About a week ago animal rights activists celebrated a win after the Mexico City Congress voted on what they call a ban on “violent bullfights.” The “ban” doesn’t end bullfights, not even in Mexico City alone, but it bans the killing of bulls inside and outside the ring, as well as stabbing the bulls with swords or spears. “Violence-free” does not mean suffering-free, as bulls will still be subjected to every other horror during bullfights.

Having said that, this is a positive step, but it is not a victory. It is not an abolition of an industry, and it is not even a ban on an industry, but only somewhat softening (and not even in an entire country but in one city alone), and of only one type of animal abuse in the entertainment industry.
And it is also important to recall that bullfighting was already suspended in Mexico City in 2022 by a judge, but that decision was overturned by the Supreme Court of Justice in the end of 2023.

So, in the big picture, it is not a victory but rather another indication that the animals, and the movement that tries to protect the animals, are losing.
Even if it was a real victory in the sense of abolishing an entire exploitative entertainment industry, it is marginal compared to the food industry. If in the year 2025 the animal liberation movement is excited and views not even an end but a partial ban, of something like bullfights, and in one city alone, a win, we are losing hugely. This is of course not a reason to give up, but a reason to choose another route to try ending all the suffering.