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  Issue No 70 Official Organ of LaborNet 07 September 2000  

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Away For The Games

French Farmer Challenges McDomination

By Peter Lewis

France's current folk hero is an intellectual turned cheese farmer who bulldozed a McDonalds store in protest at US cultural imperialism. He's become a symbol - but of what?

 
 

Only in France? Dinner table conversations are being dominated by a trade unionist - who has banded together a gang of merry pranksters to thumb their noses at the world, and the US in particular. His name is Jose Bov� and they want to make him President. For a nation renowned for - on the one hand its style and class; on the other, its rudeness and arrogance - this modern-day Robespierre - as much philosopher as revolutionary - is a natural fit. Bov� has become the symbol of the struggle of a nation that sees itself as the centre of the world and wants to keep it that way.

It all started over the World Trade Organisation's determination to allow American multinationals, like McDonalds, to have the freedom to use meat from livestock fed grain that was genetically modified to bulk the animals up. France, which had already experienced Mad Cows Disease, would not approve the use of this meat on health grounds. As part of the penalty for breaching free trade principles the WTO ordered retaliatory trade sanctions from the US against French products, including the famous Roquefort sheep's cheese - a distinctive blue that knocks your socks off.

Enter Jose Bov� - a one-time intellectual and leader of the 1968 student riots in Paris. He had moved to the southern town of Millau to produce said cheese and put his political convictions into practice by organising the local agricultural workers into a union. He led his colleagues in destroying the town's McDonalds franchise with a bulldozer, a crime for which it has been recommended he receive a ten month suspended sentence. Whatever the final sentence, the "crime" has given him national fame and a platform to rail against the WTO and globalisation.

More than 50,000 supporters descended on Millau in July before his trial for an anti-globalisation concert. It's a cause Bov� has been quick to jump on the bandwagon for - literally. He arrived for his court hearing in a horse-drawn cart to chants of "McDomination". Even the Wall Street Journal has editorialised on the trial - noting that "in the end, the prosecutors recommended a slap on the wrist for the vandals, while globalisation was found guilty of heinous crimes - as charged by the vandals".

For a nation that has less than 10% of workers in trade unions, the rise of Bov�

may seem incongruous. But despite the low formal levels, there is an activist culture that sees regular strike action from non-unionists - coordinated by the bodies they will not join. Only this week, for instance, both farmers and fishermen picketed over high fuel prices - about $A.1.80 per litre. For the trade unions, bitter divisions based on political alliances to the Communists and Socialists mean there are three peak bodies. But they retain influence through their key role in the social security system - and the sort of direct action that has catapulted Bov� to the forefront.

The response from McDonalds has been just as interesting. They are still here, but their shopfronts are strangely understated, the golden arches a bit smaller and less -well golden. They market the "McFrance", an attempt, perhaps, to break their Uncle Sam image.

It's a sign of Bov�'s success in forcing a global icon against itself - the little farmer fighting the giant multinational with all the PR nous to match and better their multi million dollar marketing machine with a simple message - "I'M NOT FOR SALE".

But there is more to this story than Jose Bov�. He has tapped a rich vein with those who see globalisation as the enemy of national, regional and local culture. France is a nation that holds these things dearly. Of course there is the history - the old chateaus and cathedrals, the unfolding story of millenniums of struggle. But it is also a culture that is alive - life seems less efficient - more appreciative of its place in history.

Throughout the country, local regions produce and trade in their "Specialities" - cheese, wines, fruits and vegetables. It is these specialities and the French people's determination to enjoy them that makes up the culture, more than any building or costume. It's not something that can be put on a postcard, but for millions of French who still shut up shop for two hours in the middle of the day to enjoy a decent lunch, it is something worth fighting for.

