The Promoting Commission of the Popular Legislative Initiative (ILP) ‘It’s Not My Culture’ and the International Anti-Bullfighting Network have called a demonstration this Monday, November 17 at 11:30 a.m. in front of the Congress of Deputies in Madrid to denounce the final abstention of the PSOE in the ILP vote for the abolition of bullfighting. This decision, with 169 votes against, 57 in favor and 118 abstentions, blocked the parliamentary debate on the proposal, an act that the promoter has branded as “betrayal” by the party.
According to the organization, the protest takes place to demand that the PSOE rectify its “serious error” and to demand that the necessary mechanisms be enabled for the ILP to be debated in Parliament. “The will of the majority cannot be hijacked by internal partisan calculations“, they have asserted.
“This turn by the PSOE, which had initially defended the procedure as coming from the citizens in an essentially democratic act, It meant a factual alignment with the PP, VOX and UPN“, they have assured from the commission in the call for the protest, where they have also emphasized that the socialist party prioritized “not showing a fractured party in the face of the upcoming electoral events in Andalusia, Aragon, Extremadura and Castilla y León, instead of being consistent with the democratic spirit that they claim to defend“.
For her part, the spokesperson for the International Anti-Bullfighting Network has criticized that “with his decision, the PSOE has chosen to protect a dying industry rather than lead the change towards a compassionate cultureas is already happening at the international level”, while regretting that it is “an anachronistic position that leaves Spain at the bottom of Europe“.
“While countries like Colombia have put an end to bullfighting in their territory and Mexico bans it in key states and takes it to the Supreme Court to declare it illegal, and while nations like Ecuador and Portugal protect minors from its violence, The Spanish State prefers to finance it with public money“, the organization emphasized in the statement.
The ILP ‘It is not my culture’ was born with the aim of repealing Law 18/2013, which declares bullfighting cultural heritage“a status that prevents the autonomous communities and municipalities from advancing towards cultural models more in line with the current values of society”, as stated by the promoting commission.