El Sistema is a publicly financed voluntary sector music education program in Venezuela, originally called Social Action for Music. Its official name is Fundación del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de las Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela, (Fesnojiv), and sometimes translated to English as "National Network of Youth and Children's Orchestras of Venezuela"). El Sistema is a state foundation which watches over Venezuela's 125 youth orchestras and the instrumental training programmes which make them possible.

{{infobox company| company name	National Network of Youth and Children Orchestras of Venezuela| company_logo 143px''Logo of FESNOJIV| company_type Cultural | foundation 1975 | location Caracas, Venezuela | industry Promotion of Music in the Venezuelan Youth | products Youth and Children Orchestras | revenue non-profit | num_employees non-profit | homepage FESNOJIV official site | }}

El Sistema has 31 symphony orchestras. But its greatest achievement are the 250,000 children who attend its music schools around the country, 90 percent of them from poor socio-economic backgrounds.

History

In 1975, Venezuelan economist and musician José Antonio Abreu founded Social Action for Music and became its director. Abreu has navigated the program for the past 35 years through ten different administrations, flourishing under both the presidents of the 1980s and the leftist administration of Hugo Chávez. Combining political shrewdness with religious devotion, Abreu has dedicated himself to a utopian dream in which an orchestra represents the ideal society, and the sooner a child is nurtured in that environment, the better for all.

The Venezuelan government began fully financing Abreu's orchestra after it succeeded brilliantly at an international competition in 1977 in Aberdeen, Scotland. From the beginning, El Sistema fell under the dominion of social-services ministries, not the ministry of culture, which has strategically helped it to survive. The current Chavez administration has been the most generous patron of El Sistema so far, footing almost its entire annual operating budget as well as additional capital projects. Abreu received the National Music Prize for his work in 1979. Abreu was appointed as Special Ambassador for the development of a Global Network of Youth and Children orchestras and choirs by UNESCO in 1995, also as special representative for the development of network of orchestras within the framework of UNESCO's "World Movement of Youth and Children Orchestras and Choirs".

Its network of 102 youth and 55 children's orchestras (numbering approximately 100,000 youngsters) later came under the supervision of the Ministry of Family, Health and Sports. As El Sistema, its goal is to use music for the protection of childhood through training, rehabilitation and prevention of criminal behaviour.

The program is known for rescuing young people in extremely impoverished circumstances from the environment of drug abuse and crime into which they would likely otherwise be drawn. Participants of the program who have begun international careers include Gustavo Dudamel, Edicson Ruiz, Joen Vazquez, Pedro Eustache, L. Miguel Rojas, Edward Pulgar, Natalia Luis-Bassa, among others.

In September 2007, President Hugo Chávez announced on television a new government program, Misión Música, designed to provide tuition and music instruments to Venezuelan children, with Abreu present on the TV program.

A documentary film has been produced on the subject of El Sistema, entitled Tocar y Luchar ("Play and Fight", 2004). The film has won several awards, including "best documentary" at the Cine Las Americas International Film Festival and also the Albuquerque Latino Film Festival. In 2008 another documentary made by Paul Smaczny and Maria Stodtmeier about the system will appear. El Sistema has also been featured on news programs such as 60 Minutes.

An important product of El Sistema is the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra (Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar). In 2007 the orchestra made its debut at Carnegie Hall and at the BBC Proms début under the baton of Dudamel, receiving enthusiastic reviews. With top qualified musicians El Sistema has recently created a new Youth Orchestra named after Teresa Carreño that will start International touring this fall.

On 6 June 2007, the Inter-American Development Bank announced the granting of a US$150 million loan for the construction of seven regional centers of El Sistema throughout Venezuela. Many bankers within the IDB originally objected to the loan on the grounds that classical music is for the elite. In fact, the bank has conducted studies on the more than two million young people who have been educated in El Sistema which link participation in the program to improvements in school attendance and declines in juvenile delinquency. Weighing such benefits as a falloff in school drop-out rates and a decline in crime, the bank calculated that every dollar invested in El Sistema was reaping about $1.68 in social dividends. Supported by the government, El Sistema has started to introduce its music program into the public-school curriculum, aiming to be in every school and to support 500,000 children by 2015.

