Bullfighting festival axed after bulls named Feminist, Nigerian slain

The Spanish city of Gijón has cancelled its age-old bullfighting festival, claiming that it crosses various lines. This comes after two of the bulls slain earlier this week were named ‘Feminist’ and ‘Nigerian’.

“The bullfighting festival is over,” the city’s Socialist mayor, Ana González, told reporters. “They have crossed various lines … A city that believes in equality between men and women, that believes in integration, that believes in open doors for everyone cannot allow these sorts of things to happen.”

The Socialist party had earlier during one of its congresses had planned to cancel the 133-year-old Begoña bullfighting festival, citing growing opposition among the city’s residents. These plans were accelerated after it appeared that bullfighting was being “used to display an ideology contrary to human rights”, said González on Wednesday.

“The current contract with festival organisers would not be extended nor would the city’s bullring be leased for the event, meaning a loss of €50,000 (£43,000) in annual income for the city, ” she added.

Proponents of bullfighting hit back, arguing the controversy stemmed from a misunderstanding of how bulls are named. 

“Aimed at ensuring the traceability of the bulls, the protocol sees bulls given the names of their mothers,” The Unión de Criadores de Toros de Lidia said in a statement. The bulls from this past weekend were “descended from the cows ‘Feminist’ and ‘Nigerian’, both acquired by the rancher in 1986, with a lineage of more than 35 years and more than four generations, far from any social and political context,” it added.

Others said there was little deeper meaning to the names given to the bulls. Even so, “names changes in bullfighting are not without precedent; at a festival held shortly after Spain’s civil war came to an end in 1939 one of the bull’s names was changed from “Communist” to “Mirador” amid concerns over offending sensibilities,” noted newspaper El País.

The conservative People’s party in Gijón is seeking ways to challenge the Mayor’s decision. “From the People’s party we’re going to be absolutely against anyone who wants to take away freedoms,” said the party’s Pablo González.  He promised to hold the city’s “best bullfighting festival for decades”, if elected during the elections scheduled for two years later. 

Animal rights campaigners as well as opposition parties on the left welcomed the mayor’s decision. Journalist Anita Botwin, noted the irony of how the polarising festival met its end. “That a feminist bull put an end to the bullfighting festival in Gijón is poetic justice,” she tweeted.