To the north in Picardie, the rich farmlands that were once the Western Front, the villagers hold an annual "Spectacle" which literally translated just means "show" but really is spectacular. More than 1,000 citizens of all ages dress up in historical costumes and vogue their way through the history of the region. It is a history of harvest and war, wave after wave of invaders expelling the dogged peasants from their land; only to return to sow the fields again when the killing stops. The story flows all the way through to WWII, when the last wave of invaders doused the fields in blood. The young children who play the role of their grandparents making the long march home after the war, are connected with their history in this tangible way.

France's Socialist Government has played its part too - standing up to the US in its push to open the French TV and film markets to their product. While much of the hype around the failure of the MAI and Seattle has focussed on the success of mass protests, France's steadfast commitment to cultural autonomy was equally as damaging.

Critics of Bov� and his assault on globalisation accuse him of conservatism, of attempting to turn back the tide of history. I'm not so sure. While Seattle's protesters have adopted him as a folk hero, the difference is that he has a positive agenda -of keeping rural communities alive by promising cultural diversity. Of course, Bov�'s agenda is not without costs - the farmers he represents are themselves beneficiaries of massive subsidies that allow them to produce their specialities - much to the chagrin of Australian farmers and manufacturing workers in their own country. But at least it is an argument with a tangible outcome, where the costs and benefits are clearly on the table.

In the Australian context it begs the question for those about to converge on Melbourne. What is it you are fighting for? As a nation with a common language to the US and without a European cultural tradition, we are even more exposed than the French. But where are our Bov�s? What are the symbols to win the hearts and minds? Kangaroos? Boomerangs? Neighbours? Or are we left the sort of inward looking xenophobia that One Nation tapped? The lesson of Jose Bov� is that dissent requires imagination, action that resonates with people, not anger and obstruction. Whether he succeeds in holding off the Americans remains to be seen, but the French farmer has at least succeeded in writing a new script for his people.


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*   Issue 70 contents

In this issue
Features
*  Interview: New Internationalism
In its battle with Rio Tinto the CFMEU has pioneered global campaigning. National Secretary John Maitland talks to Workers Online about globalisation, a union response and using new technologies to organise .
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*  History: Pickets and Police
S11 protestors would do well to be wary. Fred Paterson, CPA member of the Qld Parliament, was bashed by the Queensland police on St Patrick's Day 1948, when a Labor Government was in power in that state.
*
*  Education: The WEF -Why Should We Care?
An event like the World Economic Forum attracts all the spin doctors for every interest, often obscuring real issues. For educators the issues may seem remote but a closer look shows that services like public education could be dramatically affected by the unfolding agenda of global trade liberalisation says Rob Durbridge.
*
*  Economics: A Vandalised Economy
Since New Zealand was opened up to the forces of globalisation, it has performed dismally, both economically and socially. NZCTU Economist Peter Conway reports.
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*  Unions: Our Vital Role in Society
Eight months into his new role as ACTU Secretary Greg Combet reflects on the challenges facing Australian unions.
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*  International: Turning Up The Heat
John Sweeney of the AFL-CIO says the union movement can and will reform the global economy, for as Dr Martin Luther King taught us, the moral arc of history is long but it bends towards justice.
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*  Satire: Threat to withhold pocket money derails S11 protest
MELBOURNE, Tuesday: Members of the activist collective S11 announced today that they had decided to cancel their protest at the upcoming World Economic Forum meeting at Crown Casino.
*

News
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»  Federal Government Blocks Rail Merger
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»  Auditor-General Blows Whistle On Outsourcing Madness
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»  Fly By Night Labour Takes Off
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»  CFMEU Rejects Reith Mischief
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»  The Organised Olympics
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»  Killjoy Reith Targets Picnics and Fun
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»  New Economy Spawns New Plagues
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»  Multi-national Stymies Peace Talks
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»  Greed of the Fatcats
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»  Women Challenge Prejudice in Maritime Industry
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»  Building Union Raises $42,000 For Paralympians
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»  Get Organised! NZ Unions Tell Army
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Columns
»  Away For The Games
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»  Sport
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»  Trades Hall
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»  Tool Shed
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Letters to the editor
»  Its time to stop the pretence
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