France grants bullfighting cultural heritage status

Think bullfighting, think Spain - right?

Well not quite. The controversial blood sport is also popular in parts of southern France.

And France has become the first country in the world to recognise bullfighting as part of its cultural heritage.

A bull and a raseteur at the 75th Cocarde d'Or, Arles, France 2006, from Wikipedia, author JialiangGao

As the French daily Libération reports on Friday the ministry of culture announced that bullfighting had been "identified as an 'intangible cultural heritage' giving it the same status as tarte tatin (an upside-down apple tart), fest-noz (a traditional Breton night festival), Aubusson tapestry and Grasse perfumers."

Its inclusion comes as part of France's obligation as a signatory to the 2003 Unesco Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

But as the ministry also stressed the decision did not constitute "any form of protection, promotion or special moral bond" and "there was no intention to propose bullfighting for inclusion on Unesco's Intangible Heritage list," as had been the case for French gastronomy which was awarded that status last year.

But opponents of bullfighting were quick to condemn the announcement.

"Frankly I find the decision appalling," Claire Starozinski, the founder and president of l'Alliance anti-corrida, told the regional daily Midi Libre.

"At first I wondered how a ministry in a country which promotes 'enlightenment' could also encourage such a barbaric tradition," she continued.

"On reflection though I don't see it as protecting bullfighting, but if we're ready to give intangible cultural heritage status to popular movements then why not also include rave parties?"

Others critics were less measured in their obvious disgust; among them the former actress, model and singer and not animal rights activist, Brigitte Bardot.

"Including bullfighting on the list of France's cultural heritage is a huge mistake (Bardot used stronger language)," she wrote in an open letter to the minister of culture Frédéric Mitterand on the Brigitte Bardot Foundation website.

"I'm shocked because such a bloody and barbaric activity has nothing to do with French culture," she said.

The news came on the eve of opening of the five-day Féria De Los Ninos in the southern city of Arles.

And locals seemed delighted at the move.

"Bullfighting is part of our tradition and out heritage," Alain Lartigue, organiser of the festival told BFM TV.

"We don't want in any way to 'oblige' people to come to watch bullfighting but simply to respect the liberty of those who do want to come to do so."



A bloodsport of historic, economic and cultural importance or a barbaric, shameful and contemptible activity? French singer-songwriter Francis Cabrel sums it up best perhaps in his 1994 song La corrida.

French Politicians call for ban on bullfighting

Two French politicians from opposing parties are to present a bill to parliament outlawing bullfighting in France and they already have the support of a dozen other parliamentarians from across the political spectrum.

A bull and a raseteur at the 75th Cocarde d'Or, Arles, France 2006, from Wikipedia, author JialiangGao

On Wednesday Muriel Marland-Militello from the ruling centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP), and Geneviève Gaillard, from the opposition Socialist party, held a joint press conference in what the left-of-centre daily Libération said was "a rare show of cross-party solidarity."

"It's a battle supported by a large majority of the French," maintained Marland-Militello.

"We both want to show that there are times when it's possible to overcome political divisions for noble causes."

Marland-Militello and Gaillard have joined forces to stop what they call "barbaric spectacles" and they want a law to be passed which would ban corridas and cock fighting, making both practices punishable with a maximum two-year prison sentence and €30,000 fine.

Marland-Militello has tried once before in 2004 to have a bill introduced into parliament to ban bullfighting, but it failed and some of her fellow UMP colleagues, supporters of the practice, wanted her expelled from the party, according to the weekly news magazine, Le Point.

The new bill has been co-signed by 12 other parliamentarians from across the political spectrum, including UMP member Jean-Marc Roubaud from the département of Gard which has a long history of bullfighting.

"Bullfighting is an anachronism," Roubaud is quoted as saying.

"In an already extremely violent world, simply adding to the brutality is shameful."

Bullfighting in France is confined to the south of the country with, according to Le Point, around 75 towns and villages organising corridas every year.

The best known are in the towns of Nîmes, Arles, Béziers, Bayonne and Dax, says the magazine, with supporters insisting that both history and economics play an important part in maintaining the tradition.

Although cockfighting is a crime in most of the country, there is an loophole in the law which allows it in areas where it has remained an "uninterrupted tradition" such as in the Nord-Pas de Calais region of northern France.