Joseph "José" Bové (born 11 June 1953) is a French farmer, labor leader and alter-globalization activist, and spokesman for Via Campesina.

In opposition to many companies in the profit-oriented agro-industry, Bové is a prominent opponent of genetically modified organisms (GMO).

In 1995 he joined Greenpeace on their ship, the Rainbow Warrior, in a voyage to protest nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific Ocean.

[citation needed] Bové and the Confédération gained national and international attention in 1999 by dismantling a McDonald's franchise that was under construction in Millau (Aveyron).

After the EU refused to comply and remove the restrictions, the United States placed punitive tariffs on the importation of certain European goods, including Roquefort cheese, in retaliation.

[4] 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.

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 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.

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).

"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.

[10] His visit to Arafat was denounced in a speech by the head of France's CRIF, an umbrella group for Jewish organisations.

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.

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.

[15] 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.

[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.