Alliance Anticorrida

In the lead-up to the festive season 2009, the Anti-Bullfighting Alliance is launching its “DON’T SUPPORT BULLFIGHTING” campaign aiming to demonstrate to the Pernod Ricard Group the disapproval of all those who love animals. Although Pernod Ricard is number two in the spirits industry and sells some of the best known brands, it is also a supporter of the French bullfighting world, financing several Paul Ricard bullfighting clubs.

The Anti-Bullfighting Alliance has gathered together many of the world’s major animal protection associations: Animaux en péril (Belgium), ANIMAL (Portugal), CAS International (The Netherlands), FAADA (Spain), The Franz Weber Foundation (Switzerland), The Altarriba Foundation (Spain) and the League Against Cruel Sports (UK).

For these seven groups and the Anti-Bullfighting Alliance, it is not about damaging the Pernod Ricard Group, but about informing consumers. By associating its name, its fame and its financial power with an activity of which a growing number of people disapprove, and by shedding its neutrality, the Pernod Ricard group risks alienating a great number of caring customers who may choose to take their custom elsewhere.

Three hundred thousand letters have been printed in French, English, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese and German and are downloadable from the websites of the participating associations. We propose that all those who wish to, should inform Patrick Ricard, the president of the group, of their intention to only use their spending power to buy products from ethically responsible companies the president of the group, of their intention to only use their spending power to buy products from ethically responsible companies:

• florence.taron@pernod-ricard.com

Furthermore, the associations participating in this campaign will demand that the Pernod Ricard Group ceases to lend support to the bullfighting world in any way, shape or form.

Lee Cooper gives up!

On his website, Lee Cooper had chosen to promote the feria of Nîmes with bullfights photos. Taking into consideration the campaign of the Antibullfighting Alliance and the comments of his members, the leaders of the firm answered « we support under no circumstances bullfights and what they implicate ».

Lee Cooper goes even further stating that the genuine make for more than 100 years does not support « shameful causes ». And, to avoid any amalgam, the society immediately cancelled from his website any reference to the feria of Nîmes 2009.

You can thank them for their decision :

• lcf@leecooper.com

the minors protected

Jorge Alfonso Victoria Maldonado, President of the Commission of Human Rights of Yucatán (Mexico) convinced of the harm caused to children by bullfighting, has worked to ensure that access to bullfighting is prohibited to those under 18.

The government agency Integral Development of the Family (DIF - Development of the Family) for the protection of minors, has accepted the recommendation 03/2009 in order for steps to be taken to prohibit, on behalf of the municipal councils, the participation of any person under 18 in any bullfighting practice, due to the potential physical and psychological harm this induces. A resolution that involves the closure of bullfighting schools.

In the process, the Commission of Human Rights of the state of Chiapas, chaired by Carlos Guillen, issued a recommendation to the President of Tuxtla Gutierrez, capital of Chiapas, and the director of DIF, asking that Michelito should not present himself at the arena on April 26. You can thank them :

• http://www.codhey.org/Comenta.htm

No to cruelty at school !

On Friday 27^th March, a conference on bullfighting was to be held at the Jean-d’Arcet d'Aire-sur-Adour High School in Landes from 2pm to 4pm, with young bullfighters in attendance.

Believing that it is not « the role of national education to promote bullfighting in educational establishments, all the more so when this occurs in the grounds of one of these establishments and during school hours », Claire Starozinski got in touch with the Minister, the Rector of the Bordeaux Academy and the Inspector of the Academy. The Inspector then spoke to the Principal of the High School and demanded that the conference be held outside school hours and also that parental permission be sought for those students wishing to participate in the afternoon’s activities.

The result was that only 9 out of 185 students showed an interest in attending. The Anti-bullfighting Alliance was delighted with this outcome and felt a renewed hope after this decision to guard young people from what is essentially the encouragement of cruelty. Furthermore, the Principal also invited the association to come and speak on « the other side of bullfighting ». So, take a stand !

