José Bové
Encyclopedia
Talence
Talence is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.It is the third-largest suburb of the city of Bordeaux, and is adjacent to it on the south side...
, Gironde
Gironde
For the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...
) is a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
farmer and syndicalist
Syndicalism
Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and an alternative to state socialism, which uses federations of collectivised trade unions or industrial unions...
, member of the alter-globalization movement, and spokesman for Via Campesina
Via Campesina
Via Campesina describes itself as "an international movement which coordinates peasant organizations of small and middle-scale producers, agricultural workers, rural women, and indigenous communities from Asia, Africa, America, and Europe"...
. He was one of the twelve official candidates in the 2007 French presidential election
French presidential election, 2007
The 2007 French presidential election, the ninth of the Fifth French Republic was held to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France for a five-year term.The winner, decided on 5 and 6 May 2007, was Nicolas Sarkozy...
. On 7 June 2009, he was elected to the European Parliament as a member of Europe Écologie
Europe Écologie
Europe Écologie was a French electoral coalition created for the 2009 European elections composed of The Greens and other ecologists and regionalists....
, a coalition of French environmentalist political parties.
Early life
Talence
Talence is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.It is the third-largest suburb of the city of Bordeaux, and is adjacent to it on the south side...
, near Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, but raised in many different places, both inside and outside France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, including the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Bové speaks English fluently, having followed his parents to Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
at the age of three, when they were invited to be researchers at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
.
Bové attended a Jesuit secondary school near Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(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 fled France.
Anti-military activist
In 1976 Bové joined a movement protesting the proposed expansion of a military campMilitary camp
A military camp or bivouac is a semi-permanent facility for the lodging of an army. Camps are erected when a military force travels away from a major installation or fort during training or operations, and often have the form of large campsites. In the Roman era the military camp had highly...
on the Larzac
Larzac
The Causse du Larzac is a limestone karst plateau in the south of the Massif Central, France, situated between Millau and Lodève...
plateau
Plateau
In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...
, which would have displaced sheep farmers
Sheep husbandry
Sheep husbandry is a subcategory of animal husbandry specifically dealing with the raising and breeding of domestic sheep. Sheep farming is primarily based on raising lambs for meat, or raising sheep for wool. Sheep may also be raised for milk or to sell to other farmers.-Shelter and...
. He joined a band of peasants occupying the threatened territory and illegally building a sheep barn
Barn
A barn is an agricultural building used for storage and as a covered workplace. It may sometimes be used to house livestock or to store farming vehicles and equipment...
. The protest eventually succeeded and the military plan was cancelled. As a result of that experience he became a sheep farmer, producing Roquefort cheese on the Larzac
Larzac
The Causse du Larzac is a limestone karst plateau in the south of the Massif Central, France, situated between Millau and Lodève...
.
Agricultural unionist
Bové remained a farmer and an activist. In 1987, he formed the Confédération Paysanne, an agricultural union that places its highest political values on humans and the environment, promoting organic farmingOrganic farming
Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm...
. In opposition to many companies in the profit-oriented agro-industry, Bové is a prominent opponent of genetically modified organism
Genetically modified organism
A genetically modified organism or genetically engineered organism is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. These techniques, generally known as recombinant DNA technology, use DNA molecules from different sources, which are combined into one...
s. In 1995, he joined Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
on their ship, the Rainbow Warrior
Rainbow Warrior (1978)
The Rainbow Warrior was a former UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food trawler later purchased by the environmental organisation Greenpeace...
, in opposition to nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
s testing in the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. He also has been part of the anarchist organization Alternative Libertaire
Alternative libertaire
Alternative libertaire is a French anarchist organization formed in 1991 which publishes a monthly magazine, actively participates in a variety of social movements, and is a participant in the Anarkismo.net project...
.
The event which brought Bové and the Confédération to the foreground was the wilful violent destruction of a McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
franchise in Millau
Millau
Millau is a commune in the Aveyron department in southern France. It is located at the confluence of the Tarn and Dourbie rivers.-History:...
