France’s most famous anti-globalisation activist, Jose Bove, on Monday said he supported the agricultural subsidies doled out in wealthy Western countries, saying states had the right to protect their farmers, but insisted poor nations still needed protection from European and United States exports.
”Each area in the world should be able to protect its own agriculture to feed his population,” Bove, who is the spokesperson for the radical French farmers’ union the Peasant Confederation, told the BBC.
Instead of dismantling farm subsidies — a move demanded by many anti-globalisation activists — Bove said steps should be taken to better protect the developing world from rich-nation exports.
”The first thing we have to do is to protect the southern countries from the exportations from the US,” he said.
”But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have to protect all the agriculture.”
Bove (49) was speaking a week after a French judge barred him from leaving the country to attend the World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting scheduled to take place from September 10 to 14 in Cancun, Mexico.
In addition to being a sheep farmer, the high-profile activist is a frequent participant in protests outside global economic conferences and a prominent opponent of genetically modified crops and junk food. — Sapa-AFP