its good to be free...Bove' sent back to france

[Guest guest]

Activist French farmer Bove denied entry to US

Thu Feb 9, 2006 1:38 PM EST

 

 

 

By Christian Wiessner

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - French farmer Jose Bove, a prominent protester

against globalization and junk food, said on Thursday he was denied

entry to the United States and speculated large corporations were

behind the move.

 

Bove told Reuters he arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy

International Airport with a valid U.S. entry visa on Wednesday

afternoon but was detained for several hours and later returned to

Paris.

 

" They took my passport from me and said 'You're not allowed to come in

for all the things you've done over the years, for speaking out, " ' Bove

said from France in a telephone interview.

 

He had been scheduled to speak Thursday and Friday in New York at an

international conference of academics and trade unionists. Organizers

of the conference, on globalization and labor, included Cornell

University's Global Labor Institute.

 

 

Bove said he was surprised at being turned back because he has visited

the United States several times, most recently in 2005.

 

The Frenchman rose to fame in the late 1990s for denouncing

agricultural free trade and genetically-modified food, and spent six

weeks in jail in early 2003 for smashing up a McDonald's restaurant. He

was sentenced to four months in prison in November for destroying a

field of genetically modified corn in southern France.

 

A conference spokesman said calls to the U.S. Immigration Department

and to the Department of Homeland Security by the group and U.S. Sen.

Hillary Clinton's office failed to secure an explanation for Bove's

expulsion.

 

Dr. Sean Sweeney, director of Cornell's labor institute, told the

conference's opening session, " This speaks volumes about where the

United States is in terms of free speech. "

 

 

On Friday, Bove was to deliver an address titled " The Struggle Against

Monsanto in Europe. " U.S.-based Monsanto Co. is a major manufacturer of

genetically modified seeds.

 

When asked why he felt he was denied entry to the United States, Bove

told Reuters, " I think the big companies that want globalization do not

want discussions that are not in favor of globalization and free

trade. "

 

Later, he told the conference via telephone, " It was very clear that

they wanted to tell me that I was not allowed to come inside the U.S.

to make links with people in the U.S. who are fighting against

globalization. "

 

In December, Hong Kong denied Bove entry to attend a World Trade

Organization meeting.

 

 

" I challenge anyone to live on my salary " [$158,000 a year].

Tom Delay