The project has been extended to the penal system. On 25 May 2008, Leidys Asuaje wrote for Venezuelan daily El Nacional: "The plan to humanize jails through music began eleven months ago under the tutelage of the Ministry of the Interior and Justice and FESNOJIV...."

Recognition

Drew McManus wrote a four-part series about El Sistema: The Future of Classical Music is in Venezuela.

John Williams was quoted in the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional on 5 November 2007: "This is something unique that has to be seen by the whole world.... [and] which we urgently need here [in the USA]."

A public symposium on El Sistema took place on 7 November 2007 in Boston, Massachusetts, and is available as a webcast. WGBH Forum Network

The panel of speakers included:

Jose Antonio Abreu, Founder, El Sistema (not included in the webcast.)

Mark Slavkin, V.P., Education, LA Music Center

Leni Boorstin, Director, Community Affairs, LA Philharmonic

Sebastian Ruth, Founder, Director, Community MusicWorks

Steve Seidel, Director, Project Zero

George Simpson, Director, Roland Hayes School of Music

John Tobin, Chair, Arts Committee, Boston City Council

Polly Kahn, V.P., League of American Orchestras

Mark Churchill, Dean, Preparatory & Continuing Ed., NEC

On 22 November 2007, Julian Lloyd Webber said this about the UK government's announcement of an infusion of £332 million just for music-education:

"We also have an impoverished South American nation to thank. Last August, in the midst of school holidays, when an uncomfortable number of British children seemed even more disaffected than usual, the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra arrived from Venezuela to deliver performances at the Edinburgh Festival and the London Proms that were, quite simply, miraculous" . Lloyd Webber was appointed chairman of the steering group of In Harmony, a British government-led music education and community development project which is based on by El Sistema .

Sistema Scotland was established in Scotland with a grant from the Scottish Arts Council, as a result of an initiative by its chairman Richard Holloway, for the purpose of breaking the cycle of poverty in the economically depressed area of Raploch, in Stirling, where male life expectancy is less than 63 years.

In England "the Department for Education has put aside £2m to a three-year scheme [called In Harmony (music)] which will focus on three impoverished areas...” According to Peter Stevenson of Sistema Scotland, the £2m mentioned here is part of the £332 million that the Glennie-Galway-Lloyd Webber-Kamen music education consortium helped generate.

Tavis Smiley aired a series on music education in the United States, called "Dudamel: Conducting a Life." The report includes a spotlight on Conservatory Lab Charter School , the first El Sistema-infused charter school in Massachusetts. Conservatory Lab elementary school students receive free orchestral instruction for three hours each day, integrated into their academic program.

Alexander Bernstein said: “This is something we need in the United States.” Source, El Universal, Caracas, Venezuela, 12 January 2008.

This is from the WorldTeach website: :"El Sistema has invited WorldTeach to help identify and support outstanding chamber musicians who are interested in teaching and coaching for the academic year. :"The first groups will depart in late August 2008 and teach through mid July 2009. El Sistema is seeking musicians who will, after joining the WorldTeach Venezuela program, form the following ensembles: :2 string quartets, 1 brass quintet, 1 woodwind quintet, 2 percussionists"

The director of the Damascus Opera 2011 production of Oliver! cited El Sistema as the inspiration for casting 25 actual orphans in the Syrian version of the musical.

Accolades

On 14 February 2008, El Sistema founder José Antonio Abreu was awarded the Glenn Gould Prize. . Brian Levine, Managing Director, Glenn Gould Foundation, wrote an account of his recent (2008) visit to Caracas; in part he wrote: "El Sistema has demonstrated conclusively that music education is the gateway to lifelong learning and a better future."

On 21 May 2008, El Sistema was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts.

On 13 June 2008, El Sistema founder Maestro Abreu was a guest speaker at the National Performing Arts Convention-2008 in Denver, Colorado.

