While the bullfighting season is in full swing in the south of France, Aymeric Caron, newly elected deputy, intends to quickly present a bill to the National Assembly in order to bring the final blow to this spectacle that he "immoral" judge.
"That bullfighting is an immoral spectacle, a spectacle that no longer has its place in the 21st century, I think this is a point of view that is shared by a majority of French people," said the deputy of the 18th district of Paris, confirming that he hoped to testify before the National Assembly in order to prohibit the practice.
“It is a bill that I hope to see debated in the Assembly in November”, adds the elected representative of the party La France insoumise (LFI, radical left), first component of the left opposition in the French parliament. .
An anti-bullfighting current that is struggling to take hold
France is not immune to the anti-bullfighting current which affects all the countries concerned - Spain, Portugal, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela - but since a first attempt in 2004, no initiative has succeeded in imposing a vote in the Assembly, or even a parliamentary debate.
Before the prospect of a debate in November, Aymeric Caron, who claims to be an "anti-speciesist" (who opposes the exploitation and consumption of animals by human beings) recognizes that he will first have to convince within even from his party and find allies in the assembly.
Its objective is to modify the Penal Code which punishes animal abuse, but underlines in its article 521-1 that its provisions “are not applicable to bullfights when an uninterrupted local tradition can be invoked”.
“It is not a French tradition, it is a Spanish tradition which was imported into France in the middle of the 19th century to please the wife of Napoleon III, who was Andalusian”, underlines Aymeric Caron.
A tradition upheld in the South
This "uninterrupted tradition" has nevertheless been firmly defended for several years in the south-west close to Spain - Bayonne, Dax, Mont-de-Marsan or Vic-Fezensac - and on the Mediterranean rim - Nîmes, Arles or Béziers.
For André Viard, president of the National Observatory of Bullfighting Cultures, the ban on bullfighting is a "recurring" theme in each legislature.
“We say to the other political groups: what is the point of associating with this political proposal which goes against cultural freedom, protected by the constitution, and the identity of the territories?
“, he explains.
“People are more and more sensitive to animal suffering, including bullfighting,” said Claire Starozinski, president of the Anticorrida Alliance, which is launching a media campaign on four television channels to raise public awareness against bullfighting. .