Avignon and Nice say "NO"

After some visual communication display 4×3 in bullfighting cities – Nimes, Carcassonne or Arles – in 2004, 2006 and 2007, the Antibullfighting Alliance started again this year, for the 62nd Festival of Avignon.

Reminding that 73% of the French population is against bullfighting and only 27% of the Spanish show interest for bullfights, we intend, with such a campaign, to make the tourists refuse to attend bullfights. France’s EU presidency has to understand that a show with an animal tortured to death in a bullring, is not compatible with the values of brotherhood and progress conveyed by the european Union.

The Antibullfighting Alliance also campaigned in August, in Nice and lots of resorts of the French Riviera, in order to, once more, make the tourists and the foreigners aware of the pain imposed to an animal mutilated and tortured during 15 long minutes, in a severely violent and barbaric show.

half naked in front of the bullring !

An important event was organised in front of the bullring of Nîmes on July 1st. Half naked, some activists of PETA, supported by thirty activists of the Antibullfighting Alliance protested against the bullfights on the steps of the bullring.

In spite of the terrible heat, this ghoulish demonstration carried off a deep success among the mass media, the passers-by and the tourists on vacation. A great emotion was also present.

For a Europe Without Bullfights?

In reaction to the exhibition organized by the Spanish aficionados in the European Parliament, twenty-seven anti bullfighting movements were present, on June 4th and 5th in Brussels, for an international summit.

On June 4th, inside the Parliament, seven specialists, of which three eurodeputies - Caroline Lucas, David Hammerstein and Carl Schlyter - dismantled, one after another, all the arguments fluently moved forward by our adversaries whether it be on an economic, environmental, cultural or socio-political level. A static demonstration in the entry of the Parliament followed emphasizing the determination of all present movements and illustrating the international nature of the conflict.

During these two days, Alliance Antibullfight interfered again and again to share its strategies and its proposals with organisations from Portugal, from Spain, from Venezuela, from Mexico, Colombia, from Germany, from Holland, from England, from Ireland, from Switzerland and from Ecuador.

A good many of these movements have made the decision to come to Nîmes, September 13th, to participate in our big peaceful march. From their point of wiew, resolutely forward-looking, the European deputies made us solemn promises to continue conflict on all levels, particularly in the field of public subsidies allotted to the stockbreeders of bulls for the bullfights.

No More Premiums for Bullfight Breeders

On March 17, 1995, Jacques Santer, president of the European Commission, wrote to us: "the conditions of granting of the premium to the fattening of the male bovines are met by the bulls of bullfight. However, since these assistances had not been designed for this type of animal, the Commission departments study measurements allowing the exclusion of the animals of bullfights of the benefit of these premiums."

In October 1997, the director of the Court of Auditors of the European Communities assured us that there was always a system of premiums to the beef and veal producers of the Member States of the Union including/understanding a "special premium" for the male bovines taken in a number limited in specific herds of races in order to be used within the framework of bullfights and to be intended later on for human consumption.

2006 was a great year for the Antibullfighting Alliance since the Parliament granted what we had been asking for so many years, namely the suppression of these special premiums.

It was, indeed, scandalous that subsidies, intended to safeguard the interest of the farmers are diverted from their use and assigned to cruel plays. Moreover, to allocate these subsidies went against what is stipulated in the European Convention of Protection of the livestock, Directive 98/58/EC of the Council, which establishes that the animals should undergo neither maltreatment, nor fear, nor suffering.

With the request of the Greens, Thursday, October 27, 2006, during the plenary session concerning the budget of the European Union in Strasbourg, the Parliament approved an amendment, by a vote of 277 for and 266 against proposing not to grant special premiums to the bulls intended for the bullfights any longer. David Hammerstein, Spanish green MP, declared: "It is clear that these conditions were not met in the case of the bulls known as of combat".

Today, while knocking on the door currency, we have the hope of reaching a decisive stage toward the abolition of the bullfight. The final decision will have to be validated by the Council of European Ministers.

It is now a question of putting pressure on the governments of the European Union.

You can write to:

• UK: secretaryofstate@defra.gsi.gov.uk

Example of sample letter:

For The First Time, In Arles…

After Nîmes, in 2004, Alliance Anticorrida revealed the other side of bullfighting - not the power and the glory - but the pathetic reality of a gruesome performance for the beginning of the 2006 ferias in Arles.

A large-scale anti-bullfighting poster campaign displayed fifteen 4×3 metre placards, during Easter, to coincide with the feria (fair) a week-long, non-stop celebration of corridas, bodegas and flamenco. The Alliance Antibullfighting hard-hitting posters aimed to make the public aware that this barbarous spectacle deserves no form of applause.
The campaign was launched on april 12th, official opening date of the Arles feria, and was advertised in a lot of medias. But on april 13th, all the photos were covered with paint… A significant gesture of aficionados showing that even themselves are ashamed of what they’re keen on… We’ve immediately lodged a complaint and bought new bills to be stuck up under police protection.

Even if this campaign cost 5 600 $, this unexpected event attracted lots more medias than we were due to get and marked a step in a long battle to expose the unpalatable truth of a tradition that has made Arles and Nîmes the main bullfighting arenas outside Spain.

France: Proposal of a Bill in Parliament

One recent progress for the anti-bullfighting struggle is the 4 June 2004 proposal of a bill in parliament seeking to close the legal loophole that allows bullfighting.
The bill has been proposed by a deputy, Mrs Marland-Millitello, of the ruling UMP party. You can sign on this website http://www.petition-anticorrida.com

No Demonstrations in Paris and Moscow

In June 2002, were to be organised capeas (with no actual bullfighting) in the Stade de France in Paris Saint-Denis…

Although the director of major events, Jean-Christophe Giletta, said: "There is no question of any bulls being put to death. This is an entertainment for lovers of the bullfight" this kind of event would have glorified bullfighting, whether blood there is or not, and would have been a preliminary to bullfighting taking place there, depending on how it was received in Paris.

That’s why Alliance Anticorrida campaigned from may 2001bringing a case and making 600 persons protest with e-mails and letters.

And on December 17, great victory! Patrick Braouzec, mayor of Saint-Denis, sent us a letter to inform us that: "Due to the great deal of letters and mails received, the Consortium had decided not to organise anymore feria or any kind of bullfights in The Stade de France".

And in september 2001, the mayor of Moscow, Louri Loujkov, cancelled the bullfights organised due to the protest of a large number of societies for the protection of animals and the Orthodox Church.

Thanks for having reacted with dignity in your name and in the name of Alliance, writing what you think about such a strange idea to export those shameful entertainments.

SPECTACULAR DISPLAY IN THE NIMES bullring!

On September 19th, the Anti-Bullfighting Alliance (Alliance Anticorrida, France) and Animals in Danger (Animaux en péril, Belgium) organised a bold demonstration during a bullfight in the Nîmes amphitheatre, displaying a huge banner on which was written one single word: “TORTURE”.

Together, with one voice, the members of the two international organisations protested against the barbarism that is bullfighting. Claire Starozinski, founder of the Anti-Bullfighting Alliance and from Nîmes herself, said “the majority of Nîmes’ citizens no longer want their town to be seen as the setting for a blood-bath”. As for Jean-Marc Montegnies, president of Animals in Danger, he vows that he is “ashamed of [his] cousin, France” and again asks himself “how, in a civilised country, one can tolerate people making animals suffer and even die, simply for their own amusement!”

So, the two groups came together in a prominent, French bullfighting town, to announce loud and clear the wish of 80% of all Europeans: the abolition of bullfighting.

The banner was displayed for over five minutes before being ripped from the hands of the protesters by security guards. As well as booing from the crowd, there was also clapping…

Poster of the feria of béziers withdrawed !