On 5 February 2009, José Antonio Abreu won the TED prize for his work on El Sistema, and was granted a TED wish.

References

External links

Official site

National System of Children and Youth Orchestras of Venezuela -- PRI's The World

The Street Children Saved by Music, London Independent

EL SISTEMA The Movie (2009)

Video on WGBH Forum Network Video of public symposium on "El Sistema'' from 7 November 2007 in Boston, Massachusetts, on WGBH Forum Network

Video of José Antonio Abreu regarding the TED prize for El Sistema.

December 2009 Telegraph article

Mata Tigre - Free documentary about El Sistema and 5 musicians in it

In Harmony Sistema England

Category:Government of Venezuela Category:Venezuelan culture Category:Foundations based in Venezuela Category:Music education

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name	Gustavo Dudamel
background	classical_ensemble
birth name	Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez
born	January 26, 1981 Barquisimeto, Lara, Venezuela
instrument	Violin
genre	Classical
occupation	Composer, conductor
years active	1999–present
spouse	Eloísa Knife Maturén (2006-present)
website	www.GustavoDudamel.com }}

Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez (born January 26, 1981) is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist. He is currently the principal conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony in Gothenburg, Sweden, and music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Los Angeles, California. Dudamel is also the artistic director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela.

Life and career

Dudamel was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, the son of a trombonist and a voice teacher. He studied music from an early age, becoming involved with El Sistema, the famous Venezuelan musical education program, and took up the violin at age ten. He soon began to study composition. He attended the Jacinto Lara Conservatory, where he was taught the violin by José Luis Jiménez. He then went on to work with José Francisco del Castillo at the Latin-American Violin Academy.

He began to study conducting in 1995, first with Rodolfo Saglimbeni, then later with José Antonio Abreu. In 1999, he was appointed music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, the national youth orchestra of Venezuela, and toured several countries.

Dudamel began to win a number of conducting competitions, including the Gustav Mahler Conducting Prize in Germany in 2004. His reputation began to spread, and he was noticed by conductors such as Simon Rattle and Claudio Abbado, who accepted invitations to conduct the Simón Bolívar Orchestra in Venezuela.

Dudamel debuted with the Philharmonia, the Israel Philharmonic, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, among others, in 2005, and also signed a recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon. He made his debut at La Scala, Milan, with Don Giovanni in November 2006. On September 10, 2007, he conducted the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time at the Lucerne Festival. In March 2008, he made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony.

In 2005, Gustavo Dudamel first conducted the Gothenburg Symphony at the BBC Proms, on short notice as a replacement for the indisposed Neeme Järvi. In 2006, Dudamel was named Principal Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony. He continues to retain his position with the Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra. He took up the Gothenburg post in 2007, and his current contract there is to 2012.

Dudamel made his US conducting debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (LAP) at the Hollywood Bowl on September 13, 2005 in a program consisting of "La Noche de los Mayas" by Silvestre Revueltas and the Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5. Dudamel was subsequently invited back to conduct the orchestra at Walt Disney Concert Hall in January 2007 in performances of "Dances of Galánta" by Zoltán Kodály, the third piano concerto of Sergei Rachmaninoff with Yefim Bronfman as soloist, and Béla Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra (the latter of which was recorded live and subsequently released by Deutsche Grammophon). In April 2007, during a guest conducting engagement with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Dudamel was named the LAP's next music director as of the 2009–2010 season, succeeding Esa-Pekka Salonen. His initial contract in Los Angeles is for five years, beginning in September 2009.

On April 16, 2007, Gustavo Dudamel conducted the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra in a concert in commemoration of the 80th birthday of Pope Benedict XVI, with Hilary Hahn as solo violinist, with the Pope himself and many other church dignitaries among the audience.

Dudamel is featured in the documentary film Tocar y Luchar, which covers El Sistema. Dudamel and the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar received the WQXR Gramophone Special Recognition Award in New York City in November 2007. Another US television news feature on Dudamel was on 60 Minutes in February 2008, entitled "Gustavo the Great".

