José Bové

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José Bové
Bové in 2009
Personal details
Born
Joseph Bové

(1953-06-11) 11 June 1953 (age 70)
Talence, France
Alma materBordeaux Montaigne University
OccupationFarmer, politician, syndicalist

Joseph "José" Bové (born 11 June 1953) is a French farmer,

2014–2019
.

Early life

José Bové (Paris, May 2005)

José Bové was born in Talence, near Bordeaux, but was raised in many different places. As a child he lived both inside and outside France, including the United States. Bové speaks English fluently, as his parents moved with him to Berkeley, California when he was three. They were invited to be researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

After they returned to France, they lived in Paris. Bové attended a

Jesuit secondary school near Paris (from which he was expelled for being "faithless"). While at university, he associated with anarchists and pacifists. When asked to serve in the army, he refused as a conscientious objector. While waiting for his court appeal, he went into hiding and worked in a farm.[2]

Anti-military activist

In 1976, Bové joined the

sheep farmers and changed the ecology of the area. He joined a band of peasants occupying the threatened territory and illegally building a sheep barn. The protest eventually succeeded, and the government cancelled the military plan. As a result of that experience, Bové became a sheep farmer there, producing Roquefort cheese
.

Agricultural unionist

Bové continued both as a farmer and an activist. In 1987, he formed the

]

Bové and the Confédération gained national and international attention in 1999 by dismantling a McDonald's franchise that was under construction in Millau (Aveyron).[3] Considered by his supporters to be non-violent, Bové designed this protest against new US restrictions on importing Roquefort cheese and other products, which were harming the farmers who live from these products, and to raise awareness about McDonald's' use of hormone-treated beef. Bové was sentenced to three months' imprisonment for his role; he was imprisoned for 44 days and released early on 1 August 2002.

Later, the

Roquefort cheese, in retaliation.[4]

Alter-globalization activist

José Bové at an anti-GMO protest in March 2006

During an interview by Lynn Jeffress for Z magazine in June 2001[citation needed], Bové explained why he destroyed the McDonald's, saying: "This is a fight against free trade global capitalism. It's about the logic of a certain economic system, not an American system. It can be a struggle against any country, this one or that one."[5] Bové has participated in numerous

anti-globalization movements. In June 1997 he took part in the first anti-GM mowing. The same year that he took part in destruction of the McDonald's, he attended the protests in Seattle against the World Trade Organization meeting. Bové became a figure of anti-globalization.[6]

Since then, he has redoubled his efforts in the world peasant and

In 2001 Bové took part in a major action destroying

EU Constitution
; the proposal was defeated.

Controversies

In April 2002 Bové was at the head of an activist group arriving in the

Yassir Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah, at the time besieged by Israeli forces. Bové joined with members of the newly established International Solidarity Movement (ISM
), who were acting as "human shields" at the Palestinian Presidential Compound so as to deter the army from breaking in.

After spending a day in the besieged headquarters, Bové came out and was promptly arrested and deported by Israeli police. Upon his return to France, he was met by dozens of pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian demonstrators, who scuffled briefly at Paris' Orly Airport.

In an interview in 2002 with TV channel Canal Plus, Bové said he believed that the wave of attacks against French synagogues was being either arranged or fabricated by Mossad (the Israeli secret service). "Who profits from the crime?" Bové asked. "The Israeli government and its secret services have an interest in creating a certain psychosis, in making believe that there is a climate of antisemitism in France, in order to distract attention from what they are doing."[9] Considerable outrage was expressed after his remarks, and he later apologized for the statement.[10] His visit to Arafat was denounced in a speech by the head of France's CRIF, an umbrella group for Jewish organisations.[11]

Bové has intervened to support the movements of the

terrorist
by both the European Union and the United States State Department.

Civil disobedience

In 1976, Bové was sentenced and served three weeks of imprisonment for having destroyed documents belonging to the military, when opposing extension of Larzac military camp.[12]

In 2002, Bové was sentenced to three months' imprisonment for his role in the 1999 destruction of a McDonald's franchise in Millau, Aveyron. He served 44 days and was released on 1 August 2002.

On 22 June 2003 Bové began serving a sentence of ten months for the destruction of transgenic crops.