The poster of the feria of Béziers, signed by the architect Jean Nouvel, copied a photograph of Sebastian Chabal with the head of a bull, creating an unbearable amalgam between bullfighting and rugby.

By an open letter for Sebastian Chabal and sent to the president of the French federation of Rugby, we reproached the instrumentalisation of the sportsman by a minority in lack of strong feelings.

Walter Spanghero, well-known rugby player and member of honour of the Antibullfighting Alliance, also wanted to react. Qualifying rugby of: « sport with a sincere respect for the opponent », he thinks that bullfights are « unequal confrontations between a person and a bull who is trapped in a cowardly way ».

That's why, in the name of all those for whom the involvement of rugby in bullfighting is unbearable, we asked Sebastian Chabal, « not to let [his] blue shirt stained by the blood of animals sacrificed ».

An hour later our press release, the agent of Chabal confirmed us, on the phone, that the photograph had been « diverted by Jean Nouvel ». On the following day, July 24th, Raymond Couderc, mayor of Béziers made the decision to withdraw the poster and did not exclude to carry a case against the architect owing to the serious detriment since the poster had to be sold in many ways!

 Some press cuttings here :

• liberation.fr
• laprovence.fr
• lefigaro.fr

Thank Sébastien Chabal :

• agaidoz@ffr.fr

New French Anti-Bullfighting city

Our campaigns have succeeded in persuading elected members and some city councils to distinctly refuse this barbarity. Following the decision of Mouans-Sartoux, Montignac and Bully-les-mines, Joucou (in the Aude departement) has proclaimed itself against bull-fighting at the request of numerous members of the association.

In this way Joucou, although situated in hostile territory, has become the 4^th French town to publicly pronounce itself an "Animal- friendly town against bullfighting" with the support and assistance of its mayor, Emmanuelle Fauche.

European elections 2009

Bullfighting is synonymous wiIth the torture and death of animals and has been converted into a big business subsidised with tax payers' money. As well as that, the flesh of these bulls is often put on the market as comestible meat without any specific indication for the consumer.

To respect the wishes of the European public in this matter, the Antibullfigthting Alliance is asking Euro MPs and the candidates to the European General Election to rule that :

a) Children under fifteen-year-olds be banned from access to bullfights.
b) EU subsidies no longer be handed out to beef producers raising bulls for fighting purposes.
c) Strict labelling of the flesh of fighting bulls be made compulsory.
d) Bullfighting should be banned.

Such a development would be a major step forward in the worldwide antibullfighting campaign.

• http://www.eudebate2009.eu
• eudebate_anglais.pdf

Baby Matador Banned!

 

Michelito Lagravère, aged 11, was drawn to bullfighting since the age of five. He has killed 70  bulls and has already scars. But French laws don’t permit anybody under 16 to perform in a bullring, so today’s pre-pubescent toreros all come to Mexico, where there are no such laws. Those baby bullfighters have begun getting top billing from promoters, who view them as a new way to bring people to the bullrings! (See the video in Fontvielle in 2007).

In the summer 2008, the Antibullfighting Alliance, applied to four public prosecutors and the ministry of justice to have the baby matador bullfights cancelled and succeeded in banning him twice. Two other shows given in small cities turned into capeas (no blood, no injuries for the bulls). The baby killer should have come back to France to perform again But he gave up… No blood, no money, no medias means no interest, of course!

To get his name listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s youngest matador, his parents encouraged him to kill six calves in Mexico, on Jan. 2009.

A video was even brought to the attention of Guinness World Records for recognition. Fortunately, the record will not be validated on the grounds that they " do not accept records based on the killing or harming of animals". Well done the Guiness Book!

 You may express your views on :
http://community.guinnessworldrecords.com

Let us remember that the Antibullfighting Alliance succedeed in preventing baby bullfighters under 16 from facing a bull in a bullring and managed to ban El Juli (on the left) and Andy Cartagena from performing from 1995 to 1996.
Moreover, at our request, the law court fined the organiser of bullfights in Nîmes, in 1997, owing to his previous performances.