On July 23, 2009, Dudamel was selected by the Eighth Glenn Gould Prize laureate José Antonio Abreu as winner of the prestigious The City of Toronto Glenn Gould Protégé Prize.

Dudamel began his tenure as Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic on September 28, 2009 with a rehearsal of Beethoven's 9th Symphony that included the Los Angeles Master Chorale and representatives of eight community-based choruses. His first official rehearsal with the orchestra followed on September 30. On October 3 he conducted Beethoven's 9th Symphony at the Hollywood Bowl in "Bienvenido Gustavo," a free concert, and conducted his official inaugural concert featuring the world premiere of John Adams' "City Noir" and Mahler's Symphony No. 1 with his new orchestra in Walt Disney Concert Hall on October 8.

Dudamel is featured in the 2011 documentary "Let The Children Play," a film which focuses on his work advocating for music as a way to enrich children's lives.

Personal life

Dudamel married his girlfriend, Eloísa Knife Maturén, in 2006 in Caracas. The Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra combined forces with the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela and the Orfeon Universitario of the Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado to make the event a special musical celebration. The wedding took place in the cathedral at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Montalbán, a suburb of Caracas. Maturén, also a Venezuelan native, is a classically trained ballet dancer and a journalist. They have a son, Martín Dudamel Maturén, a U.S. citizen.

References

External links

Gustavo Dudamel official website

Gustavo Dudamel biography at Deutsche Grammophon

Conductor Gustavo Dudamel at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with performance schedule

Profile (2008) and interview (2010) at The Guardian

Gustavo Dudamel and Eloísa Maturen's civil wedding , el universal.com, 25 November 2005 – includes wedding photographs

Fundación de Estado para el Sistema Nacional de Orquesta Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela (El Sistema)

;Video

60 Minutes (CBS-TV): "Gustavo the Great" February 17, 2008 (video and transcript)

Celebracion! Dudamel, Florez, and the L.A. Philharmonic, 1:55:22, Great Performances on PBS, December 29, 2010, video-only link with related videos

Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic: The Inaugural Concert, 51:41, Great Performances on PBS, October 21, 2009, video-only link with related videos

JANERA: Dudamel in da House, by Nicole E. Foster (article and video)

WQXR Press Release, 12 November 2007, "The 2007 WQXR Gramophone Special Recognition Award Is Presented to Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela on the Stage of Carnegie Hall on November 10".

by Arturo Márquez. Gustavo Dudamel and Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra

Gustavo Dudamel and the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra performing for TED 2009

by Pedro Eustache (composer-soloist). Gustavo Dudamel and Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra

Mahler 5, Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela

Category:1981 births Category:Living people Category:Venezuelan conductors (music) Category:Venezuelan classical musicians Category:People from Barquisimeto

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Name	The Orchestra
Background	group_or_band
Origin	Birmingham, England
Genre	Rock music, Pop music
Years active	2000–present
Associated acts	Electric Light OrchestraELO Part IIStyx
Website
Current members	Louis ClarkEric TroyerMik KaminskiGordon TownsendPhil BatesGlen Burtnik
Past members	Kelly GroucuttParthenon Huxley }}

The Orchestra is a rock band formed by former members of the Electric Light Orchestra and ELO Part II. It is the continuation of ELO Part II following Bev Bevan's departure and selling of the rights to Jeff Lynne.

History

By 2000 Bev Bevan had sold his fifty per cent share of the Electric Light Orchestra name as well as the rights to the ELO Part II name to Jeff Lynne. Lynne, now the full owner of the ELO name, took legal action to prevent the band from continuing to call themselves “ELO Part II”. They initially tried to alter their name to “ELO2”, but they eventually submitted and changed their name to The Orchestra.