(Aveyron
Aveyron
Aveyron is a département in southern France named after the Aveyron River.- History :Aveyron is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790....
), in 1999. Considered by his supporters to be non-violent, the act was designed as a reaction to the US restrictions on the importation of Roquefort cheese and other products, which were harming the peasants 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 in the incident; he was imprisoned for 44 days and released on August 1, 2002. His involvement in this incident garnered worldwide attention for himself and his causes.
Later, the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
imposed restrictions on importing hormone-treated beef (see Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement). However, the WTO, of which both the US and France are members, disallowed this restriction. After the EU refused to comply and remove the restrictions, the United States placed tariffs on the importation of certain European goods, including Roquefort cheese, as punishment. José Bové is a producer of this cheese.
In one of his books, Bové tells the story of how he successfully travelled to the United States with thirty kilograms of Roquefort in his luggage.
Alter-globalization activist
Food sovereignty
"Food sovereignty" is a term coined by members of Via Campesina in 1996 to refer to a policy framework advocated by a number of farmers, peasants, pastoralists, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, women, rural youth and environmental organizations, namely the claimed "right" of peoples to define their...
") that has tagged him as an "anti-globalization" activist, even though his supporters state that he is not against globalization per se, but for an alternative kind of globalization (alter-globalization
Alter-globalization
Alter-globalization is the name of a social movement that supports global cooperation and interaction, but which opposes the negative effects of economic globalization, feeling that it often works to the detriment of, or does not...
).
He was present at the protests at the 1999 World Trade Organization
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
meeting in Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. In 2001, he took part in a major action destroying genetically modified
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
crops in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.
He campaigned for a "No" vote in the French referendum on the EU Constitution in 2005 (the proposal was defeated).
Controversies
In April 2002, he was at the head of an activist group arriving in the West BankWest Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
to protest the massive Israeli Army operation conducted at that time that caused many civilian Palestinian casualties ("Operation Defensive Shield
Operation Defensive Shield
Operation Defensive Shield was a large-scale military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces in 2002, during the course of the Second Intifada. It was the largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War. The operation was an attempt by the Israeli army to stop the...
" in official Israeli terminology).
This culminated with the group entering Yassir Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah
Ramallah
Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...
, at the time besieged by Israeli forces. Bové joined with members of the then newly-established International Solidarity Movement
International Solidarity Movement
The International Solidarity Movement is an organization focused on assisting the Palestinian cause in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict using nonviolent protests. It was founded in 2001 by Ghassan Andoni, a Palestinian activist; Neta Golan, an Israeli activist; Huwaida Arraf, a...
(ISM
ISM
--ism :* -ism – a suffix, meaning adherence or following an ideology* Isms philosophical world views-ISM :ISM is an acronym of:*Idiopathic sclerosing mesenteritis*Imperial Service Medal*Incorporated Society of Musicians...
), who were at the time maintaining an ongoing presence at the Palestinian Presidential Compound as "human shields" to deter the army from breaking in.
After spending a day in the besieged headquarters, where he and the others in his group were very cordially received, Bové came out and was promptly arrested and deported by Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i police. Upon his return to France, dozens of pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian demonstrators scuffled briefly at Paris' Orly airport.
Subsequently, in an interview with TV channel Canal Plus, Bové stated that the wave of attacks against French synagogues then underway was being either arranged or fabricated by Mossad
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
(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." He later apologized for the statement. His visit to Arafat was denounced in a speech by the head of France's CRIF
CRIF
CRIF may refer to:* Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France* CRIF, the old name of the knowledge centre for the technology industry in Belgium, now called Sirris....
umbrella group for Jewish organisations.
Bové has also intervened to support the movements of the Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
ans and the Kanaks, the indigenous Melanesia
Melanesia
Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...
n people of New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
. On April 23, 2004, Jose Bové announced that he would join the People's Congress of Kurdistan (Kongra-Gel), a group which is on the European Union's and United States State Department's lists of terrorist groups.