TOWARDS THE BANNING OF BULL MEAT ?

In support of OABA (l'Œuvre d'Assistance aux Bêtes d'Abattoirs - Action for Abbatoir Animals) and the Anti-Bullfighting Alliance, Albert Jacquard, the famous geneticist, has contacted the Minister of Agriculture to alert him to the fact that meat from fighting bulls is being « sold without telling the consumer what it is ».

An article which appeared in Le Point on 14^th August 2008, revealed that the average consumer could be eating this meat without realising what it is!

Bearing in mind that « bulls suffer from numerous mechanical intrusions which could contaminate the carcass », Albert Jacquard highlighted the fact that the sale of fighting bull meat breaches food hygiene laws.

Furthermore, Jacquard insists that the meat has an elevated pH and that the presence of lactic acid in the muscle cells means that it is impossible to preserve this meat under normal conditions of use.

As the speaker for both associations, Albert Jacquard is concerned over the lack of information for and protection of consumers and has demanded that, until the sale of this meat is banned, labelling which specifies that this meat is from fighting bulls should be made compulsory.

Singer Céline Dion backs out…

Our Antibullfighting Alliance heard in October 2007, that Céline Dion had chosen young matador Matias Tejela to illustrate one of the songs from her new album Taking chances with a video clip. The killer was to appear, in a bullfighter costume, bare-chested and with a muleta in his hand, on a huge screen throughout the singer's 2008-2009 world tour.

The Antibullfighting Alliance launched a vast campaign leading to a polemic which soon snowballed through the medias and on line. Six days later, Céline Dion's record company assured us that: "although the choreography only showed the torero on a water surface, due consideration would be taken of our protests and the clip would not be released in its current version".

Eventually, be it in Boston, Montreal, Tokyo or Paris, the giant screen displayed neither clip nor matador in 2008 or 2009!

Your thanks to Céline Dion and Sony Music would be greatly appreciated.

• Sony music (bottom of page > send us feedback)
• contact@sonybmg.fr

Anti-Bullfighting Air Campaign

In May , at the time of the big Feria in Nimes, Alliance Anticorrida organized an air campaign over all the area and particularly over the center of Nîmes to encourage the million visitors who go there each year, to flee the bullfights.

The aircraft flew over the Jardin de la Fontaine, the crowded restaurants and bars, at the time of the water tournaments and over the suburbs where bull games and bullfighting were also organized.

In July and august two planes flew from Cerbere to Antibes, along all the beaches targeting the holidaymakers. In all, 600km were covered and Anticorrida Alliance was able to deliver the message to millions of tourists.
This action had such an enormous impact that a lot of people have since thanked us for the idea and lots of medias covered that action.

Together, Let us Make Barcelona Fall!

On June 17, ,a huge demonstration was organized by our Catalan friends to contribute to making Barcelona fall! The date coincided with the return of the famous torero Jose Tomás; the bullfighting lobby had intentionally chosen the Monumental bullring to highlight Barcelona as a bullfighting city… Forty French people, united around the same cause, packed into the bus chartered by Alliance Anticorrida to bring support to their Catalan friends.

The atmosphere was festive and magical as 3 000 people poured into the Monumental amid cheers from the inhabitants to voice their opposition to those antiquated performances attended mainly by old people turned towards thepast. The young people of today in Spain and in other countries believe that civilization has no place for the torturing ofanimals.

We were all of one voice as we shouted "Cataluna antitaurina" and "bullfight verguenza" with a single aim: the ratification by the government of the abolition of bullfights requested by the Catalans for over three years. The people in charge of the demonstration thanked us saying: "We made history. Now we can go to the Catalan Parliament with the images of the demonstration still in mind. Actually, the Parliamentary groups have already started to discuss the issue on June 19…"

Heads of Tails? It’s all the same…

A bullfight, a bloody rite condemned by a majority of Europeans, consists in torturing six bulls for a quarter of an hour each. First of all, the picador sticks a lance up to fourteen centimeters long into the bull’s back and twists it inside the wound so as to sever the neck ligament. Then he opens the wound by driving in six 7cm-long harpoons: the banderillas. Then the animal is put to death, at best with a single sword-stroke, but this is extremely rare. The unhappy record up to now is thirty four attempts!

