Quirky and symbolic.
Such appears the debate on the prohibition of bullfighting everywhere in France.
Shifted, because at a time when war is in Europe, the fate of the planet at stake and where the French are worried about their end of the month, the fight for the suppression of seventy annual events can seem a very strange priority.
But symbolic, because this subject is at the crossroads of societal, not to say civilizational, issues whose place is growing in public debate.
Anti-bullfighting invoke animal welfare and the refusal of suffering inflicted on animals.
The pro-bullfighting defend centuries-old traditions that have united entire regions.
The former accuse the latter of prolonging a cruel history, the latter reproach the former for building a future without roots.
The confrontation is not political - the cleavage crosses all the parties.
Nor is it social - bullfighting aficionados come from all walks of life.
He is first…
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