He actively fights for suppression of tshale gas extraction in Poland. It may be seen as support of the russian energy influence policy.
Criminal convictions
In 1976, Bové was sentenced and served three weeks of imprisonment for having destroyed documents belonging to the military, as a way to oppose the extension of LarzacLarzac
The Causse du Larzac is a limestone karst plateau in the south of the Massif Central, France, situated between Millau and Lodève...
military camp.
In 2002, Bové was sentenced to three months' imprisonment for his role in the wilful violent destruction of a McDonald's franchise in Millau, Aveyron, in 1999. He was imprisoned for 44 days and released on August 1, 2002.
On June 22, 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 for Bastille Day
Bastille Day
Bastille Day is the name given in English-speaking countries to the French National Day, which is celebrated on 14 July of each year. In France, it is formally called La Fête Nationale and commonly le quatorze juillet...
, plus an individual action by President Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
, reduced the sentence to seven months. Supporters and opponents expressed dissatisfaction with the Presidential pardon on the grounds that it was entirely inadequate and wholly unjustified, respectively. On November 15, 2005, the Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
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
Noël Mamère
Noël Mamère is a French singer, cyclist and politician.He rose to fame in the 1980s as a TV entertainer, in particular on Antenne 2....
, got suspended sentences.
In February, 2006, Bové was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is a federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security charged with regulating and facilitating international trade, collecting import duties, and enforcing U.S. regulations, including trade, customs and immigration. CBP is the...
agents at New York's JFK Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North...
as he arrived en route to Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
'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. as the result of his past prosecutions for "moral crimes". After being detained for several hours, Bové was placed on an Air France
Air France
Air France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...
flight to Paris.
Presidential run
Following an appeal from his supporters who got 40,000 signatures, in January 2007, Bové announced he would run in the 2007 French presidential electionFrench presidential election, 2007
The 2007 French presidential election, the ninth of the Fifth French Republic was held to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France for a five-year term.The winner, decided on 5 and 6 May 2007, was Nicolas Sarkozy...
. He formally declared on February 1 and managed in six weeks to obtain the 500 signatures from elected officials necessary for being a candidate. He declared he was fighting for "the people that have no voice". He considered himself to be defending the need for unity on the radical left and aiming to defeat the right and the far right, which had recently gained popularity. He was endorsed by internationally-renowned actress Juliette Binoche
Juliette Binoche
Juliette Binoche is a French actress, artist and dancer. She has appeared in more than 40 feature films, been recipient of numerous international accolades, is a published author and has appeared on stage across the world. Coming from an artistic background, she began taking acting lessons during...
. On March 19, it was announced that he had secured the support necessary to reach the second stage, alongside 11 other contenders. On the first round of the presidential election, Bové scored 1.32% of the popular vote (483,008 votes).
Election to European Parliament, 2009
Following the French presidential elections, Bové became more closely associated with Europe ÉcologieEurope Écologie
Europe Écologie was a French electoral coalition created for the 2009 European elections composed of The Greens and other ecologists and regionalists....
, a coalition of French environmentalist political parties including the Green Party
The Greens (France)
The Greens were a Green political party to the centre-left of the political spectrum in France. They had officially been in existence since 1984, but their spiritual roots could be traced as far back as René Dumont’s candidacy for the presidency in 1974...
. In the elections for European Parliament, he headed the list of candidates for the South-West constituency. On 7 June 2009, he was elected to the European Parliament, as Europe Ecologie garnered over 16% of the vote in a proportional election system.
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
- Nous, Paysans (2000) with Gilles Luneau
- Le Monde n'est pas une marchandise ; des paysans contre la malbouffe (2001) with François Dufour and Gilles Luneau
- Rural - Chronique d'une collision politique (2001) with Étienne Davodeau
- Retour de Palestine (2002)
- Paysan du Monde (2002) with Gilles Luneau
- La Confédération paysanne (2003) with Yves Manguy
- Pour la désobéissance civique (2004) with Gilles Luneau