighting events held in 2018" (Garcia Valdiva, 2019, Forbes). However, the laws surroundign bullfighting vary on regional and national scales: in 2013, "Spanish congress passed a law to regulate bullfighting as 'Cultural heritage', with the votes in favour of the conservative Peoples Party", (Garcia Valdiva, 2019, Forbes), that Mariano Rajoy led. However, they are a "conservative" and "Christian - democratic", (Ottens, 2021, Atlantic Sentinel) so therefore they would typically be concerned with tradition, cultural heritage and the symbol of Spain. However, some regional governments disagree with this view: in 2012, "Catalonia passed a grassroots-promoted law that prohibited bullfights", (Garcia Valdiva, 2019, Forbes), which emphasises the controversial opinions about the sport. On top of this, in 2017 "Mallorca passed a law banning spectacles in which the animal suffers. The text did not prohibit bullfights, although indirectly it prevented bulls to be killed as part of the show," (Garcia Valdiva, 2019, Forbes). Evidently, there has been a realisation that the killing of animals for no reason other than entertainment is barbaric and outdated. 

However, even considering this, the Constitution Court of Spain overturned the "insular regulation, declaring it partially unconstitutional. In this case, the judges considered that the essence of Spanish 'corridas' would be lost without the animal’s death", and they consider that they have to "protect" this "characteristic"(Garcia Valdiva, 2019, Forbes). They want to protect it so much that "every year, Spain's regional governments provide subsidies to bullfighting clubs, associations, schools, and festivities." (Garcia Valdiva, 2019, Forbes), which will of course require money from the public through taxes. While the government strive to protect bullfights, they cannot control the tastes of the public, so even though they have protected the tradition in recent years, their "efforts are losing strength each year." (Garcia Valdiva, 2019, Forbes), and speculates that it is due to "the growing trend towards animal protection in bth the political and social sphere."(Garcia Valdiva, 2019, Forbes). 

Therefore, it definitely seems that the Spanish population has largely lost interest in the brutal sport, but the right wing government try to protect it as they view it as an essential part of their heritage. 

Source Evaluation:

This source is very reliable as Forbes is an international publishing page, and this article is relatively recent from 2019. It has given me precise dates and figures, things I can use for evidence to justify my arguments. 

Reference:

• (Garcia Valdiva, Ana, 2019, "Will Bullfighting Survive The Next Decade in Spain?", Forbes, 31Jan 2022). 
• (Ottens, Nick, 2021, Madrids Diaz Ayuso is not an Inspiration, Atlantic Sentinel, 31 Jan 2021)