Jose Bove.(Interview)(Biography)

Only in France, it seems, could a farmer like Jose Bove shake the foundations of the nation's political life. The anti-globalization celebrity first gained fame several years ago when he led an assault on a McDonald's restaurant that was under construction near his hometown. His antics made him a national hero. But in France, all that seemed to be a prelude to this summer. This year a judge finally sentenced him to 10 months in prison for fouling genetically modified corn by mixing it with non-GM kernels.

He quickly became France's cause celebre, receiving thousands of letters and the visits of parliamentarians. In the face of popular outrage, it took little more than a month for French officials to release Bove into a loose form of "house arrest." From there, he helped launch a massive three-day "alter-globalization" rally that brought 200,000 activists out to a field near his home for a rock concert and speeches. The Interior minister who had him whisked off to jail in a helicopter came back to pay a visit (again in a helicopter). At the peak of his influence, the man with the famous Gallic handlebar mustache talked to NEWSWEEK's Eric Pape and Marie Valla about the surprising inspiration he finds in the United States, the lessons of jail and upcoming battles surrounding the trade summit in Cancun. Excerpts:

Your parents were studying at Berkeley when you were between the ages of 3 and 6. Do you have any recollection of it?

I have lots of memories from that time, excellent memories. To me, the States are completely linked to my childhood. Contrary to what many people think, I love America. I loved the kindergarten, camping on the weekend, the Rocky Mountains and the three-month-long journey across the country with my parents before heading back to France. We once camped at Big Sur. I don't remember it, but it's such a mythical place. I only realized this later when I read Kerouac and the rest of the Beat poets.

Has the U.S. experience influenced you?

Many of my actions, like the time we took the McDonald's restaurant apart to protest the retaliatory taxing of French importations by the U.S. government, were inspired by American history. Americans know how to carry out symbolic actions. There is one American action against Great Britain that inspired me, the Boston Tea Party. It was a very fascinating founding act because it had to do with trade laws and a corporate monopoly, and with a country that sought its independence from the colony.

In a sense, the American model is my cultural model. Forms of protest that developed in ...