In 2001 The Orchestra released a limited number of their CD No Rewind which was produced and released without involvement from a major record label (but was subsequently released in Argentina by Art Music in 2005 and reissued worldwide in 2006). The album contains The Orchestra's best known non-ELO song, Over London Skies, a loving homage to the classic ELO sound in Jewel & Johnny and a cover of Twist and Shout which begins in a slow, plaintive minor key with arpeggiated chords before building to the familiar, rocking major progression. With the release of No Rewind, The Orchestra worked more original material into their set, with Jewel & Johnny and the album's title song becoming staples. The band continues to tour and regularly sells out shows in Chile, Argentina, the UK, Eastern Europe and elsewhere around the world.

In late 2004, a legal dispute almost erupted between The Orchestra and a Florida-based rock band called theOrchestra, but the issue was settled out-of-court.

The Orchestra toured the UK extensively in 2006 following the re-issue of No Rewind. The band were promoted using the descriptive phrase "Electric Light Orchestra Part II Former Members". Lynne sued The Orchestra, claiming copyright infringement. The matter went to litigation and in August 2006, a Los Angeles judge ruled in favour of the members of The Orchestra.

During The Orchestra's 2006 UK tour, Phil Bates, formerly a member of Trickster, ELO Part II and Bev Bevan's Move, stood in for Parthenon Huxley at a couple of gigs when Huxley had to return unexpectedly to the States. Huxley then left altogether in July 2007 and was replaced permanently by Bates.

In 2008 The Orchestra participated in the Sweden Rock Festival.

On February 18, 2009 the group returned from a sell out concert in Berlin. But a few hours after returning home, Kelly Groucutt collapsed of a massive heart attack and died the following day. The band decided to carry on and brought in former Styx man Glen Burtnik on bass (Glen had filled in for Kelly previously during a 1998 ELO Part II tour when the latter had taken ill). On July 17, 2009 they opened for the Alan Parsons Live Project at DTE Theater in Clarkston, Michigan. Also in 2009 German bassist Ralf Vornberger played with the band in Israel when Glen was unavailable due to other work commitments booked before he joined the band.

Members

Current members

Louis Clark - keyboards, orchestral arranger and conductor (2000–present) (from ELO and ELO Part II)

Eric Troyer - keyboards, vocals, guitar (2000–present) (from ELO Part II)

Mik Kaminski - violin (2000–present) (from ELO and ELO Part II)

Gordon Townsend - drums (2000–present)

Phil Bates - guitar, vocals (2007–present) (from ELO Part II)

Glen Burtnik - bass guitar, vocals (2009–present)

Former Members

Kelly Groucutt - bass guitar, vocals (2000–2009) (from ELO and ELO Part II)

Parthenon Huxley - guitar, vocals (2000–2007) (from ELO Part II)

Discography

No Rewind (2001)

Live albums

The Orchestra Live (2008)

Videos

Live in Reno (DVD), (2006)

Live Lineup History

References

External links

The Orchestra on Facebook

Category:Musical septets Category:Electric Light Orchestra

Honorific-prefix	The Most Excellent
Name	José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Office	Prime Minister of Spain
Monarch	Juan Carlos I
Deputy	María Teresa Fernández de la VegaAlfredo Pérez RubalcabaElena Salgado
Term start	17 April 2004
Predecessor	José María Aznar
Office2	Leader of the Opposition
Primeminister2	José María Aznar
Term start2	1 July 2000
Term end2	17 April 2004
Predecessor2	Joaquín Almunia
Successor2	Mariano Rajoy
Office3	Member of the Congress of Deputies
Term start3	14 March 2004
Constituency3	Madrid
Term start4	22 June 1986
Term end4	14 March 2004
Constituency4	León
Birth date	August 04, 1960
Birth place	Valladolid, Spain
Party	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
Spouse	Sonsoles Espinosa (1990–present)
Children	LauraAlba
Alma mater	University of León
Residence	Palace of Moncloa
Signature	José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero Signature.svg }}

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (; born 4 August 1960) is a Spanish politician and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). He was elected for terms as Prime Minister of Spain in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. On 2 April 2011 he announced he will not stand for re-election in 2012.

