By: Tom Hargrove | PlanetRice.net November 26, 2001
MONTPELLIER, FRANCE--The state prosecutor requested on Nov. 23 that militant farmer Jose Bove be sentenced to 8 months in prison for ripping up a genetically modified rice field at a test laboratory.
The fiery French sheep farmer and founder of the left-wing farmers' union Paysanne admitted in an appeals court that he destroyed the crops in June 1999, but only "because farmers, the people, and politicians all oppose genetically modified foods," the Associated Press reported.
He said that he did nothing wrong tearing up the rice plants and will continue to destroy GM crops.
Bove and two others were convicted in March for destroying more than 1,000 rice plants in a greenhouse operated by CIRAD, an international agricultural research sponsored by the French government near Montpellier, in southern France. All three appealed.
The flamboyant Jose Bove--who sports a colorful walrus moustache like the French comic hero Asterix--became a rallying figure for anti-globalization efforts around the world after leading the ransacking of a French McDonalds restaurant in 1999.
Bove was given a 10-month suspended sentence in March and he and two other defendants were ordered to pay a fine of 600,000 francs (US$83,232) to CIRAD.
Bove has been involved in the destruction of GM maize, and also helped destroy 3 hectares of GM soybeans at a Monsanto experimental farm in Brazil. He has demanded a complete ban on GM crops in France and threatened to begin uprooting test fields across the country if the government does not stop GM tests, PlanetRice reported in August.
Plan to sail into WTO talks in Qatar scuttled Bove helped conceive an aborted plan to sail six boats loaded with anti-globalization activists into Doha, Qatar, to protest the World Trade Organization meeting there, the Washington Post reported on Nov. 12.
The plan was scrapped after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon because the protesters were loath to risk being associated in the public mind with Osama bin Laden and his followers. The Post reported "awkward divisions between the anti-globalization forces and the governments of poor nations whose interests the activists purport to champion."
Food safety is an example. Like many Europeans, Bove wants WTO rules changed so that countries can more aggressively restrict imports of meat, grain, fruit, and vegetables for health reasons. The restrictions would stem from products having been genetically modified or treated with hormones. "The people who want to put a product on the market ought to have to show that the product is safe," Bove said. "For the moment, it's the country refusing to import a product that must show the product is bad. We have to reverse that."
Bove's view draws vehement criticism from officials of developing nations, the Post reported.
Officials fear the EU, would use health concerns as an excuse to keep their farm products out of Europe, thus protecting the region's farmers. Judge calls rice destruction "premeditated" Prosecutor Jean-Claude Plantard said on Nov. 23 that Bove's destruction of the rice plants was "a premeditated act," that Bove had repeatedly committed offenses, and that his arguments were irrelevant in the eyes of the law.
"Political discourses on GM are not relevant in court. Every breach of public order must be punished, as the law requires, whether they have been committed by Bove or anyone else," Plantard said.
The prosecutor requested a 6-month prison sentence for Rene Riesel, one of the three defendants, who has since severed his ties from the anti-GM activists. Riesel, who is now a local official in the Lozere region of southern France, stormed out of the courtroom Thursday, saying he was "tired of hearing the same speech by Bove." But Plantard, angered by Riesel's failure to show up in court Friday, said he "should assume responsibility" for the destruction. "The squabbles between him and Bove do not concern us," he said.
Plantard recommended a suspended prison sentence for the third defendant, Dominique Soullier, also a local official in the nearby Herault region. The prosecutor said the judge could decide the appropriate suspended term. It is not clear when the verdict will be rendered, but some speculate it will be on Dec. 20.
Damage in the GM rice attack Bove proudly admitted to spearheading the 1999 CIRAD GM rice, PlanetRice reported last March. "The justice system has not understood a thing about the dangers that face us all," he said. CIRAD called the French radical's protest "misguided" and said that it provides an unbiased scientific view on GM foods, plus an alternative to research by multinational companies. CIRAD lawyers said the rice destruction caused 4 million francs (US$550,000) of damage.
"This technology has just been thrown together," Bove told reporters outside the court. "Scientists know only 1% of the functioning of genes in organisms and they are imposing technologies today with no certainties, no guarantees. "Unfortunately, sometimes you have to commit illegal actions to bring matters to public consciousness," Bove told reporters in Montpellier.
Criminal, or agricultural Robin Hood?
Many Europeans consider Bove today's agricultural Robin Hood. The radical French farmer is fluent in English, initially learned during his first 7 years spend in the United States where his parents studied biochemistry at the University of California at Berkeley. English skills have helped Bove preach his message internationally. Time magazine published a colorful description of Bove's 1999 "commando attack" on McDonald's: "Armed with crowbars, sledgehammers, wrenches, and screwdrivers, these crusaders for the French way of life dismantled the fast-food franchise.
"The broader battle cry of these rural Robin Hoods is their rejection of 'la mal-bouffe'--lousy food, as symbolized by the famous American burger chain." Carted off in handcuffs, Bove spent 20 days in prison and emerged as one of France's most popular heroes. Soon he was giving countless TV and newspaper interviews and crisscrossing the country to address admiring groups of farmers, consumers, and ecologists. "The judge did us a great service by throwing me in jail," Bove said. "We couldn't have asked for better publicity."By: Tom Hargrove:
