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BAY AREA PROTEST TO DEMAND RELEASE OF JOSE BOVE, July 15!
Food First and the National Family Farm Coalition urge you to join in a Day of Action Tuesday for the immediate release of French farmer leader Jose Bove. Celebrate the day after Bastille Day on July 15th by organizing a protest at your local French embassy or consulate.
Act Now -- on July 15, the the day after Bastille Day!
Day of Action to Free Jose Bove
Food First (http://www.foodfirst.org) and the National Family Farm Coalition (http://www.nffc.net/) urge you to join in a Day of Action for the immediate release of French farmer leader Jose Bove.
Celebrate the day after Bastille Day on July 15th by organizing a protest at your local French embassy or consulate.
Protest the Day after Bastille Day at 12:00 noon, outside your local French embassy or consulate and/or write or call your local French Ambassador/ Consul
In this email you will find:
1. Last minute news about Jose Bove
2. Background information on the International Day of Action this coming Tuesday July 15th, 2003
3. What is the connection with Bastille Day?
4. What else you can do?
1) Do you want to write a letter to Jose Bove?
2) Organize your own event or join one in your area
3) Take action: call, fax, write and or visit your local French ambassador/consul
5. French Consulates in the US
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Last minute news about his imprisonment
World farmer leader Jose Bove starts his second week in jail for anti-GMO protests in France. According to his lawyer, Francois Roux, who can visit him just twice a week, he is in a good shape in spite of the bad, isolated conditions of his incarceration. He must always be accompanied by one or two prison guards when he leaves his cell for the half-hour permitted per day. It seems that the authorities want him to have as few contacts as possible with other people inside the jail.
The French farmer federation Confederation Paysanne has set up an office in front of the prison gates. They receive more than 200 visitors a day who sign a petition on behalf of Jose Bove. There are demonstrations every day in France by activists demanding that the French President free the Confederation Paysanne's spokesperson.
Jose has been sentenced to 10 months in jail. He will not be out before the month of April 2004. As the European Union prepares to remove the de facto moratorium on GMOs, Jose needs strong international support more than ever.
Food First and the NFFC invite you to join the Urgent Call to Action for the Immediate Release of Jose Bove.
2. Background information on the International Day of Action this coming Tuesday July 15th, 2003
On July 15th, the day after Bastille Day, we are calling for human rights and environmental justice organizations and activists to join in an International Day of Action to free Jose Bove.
We are asking for organizations and people to:
Write a letter and/or call your country's French embassy or localconsulate
Organize or join a protest this coming Tuesday July 15th (BastilleDay)
Write a letter to Bove
BACKGROUND
On Sunday, June 22nd, heavily armed French police forced their way into the home of Jose Bove, tied him up and escorted him by helicopter to the nearby Villeneuve-les-Maguelone prison where he will serve out a 10-month sentence. Bove, a farmer near the village of Millau in southern France, long-time activist and key figure of the Confederation Paysanne, was convicted last November along with comrades Rene Riesel and Dominique Soullie for destroying two fields of genetically modified crops in June 1999 and a stock of genetically modified seeds in January of 1998. We are calling for the full pardon and immediate release of Bove in relation with Bastille Day (July 14th), a traditional day of amnesty in France.
The actions for which Bove is now serving time form part of a nearly three-decade-long history of principled stands and direct actions taken in the interests of small farmers like himself. During the 1970s in his native France, Bove and his wife helped to organize land occupations to prevent the expansion of military bases onto farmland in the Larzac plateau, and in 1976 he spent three weeks in prison for his role in the invasion of a military outpost. In 1987, he and colleagues established the Confederation Paysanne (CP), an organization composed of and for French small farmers and for their continued existence. The following year, Bove and the CP organized an event in Paris -- "Plowing the Champs Elysees" -- to protest EU farm policies. And, in a move that led to international fame and a six-week stay in prison, Bove organized and helped in the partial demolition of a half-constructed McDonald's in his hometown of Millau in 1999. On many occasions, he has also demonstrated his internationalism in defiance of governmental authority. For example in 2001, he and 1,000 Brazilian peasants uprooted three acres of Monsanto's genetically-modified soy in Rio Grande do Sul, and as a result he was deported. For his unflinching commitment to principles, solidarity with farmers around the world, and sometimes radical actions, Bove has been publicly condemned by officials, placed on trial, incarcerated (as recently as last year, for the McDonald's action), smeared by interest groups (see http://www.igreens.org.uk/make_jose_bove_serve_his_time.htm), and now imprisoned again. Yet he remains uncompromising as ever, refusing to ask for a pardon or any favors from the government that has on more than two occasions tried him for his "crimes". This is because in fact Bove's only "crime", in all of his actions, has been to defend the right of existence systematically denied to small farmers by governments everywhere, and to fight for the rights of consumers to have access to food that is adequate, culturally appropriate, and produced in a sustainable way. Bove's actions are a symbolic protest against the current system, in which transnational agribusiness and biotechnology corporations are given legal sanction and economic assistance by governments to dump cheap, genetically modified food onto markets, destroying the livelihoods of millions of farmers and leaving consumers with little choice over the food that they eat. His conviction and subsequent imprisonment is a victory for the interests of corporate agribusiness and the biotechnology industry, and a loss for consumers, the environment and small farmers. As Bove said at his trial in 1998:
"Yes, this action was illegal, but I lay claim to it because it was legitimate. I don't demand clemency, but justice. Either we have acted in everyone's interest and you will acquit us, or we have shaken the establishment and in that case you will punish us... There is no other issue."
3. What is the connection with Bastille Day?
First of all not on Bastille day because the French embassies and consulates are closed (oh well!) but the day after because Bastille Day is a national holiday in France. It is the celebration of the French Revolution and the beginning of a new form of government. The Bastille was a prison in France that the kings and queens often used to lock up the people who did not agree with their decisions. To many, it was a symbol of all the abuses committed by the kings and queens. So, on July 14, 1789, a large number of French citizens gathered together and stormed the Bastille.
The people in France celebrate the storming of the Bastille as the beginning of the French Revolution. Both Revolutions brought great changes. This is a celebration of historical dimensions where the power no longer resided in the King or Queen bur rather in the will of the people.
That is exactly what Jose Bove has done: he has acted in everyone's interest against the establishment so that power is switched back into the hands of the people!
4. What else can I do?
Do you want to write a letter to him? Jose Bove seems to be in good spirits but is nevertheless going through difficult times and he could always use some words of encouragement. We would greatly appreciate it if you take the time to write him in his jail.
His personal address is :
Jose Bove
No decrou 22377 Y
Bloc A 07
34753 Villeneuve-les-Maguelone
France
We remind you that he can only receive letters (no books, and no packages can enter into the prison).
ADD YOUR EVENT - GET ORGANIZED - LIST YOUR LOCAL AND NATIONAL EVENTS
Many local and international groups will be organizing demonstrations and acts of nonviolent resistance in solidarity with Jose Bove. We are also organizing a letter and calling campaign to the French government and ambassadors. For more information on embassies and consulates in the US, please see at the end of this email..
To suggest an event for the Food First Events Calendar <http://www.foodfirst.org/calendar/> , use the form at: http://www.foodfirst.org/calendar/suggest.php
CHECK FOR EVENTS IN YOUR AREA - GET INVOLVED - ATTEND AN ACTIVITY IN YOUR AREA
There are many activities going on around the world. Find out what activities are taking place near you. Contact a local group in your area for more information or organize one and let CPE know at cpe [at] cpefarmers.org.
TAKE ACTION: CALL, FAX, WRITE AND VISIT your local French Ambassador/Consul
Talking Points:
1) Jose Bove is a prisoner of conscience
2) He speaks for people everywhere in his concern over GMOs in our food supply
3) He speaks for family farmers everywhere in his concern over the policies that drive them off the land
4) He has been jailed for political reasons - in order to send a message to activists and farmers everywhere - and the message we send back is that his jailing is unjust and we demand his immediate release.
Or you can mail your state's French ambassador/ consul by writing your own letter with the talking points and/or you own opinion. Locate your local French consulate/ embassy for mailing below.
5. List of French Embassies and Consulates in the US
You can reach a French Representative at:
Embassy of France, United States
M. Jean-David Levitte
Ambassador
Embassy of France
4101 Reservoir Road, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Ph#: 202.944.6000
Fax: 202.944.6166
Consulate General of France, Atlanta
M. René-Serge Marty
Consul General of France
Prominence in Buckhead
3475 Piedmont Road NE, Ste 1840
Atlanta, Georgia 30305
Ph#: 404.495.1660
Fax: 404.495.1661
Consulate General of France, Boston
M. Thierry Vankerk-Hoven
Consul General of France
Park Square Building, Ste 750
31 Saint James Avenue
Boston, MA 02116
Ph#: (617) 542 73 74
Fax: (617) 542 80 54
Consulate General of France, Chicago
M. Dominique Decherf
Consul General of France
205 North Michigan Avenue, Ste 3700
Chicago, IL 60601
Ph#: 312.327.5200
Fax: 312.327.5201
Consulate General of France, Houston
M. Denis Simonneau
Consul General of France
777 Post Oak Blvd, Ste 600
Houston, TX 77056
Ph#: 713.572.2799
Fax: 713.572.2911
Consulate General of France, Los Angeles
M. Jean-Luc Sibiude
Consul General of France
10990 Wilshire Boulevard, Ste 300
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Ph#: 310.235.3200
Fax: 310.312.0704
Consulate General of France, Miami
M. Cristophe Bouchard
Consul General of France
One Biscayne Tower, Suite 1710
2 South Biscayne Boulevard
Miami, FL 33131
Ph#: 305.372.9799
Fax: 305.372.9549
Consulate General of France, New Orleans
M. Patrick Rolot
Consul General of France
1340 Poydras St., Ste 1710
New Orleans, Louisiana 70112
Ph#: 504.523.5772
Fax: 504.523.5725
Consulate General of France, New York
M. Richard Duqué
Consul General
934 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10021
Ph#: 212.606.3680
Fax 212.606.3620
Consulate General of France, San Francisco
M. Frédéric Desagneaux
Consul General of France
540 Bush Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
Ph#: 415.397.4330
Fax: 415.433.8357
Consulate General of France, Washington D.C.
M. Gilles Montagnier
Consul General of France
4101 Reservoir Road, NW
Washington, DC 20007-2185
Ph#: 202.944.6211
Fax: 202.944.6148
Day of Action to Free Jose Bove
Food First (http://www.foodfirst.org) and the National Family Farm Coalition (http://www.nffc.net/) urge you to join in a Day of Action for the immediate release of French farmer leader Jose Bove.
Celebrate the day after Bastille Day on July 15th by organizing a protest at your local French embassy or consulate.
Protest the Day after Bastille Day at 12:00 noon, outside your local French embassy or consulate and/or write or call your local French Ambassador/ Consul
In this email you will find:
1. Last minute news about Jose Bove
2. Background information on the International Day of Action this coming Tuesday July 15th, 2003
3. What is the connection with Bastille Day?
4. What else you can do?
1) Do you want to write a letter to Jose Bove?
2) Organize your own event or join one in your area
3) Take action: call, fax, write and or visit your local French ambassador/consul
5. French Consulates in the US
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Last minute news about his imprisonment
World farmer leader Jose Bove starts his second week in jail for anti-GMO protests in France. According to his lawyer, Francois Roux, who can visit him just twice a week, he is in a good shape in spite of the bad, isolated conditions of his incarceration. He must always be accompanied by one or two prison guards when he leaves his cell for the half-hour permitted per day. It seems that the authorities want him to have as few contacts as possible with other people inside the jail.
The French farmer federation Confederation Paysanne has set up an office in front of the prison gates. They receive more than 200 visitors a day who sign a petition on behalf of Jose Bove. There are demonstrations every day in France by activists demanding that the French President free the Confederation Paysanne's spokesperson.
Jose has been sentenced to 10 months in jail. He will not be out before the month of April 2004. As the European Union prepares to remove the de facto moratorium on GMOs, Jose needs strong international support more than ever.
Food First and the NFFC invite you to join the Urgent Call to Action for the Immediate Release of Jose Bove.
2. Background information on the International Day of Action this coming Tuesday July 15th, 2003
On July 15th, the day after Bastille Day, we are calling for human rights and environmental justice organizations and activists to join in an International Day of Action to free Jose Bove.
We are asking for organizations and people to:
Write a letter and/or call your country's French embassy or localconsulate
Organize or join a protest this coming Tuesday July 15th (BastilleDay)
Write a letter to Bove
BACKGROUND
On Sunday, June 22nd, heavily armed French police forced their way into the home of Jose Bove, tied him up and escorted him by helicopter to the nearby Villeneuve-les-Maguelone prison where he will serve out a 10-month sentence. Bove, a farmer near the village of Millau in southern France, long-time activist and key figure of the Confederation Paysanne, was convicted last November along with comrades Rene Riesel and Dominique Soullie for destroying two fields of genetically modified crops in June 1999 and a stock of genetically modified seeds in January of 1998. We are calling for the full pardon and immediate release of Bove in relation with Bastille Day (July 14th), a traditional day of amnesty in France.
The actions for which Bove is now serving time form part of a nearly three-decade-long history of principled stands and direct actions taken in the interests of small farmers like himself. During the 1970s in his native France, Bove and his wife helped to organize land occupations to prevent the expansion of military bases onto farmland in the Larzac plateau, and in 1976 he spent three weeks in prison for his role in the invasion of a military outpost. In 1987, he and colleagues established the Confederation Paysanne (CP), an organization composed of and for French small farmers and for their continued existence. The following year, Bove and the CP organized an event in Paris -- "Plowing the Champs Elysees" -- to protest EU farm policies. And, in a move that led to international fame and a six-week stay in prison, Bove organized and helped in the partial demolition of a half-constructed McDonald's in his hometown of Millau in 1999. On many occasions, he has also demonstrated his internationalism in defiance of governmental authority. For example in 2001, he and 1,000 Brazilian peasants uprooted three acres of Monsanto's genetically-modified soy in Rio Grande do Sul, and as a result he was deported. For his unflinching commitment to principles, solidarity with farmers around the world, and sometimes radical actions, Bove has been publicly condemned by officials, placed on trial, incarcerated (as recently as last year, for the McDonald's action), smeared by interest groups (see http://www.igreens.org.uk/make_jose_bove_serve_his_time.htm), and now imprisoned again. Yet he remains uncompromising as ever, refusing to ask for a pardon or any favors from the government that has on more than two occasions tried him for his "crimes". This is because in fact Bove's only "crime", in all of his actions, has been to defend the right of existence systematically denied to small farmers by governments everywhere, and to fight for the rights of consumers to have access to food that is adequate, culturally appropriate, and produced in a sustainable way. Bove's actions are a symbolic protest against the current system, in which transnational agribusiness and biotechnology corporations are given legal sanction and economic assistance by governments to dump cheap, genetically modified food onto markets, destroying the livelihoods of millions of farmers and leaving consumers with little choice over the food that they eat. His conviction and subsequent imprisonment is a victory for the interests of corporate agribusiness and the biotechnology industry, and a loss for consumers, the environment and small farmers. As Bove said at his trial in 1998:
"Yes, this action was illegal, but I lay claim to it because it was legitimate. I don't demand clemency, but justice. Either we have acted in everyone's interest and you will acquit us, or we have shaken the establishment and in that case you will punish us... There is no other issue."
3. What is the connection with Bastille Day?
First of all not on Bastille day because the French embassies and consulates are closed (oh well!) but the day after because Bastille Day is a national holiday in France. It is the celebration of the French Revolution and the beginning of a new form of government. The Bastille was a prison in France that the kings and queens often used to lock up the people who did not agree with their decisions. To many, it was a symbol of all the abuses committed by the kings and queens. So, on July 14, 1789, a large number of French citizens gathered together and stormed the Bastille.
The people in France celebrate the storming of the Bastille as the beginning of the French Revolution. Both Revolutions brought great changes. This is a celebration of historical dimensions where the power no longer resided in the King or Queen bur rather in the will of the people.
That is exactly what Jose Bove has done: he has acted in everyone's interest against the establishment so that power is switched back into the hands of the people!
4. What else can I do?
Do you want to write a letter to him? Jose Bove seems to be in good spirits but is nevertheless going through difficult times and he could always use some words of encouragement. We would greatly appreciate it if you take the time to write him in his jail.
His personal address is :
Jose Bove
No decrou 22377 Y
Bloc A 07
34753 Villeneuve-les-Maguelone
France
We remind you that he can only receive letters (no books, and no packages can enter into the prison).
ADD YOUR EVENT - GET ORGANIZED - LIST YOUR LOCAL AND NATIONAL EVENTS
Many local and international groups will be organizing demonstrations and acts of nonviolent resistance in solidarity with Jose Bove. We are also organizing a letter and calling campaign to the French government and ambassadors. For more information on embassies and consulates in the US, please see at the end of this email..
To suggest an event for the Food First Events Calendar <http://www.foodfirst.org/calendar/> , use the form at: http://www.foodfirst.org/calendar/suggest.php
CHECK FOR EVENTS IN YOUR AREA - GET INVOLVED - ATTEND AN ACTIVITY IN YOUR AREA
There are many activities going on around the world. Find out what activities are taking place near you. Contact a local group in your area for more information or organize one and let CPE know at cpe [at] cpefarmers.org.
TAKE ACTION: CALL, FAX, WRITE AND VISIT your local French Ambassador/Consul
Talking Points:
1) Jose Bove is a prisoner of conscience
2) He speaks for people everywhere in his concern over GMOs in our food supply
3) He speaks for family farmers everywhere in his concern over the policies that drive them off the land
4) He has been jailed for political reasons - in order to send a message to activists and farmers everywhere - and the message we send back is that his jailing is unjust and we demand his immediate release.
Or you can mail your state's French ambassador/ consul by writing your own letter with the talking points and/or you own opinion. Locate your local French consulate/ embassy for mailing below.
5. List of French Embassies and Consulates in the US
You can reach a French Representative at:
Embassy of France, United States
M. Jean-David Levitte
Ambassador
Embassy of France
4101 Reservoir Road, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Ph#: 202.944.6000
Fax: 202.944.6166
Consulate General of France, Atlanta
M. René-Serge Marty
Consul General of France
Prominence in Buckhead
3475 Piedmont Road NE, Ste 1840
Atlanta, Georgia 30305
Ph#: 404.495.1660
Fax: 404.495.1661
Consulate General of France, Boston
M. Thierry Vankerk-Hoven
Consul General of France
Park Square Building, Ste 750
31 Saint James Avenue
Boston, MA 02116
Ph#: (617) 542 73 74
Fax: (617) 542 80 54
Consulate General of France, Chicago
M. Dominique Decherf
Consul General of France
205 North Michigan Avenue, Ste 3700
Chicago, IL 60601
Ph#: 312.327.5200
Fax: 312.327.5201
Consulate General of France, Houston
M. Denis Simonneau
Consul General of France
777 Post Oak Blvd, Ste 600
Houston, TX 77056
Ph#: 713.572.2799
Fax: 713.572.2911
Consulate General of France, Los Angeles
M. Jean-Luc Sibiude
Consul General of France
10990 Wilshire Boulevard, Ste 300
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Ph#: 310.235.3200
Fax: 310.312.0704
Consulate General of France, Miami
M. Cristophe Bouchard
Consul General of France
One Biscayne Tower, Suite 1710
2 South Biscayne Boulevard
Miami, FL 33131
Ph#: 305.372.9799
Fax: 305.372.9549
Consulate General of France, New Orleans
M. Patrick Rolot
Consul General of France
1340 Poydras St., Ste 1710
New Orleans, Louisiana 70112
Ph#: 504.523.5772
Fax: 504.523.5725
Consulate General of France, New York
M. Richard Duqué
Consul General
934 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10021
Ph#: 212.606.3680
Fax 212.606.3620
Consulate General of France, San Francisco
M. Frédéric Desagneaux
Consul General of France
540 Bush Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
Ph#: 415.397.4330
Fax: 415.433.8357
Consulate General of France, Washington D.C.
M. Gilles Montagnier
Consul General of France
4101 Reservoir Road, NW
Washington, DC 20007-2185
Ph#: 202.944.6211
Fax: 202.944.6148
For more information:
http://www.foodfirst.org
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