The main actions taken by the Zapatero administration include the withdrawal of Spanish troops from the Iraq war, which resulted in long term diplomatic tension with the George W. Bush administration; the increase of Spanish troops in Afghanistan; the idea of an Alliance of Civilizations, co-sponsored by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; the legalisation of same-sex marriage; reform of abortion law; a controversial attempt at peace negotiation with ETA (a proscribed terrorist organisation); the increase of tobacco restrictions; and the reform of various Autonomous statutes, particularly the Statute of Catalonia.

Personal life

Family background

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was born in Valladolid, Castile and León to Juan Rodríguez y García-Lozano (b. 1928), a lawyer, and María de la Purificación Zapatero y Valero (Valladolid, 1927 - Madrid, 30 October 2000). He grew up in León, where his family originated.

His paternal grandfather, Juan Rodríguez y Lozano (28 July 1893 - Puente Castro, León, 18 August 1936), was a Republican captain executed by Franco's National army a month into the Spanish Civil War for refusing to fight with them. He was betrayed and his whereabouts were revealed by certain PSOE people in Valladolid, before Rodriguez Zapatero was born. On the other hand, his maternal grandfather supported the coup d'état of Franco and he was killed by Republicans during the war. The dictatorship of Franco compensated his widow as it did all the widows of murdered Franco supporters.

His maternal grandfather, Faustino Zapatero y Coronel, was a paediatrician and middle class liberal who died in 1978. His maternal grandmother María de la Natividad Valero y Asensio (Zamora, 9 December 1902 - Valladolid, 28 June 2006) was a right-wing conservative and died at age 103. Zapatero was born in Valladolid not only because of his mother's attachment to her family, who lived there, but also because of the medical profession of her father.

Zapatero has said that, as a youngster, "as I remember it, I used to participate in late night conversations with my father and brother about politics, law or literature". However, he did not get on very well with his father at times. Sources say that his father refused to let him work or take any part in his buffet, and this scarred him for life. He says that his family taught him to be tolerant, thoughtful, prudent and austere.

The memory of Republican Captain Rodríguez y Lozano was also kept alive by his last will, handwritten 24 hours before facing the firing squad, and which can be considered a final declaration of principles. The will comprised six parts, the first three bestowing his possessions on his heirs; the fourth, in which he asked for a civil burial and, the fifth, in which he requested his family to forgive those who had tried and executed him and proclaiming his belief in the Supreme Being. In the sixth, Zapatero's grandfather asked his family to clear his name in the future as his creed consisted only in his "love for peace, for good and for improving the living conditions of the lower classes".

Studies and teaching

He studied Law at the University of León, graduating in 1982. His performance as a student was above average before his pre-University year. His grades later in the year and in the University were essentially mediocre. According to his brother Juan: "He didn't study much but it made no difference, he continued successfully".

After graduating, Zapatero worked as a teaching assistant in constitutional law at the University of León until 1986 (he continued working some hours a week without pay until 1991). It was subsequently found that he had been appointed by his department without the usual selection process involving interviews and competitive examinations, which if true, constitutes a case of political favouritism. He has declared that the only activity that attracts him besides politics is teaching or, at most, academic research.

Rodríguez Zapatero met his wife, Sonsoles Espinosa in León in 1981. They married on 27 January 1990 and have two daughters named Laura (b. 1993) and Alba (b. 1995).

In October 1991, his contract was cancelled by the new rector of the University of León, Julio César Santoyo, after the University's legal advisers considered Zapatero's posts as a teaching assistant and an MP to be incompatible (he had been elected in 1986). The Spanish Parliament's counselors, however, had considered the contract valid.

Zapatero did not do the military service which was compulsory in Spain: he received successive deferments because of his conditions as a university student and a teaching assistant. As an MP he was finally exempted.