ATTAC protested and called for him to be freed. A general pardon of prisoners issued for Bastille Day, together with an individual action in his case by President Jacques Chirac, reduced the sentence to seven months. Both supporters and opponents expressed dissatisfaction with the Presidential pardon, saying that it was entirely inadequate and wholly unjustified, respectively. On 15 November 2005 the Toulouse court of appeals sentenced Bové to 4 months in jail for having destroyed genetically engineered corn from a field. Other defendants, such as Noël Mamère, got suspended sentences.[13]

In February 2006, Bové was stopped at entry by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at New York's JFK Airport. He was traveling to Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations for events sponsored by Cornell's Global Labor Institute. According to Bové, the Customs agents told him he was "ineligible" to enter the U.S. due to his past prosecutions for "moral crimes." After being detained for several hours, Bové was placed on an Air France flight to Paris.[3]

On 11 October 2016, Bové was denied entry to Canada because of his convictions related to protests, notably against McDonald's.[14] He was subsequently allowed to stay in the country for seven days.[15]

Political life

15 April 2007 electoral meeting in Paris

Following an appeal from his supporters, who gathered 40,000 signatures, in January 2007 Bové announced he would run as a candidate that year in the 2007 French presidential election. He formally declared on 1 February and in six weeks gained the required 500 signatures from elected officials necessary to be a candidate. He declared he was fighting for "the people that have no voice." He was trying to promote unity on the radical left and aiming to defeat the right and the far right, which had recently gained popularity. He was endorsed by actress Juliette Binoche, who has international renown.[16] On 19 March Bové announced that he had secured the support necessary to reach the second stage, to be listed on the published ballot, alongside 11 other contenders. On the first round of the presidential election, Bové scored 1.32% of the popular vote (483,008 votes).[17]

Following the French presidential elections, Bové became more closely associated with

proportional electoral system.[18] He was re-elected at the 2014 European Parliament election
.

Publications

In English translation

  • The Food for the Future: Agriculture for a Global Age (2005), with Francois Dufour. (translated by Anna De Casparis)
  • A Movement of Movements: Is Another World Really Possible? (2004), edited by Tom Mertes
  • The World Is Not for Sale: Farmers Against Junk Food (2001), with Francois Dufour. (translated by Anna De Casparis)

In French

See also

References

  1. ^ "No shocks as 12 candidates qualify for French vote". Reuters. 2007-03-20.
  2. ^ "De Berkeley à l'Aveyron - Ép. 1/5 - José Bové, l'homo altermondialicus, l'homme de tous les contre-pieds".
  3. ^ a b "Jose Bove's Not Welcome in Bush's USA". The Nation. 9 February 2006. Retrieved 2023-08-26.
  4. ^ Crumley, Bruce (16 January 2009). "France Fumes Over US Roquefort Tax". Time. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  5. ^ "A World Struggle Is Underway". thirdworldtraveler.com. Retrieved 2001-06-13.
  6. ^ "José Bové". www.ecolopedia.fr. 10 August 2015.
  7. ^ Jose Bove, Le monde n'est pas une marchandise
  8. ^ "ATTAC founding members" (in French). Archived from the original on 2011-04-12. Retrieved 2012-05-21.
  9. ^ "("Liberte, Egalite, Judeophobie")". Aijac.org.au. Archived from the original on 2011-05-16. Retrieved 2010-06-13.
  10. ^ "Fin de campagne". Lexpress.fr. 2004-02-27. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2010-06-13.
  11. ^ "1 "Report of speech by Roger Cukierman, head of CRIF"". Haaretz.com. Reuters. Retrieved 2010-06-13.
  12. ^ "Biographie José Bové". Le Point (in French). Archived from the original on 2008-01-04. Retrieved 2007-03-20.
  13. ^ e-TF1. "Infos en direct et en vidéo, l'actualité en temps réel - tf1.fr". News.tf1.fr. Retrieved 2010-06-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)[permanent dead link]
  14. ^ Lortie, Marie-Claude; Perron, Louis-Samuel. "Le député européen José Bové interdit d'entrer au Canada". La Presse (in Canadian French). Retrieved 12 October 2016.
  15. ^ Arsenault, Julien. "José Bové pourra rester au Canada sept jours". La Presse (in Canadian French). Retrieved 12 October 2016.
  16. Novopress. Rivarol (magazine). April 6, 2007.[permanent dead link
    ]
  17. ^ BBC News articles, 1 February and 19 March 2007
  18. ^ "Sud-Ouest: José Bové élu - Toute l'actu sur Lejdd.fr". Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2009-06-08.

External links

Media related to José Bové at Wikimedia Commons