Killing a bull

Over the past couple of weeks there's been a big public debate (or is it really a media debate?) about a Zulu ritual called ukweshwama, in which a newly accredited regiment of some forty young men are obliged to kill an adult bull with their bare hands. Exactly how they did this was a bit murky, as the ceremony is sacred and so external observers are not allowed. However, Animal Rights Africa recently managed to get hold of some details and some photos, which showed that the bull is treated pretty badly for a while (eyes gouged, tongue ripped out, genitals manhandled, etc.) before eventually having its neck broken; ARA then presented a legal action in a SA High Court to have the ceremony banned. The legal action failed, because the judge accepted the evidence of the Zulus themselves that the bull didn't suffer, much, and their assertion that the ritual was essential to fulfill a cultural requirement, in which the power of the bull is transfered to the neo-warriors and then to the Zulu monarch, King Goodwill Zwelithini (although this reasoning is undermined a bit by the fact that the ritual had fallen into disuse and has recently been revived).

It's difficult to work out what to think about all of this; on the one hand a "modern" "liberal" (and I sometimes like to think I'm one) will decry needless cruelty to animals - it's a clear case, even for meat eaters - we like to think the steak in front of us didn't suffer too much on its way to our plate. On the other hand it also seems right to respect the religions and traditions of others, and it's somehow patronising to assume that "progressive" values are correct and those of traditionalists are wrong. Moreover, as so often in SA, the debate is mixed up with race issues - Zulus weren't allowed to practise their traditions under colonial and then apartheid rule, so if the new South Africa means freedom and tolerance for all cultures, then who is anybody to dictate moral standards to anyone else?

However, there seems to be a line beyond which most people would not accept a cultural practice just because it's a tradition - infibulation, for example, is pretty certainly beyond that line for the vast majority of the human race in the twenty-first century. Perhaps bull-baiting should be over the line too - and perhaps as a European I should be talking to the Spaniards I know about this very issue.