Zapatero enters politics

Zapatero attended his first political rally, organized by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in Gijón in 1976. Some political parties had been legal since 21 July 1976, but the PSOE was not legalized until February 1977. The speech of Felipe González, the PSOE leader and future Prime Minister of Spain, who took part in the rally, exerted an important influence on Zapatero. He said, among other things, that "the Socialists' goal was the seizure of power by the working class to transform the ownership of the means of production" and that "the PSOE was a revolutionary party but not revolutionarist or aventurist [...], as it defended the use of elections to come to power".

Zapatero and his family had been traditionally attracted to the Communist Party as it was the only party really organized before Francisco Franco's death in 1975. But, after the famous political rally in Gijón, they, and especially Zapatero, started to believe that the Socialist Party was the most probable future for the Spanish left. At that time the Socialist Party was rebuilding its infrastructure in the province of León after having been outlawed following the Spanish Civil War.

In 1977, the year of the first democratic elections after Franco's death, Zapatero supported both the Communist and Socialist parties. He pasted posters of both parties.

He eventually joined the PSOE on 23 February 1979. The impression Felipe González had caused on him in 1976 played a fundamental role in his decision to join the party. In 1979, the PSOE had not yet renounced Marxism as its ideological base (that happened later in 1979). He said nothing about this at home, because he was afraid his parents would discourage him, considering him too young to join a political party.

In 1982, Zapatero became head of the socialist youth organization in the province of León. In July 1982, he met Felipe González at the summer school "Jaime Vera" and suggested that he make a "left turn" in the PSOE political program for the General Election of October 1982. González answered advising him to abandon his conservative [leftist] viewpoint.

In 1986, he was elected to represent the province of León in the Cortes (Parliament), becoming its youngest member after the election held on 20 June. He was number two on the PSOE list for León. In the following elections (those held in 1989, 1993, 1996 and 2000) he was number one on the list. In the elections of 2004 he ran for Madrid as number one.

Zapatero defined himself as a "left-wing conservative" at the time. He explained that he meant that, for sentimental reasons linked to his family, he came from the left that lost the Spanish Civil War and that what had happened between 1936-1939 (the duration of the war) and 1939-1975 (Franco's regime) had a very important significance for him. He further explained that the Spanish left needed to modernize and that "we are finding it difficult to accept the need for the Socialist Party to change many of its ideological parameters and overcome our own conservatism".

In 1988 he became Secretary General in León after a complex internal fight for power that ended a long period of division. In fact, before the provincial conference held that year, Ramón Rubial, then national president of the PSOE, had asked the party in León to foster unity. Zapatero was elected as Secretary General at that conference, leading to a period of stability.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the PSOE consisted of two factions: the Guerristas (supporters of Alfonso Guerra, former vice-president under Felipe González) and the reformers (led by Felipe González). The first group had a stronger left-wing ideology whereas the second was more pragmatic. The division became wider after the General Election of 1993, the last election won by the PSOE before José María Aznar's victory in 1996, when the bad results exacerbated the internal conflicts. Zapatero never formally joined either of those two groups.

In 1993, the Socialist Federation of León (FSL - Federación Socialista de León) suffered an important scandal. Some towns experienced unusually sharp increases in PSOE membership in a very short period of time. When some of the supposed new members were questioned by the press, they stated that they were unaware of their membership and that they did not live in the places where they were being registered by the party. It seems that some opponents of Zapatero in León, perhaps with the support of powerful Guerristas at the top of the Spanish Socialist Party wanted to increase their influence within it by increasing the number of members in the towns of León favorable to them. Their main aim would have been to take control of the Regional Socialist Section of Castilla y León in the conference to be held in 1994. Zapatero's support for the then Regional Secretary General, Jesús Quijano transformed him into the enemy of the Guerristas in the region as the FSL is the most important Provincial Section.

In May 1994 two papers, El País and Diario de León, published several articles that suggested irregularities in his appointment as a Professor by the University of León and in his keeping the job until 1991. The suspicions of political favoritism were favored by his having been directly appointed without a prior selection process open to other candidates. On 20 May 1994, he held a press conference where he rejected these accusations. Zapatero attributed to "ignorance" or "bad faith" the content of the articles and linked them to the internal fight for the job of Secretary General of the Regional Chapter.