But the worst is before… Some bullfighters demand that the bulls be mutilated before they come into the arena. They are willing to take fewer and fewer risks while earning up to $ 400,000 for a single performance! This horrible practice - afeitado - consists in sawing off with no pain killer five or ten centimeters of the horn then to stuff the innervated matter back towards the root of that very horn and then sharpening the tip again. Mutilating the bull’s horns amounts to depriving him of all his spatial perception and to diminish the animal psychologically speaking.

In addition, the spaces in which the animals, fed on pellets are raised, are getting smaller and smaller. Their muscular qualities are so deficient that they fall to their knees as soon as they come into the arena. As for the animals’ health, the Alliance has obtained autopsy stating reports that a damning proportion of bulls had been hit by tuberculosis, leading to the meat’s being seized. In these circumstances, can anyone dare talk about an equal-to-equal fight?

Baby bullfighters

Moreover, the law allows anyone, in a zone where local tradition has not been interrupted, to torture and put to death a calf under horrible conditions. Children practise: the sword goes in, comes out, several of them gang together to try to finish off the animal, and the death throes end in a blood bath. Bullfighting schools even exist, there from the age of six, these same children are taught the "art" of torturing and putting to death.

These schools are subsidised by the French authorities using the money of all tax payers ! Encouragement of bullfighting creeps in everywhere: into schools and even hospitals. In Marseilles, some had no hesitation in giving a show for children with cancer, doubtless no blood was shed, but in that way, children are led insidiously to get a taste for cruelty.

Perverse effects

Bullfights uses the very perverse effects of seduction: colours, costume full of light, brass bands, sunshine. Everything is set up in order to mask the bloody reality, going so far as to evoke fallaci usly "the bulls which are not killed" during Portuguese bullfights. Now the bulls in question are systematically slaughtered when they get back to the stables, away from curious eyes. That’s why we have stated another court case concerning this fallacious publicity.

But bullfighting cannot be justified! No argument can stand up to objective examination. Justifying bullfighting for economic reasons doesn’t hold water. It’s like justifying cruelty for money. Such reasoning could take you a very long way. Moreover, Victor Hugo, Courteline and André Malraux, determined opponents of bullfighting, are worth just as much as Goya, Picasso and Hemingway quoted by bullfight lovers as examples. And to matadors who insist that they love bulls, we answer "You don’t kill what you love!"

As for their so-called courage, let’s not forget that in 1992 at Saint-Sever, some bullfighters organised a punitive expedition one night. As a matter of fact, some Spaniards had been more popular. And who did they attack? The organisers? not at all. They stabbed the bulls shut up in the corrals… What courage!

No More Charity Bullfights!

Charity bullfights are more and more set to raise funds for AIDS, the paralysed, the handicapped children or whatever. May be to have an alibi.

The horrible afeitado (see below) is legal during those so called festivals.

In 1998 we succeeded in making the Paralysed of France drop this fundraising. Here’s what the director wrote to us: "We’re glad to announce you that, owing to your campain, we won’t accept any funds due to the sufferings of any animals anymore".

In Lunel, 25kms from Nîmes, took place, in Feb 2000 and march 2001, one of those charity bullfights for a French well known society, ADOT, which aim is to get organs. Antibullfighting Alliance campained in writing to the president and in sending back our cards. After a lot of press cuttings the president wrote to us : "Due to your emotion and reproach, we’ve made the decision to give up any income from entertainments which causes the sufferings of animals, especially bullfights". A great victory for all of us! You can thank the president of A.D.O.T. at France-Adot@wanadoo.fr