In 1994, three regional conferences were going to be held: two to elect the representatives of the party in León for the Regional and National Conferences to take place that year, and the 7th Provincial conference where the Secretary General was going to be elected.

Before they began, an agreement between the parties involved was drawn up. The new members who did not confirm they had joined the party voluntarily and who did not live in the areas where they were registered would be expelled from the party. Initially 775, and finally 577, new memberships were canceled out of 1160 suspicious memberships.

When the three conferences were held, the tension was very high and, sometimes it was even necessary to call the police. All of them were finally won by Zapatero or his supporters.

The National Conference (held after most of the representatives elected in the first León Conference were Zapatero's supporters) was won by the reformers, at that time strongly opposed to the Guerristas. That was positive for Zapatero as the list of bogus party members was revised again. Their number grew from 577 to almost 900.

Zapatero was finally reelected secretary general with 68 percent of the ballots in the 7th Regional Conference held in July 1994, following the removal of the false memberships.

In 1995, new regional and local elections were held. The results were bad for the PSOE in León as they lost four seats in the mayoralty of León and two seats in the regional parliament of Castilla-León. The results were influenced by the bad economic situation and the cases of corruption assailing the party. Zapatero had personally directed the electoral campaign.

In 1996, after the General Election, Zapatero kept his seat at the Congress of Deputies. The following year, Zapatero was elected again Secretary General of León and after the national conference held by the party that year he entered the National Executive (the party governing body).

In 1998, the first and only primaries held within the PSOE took place. There were two candidates: Joaquín Almunia and José Borrell. The regional party of León declared itself to be neutral. It seems that, unofficially, its leaders including Zapatero, worked harder in favor of Almunia, who was the representative of the reformers and opposed the Guerristas. Zapatero himself phoned personally (as other leaders did) as many party members as possible to request their votes for Almunia.

On 24 April 1998, Borrell won with 9.6% more votes than Almunia in Spain and 4.6% more in León. It seems that Borrell's image of reform played an important role in his victory. Borrell's attitude towards Zapatero seems to have been a little colder after Zapatero's support for his rival.

The existence of two leaders Joaquín Almunia, Secretary General, and Josep Borrell, official candidate, caused problems within the PSOE, used to being directed only by the Secretary General. Finally, two former close associates of Borrell were accused of having been corrupt when they worked for him in the Spanish Government, and he resigned, alleging that he did not want to damage his party with the scandal. Almunia replaced him and ran for the Spanish Premiership in the General Elections held in 2000.

The Association of Parliamentary Journalists awarded to Zapatero the "Diputado Revelación" prize (something like Most promising MP of the year) in December 1999 for his activities as a member of the Congress of Deputies. From 1996 until 2000, his most conspicuous contributions as an MP were his vigorous opposition to the electrical protocol proposed by the government (initially negative for the important coal sector of León), being the PSOE spokesman in the Commission of Public Administration and probably his most important success as an MP: the passing of an amendment to the national budget of 2000 in November 1999 that increased the pensions of the non-professional soldiers who fought for the Republic during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939. They were made equal to those of the professional military. The initiative was defended by him in the name of the Parliamentary Socialist Group, proponent of the amendment.

Appointment as Secretary General of the Socialist Party

On 12 March 2000, the PSOE had lost its second successive election to José María Aznar's People's Party. Zapatero held his seat, but the Socialist Party obtained only 125 seats, 16 fewer than in 1996. The defeat was especially bitter as the People's Party unexpectedly obtained an absolute majority for the first time and the socialist result was worse than in the previous election. Almunia announced his resignation on the very day the General Election took place.

Zapatero decided to run for the leadership of the Socialist Party in its 35th Conference to be held in June that year. Together with other socialist members, he founded a new faction within the party called Nueva Vía (New Way) in April 2000, to serve him as a platform to become Secretary General. The name of Nueva Vía is a mix of Tony Blair's Third Way (tercera vía in Spanish) and Gerhard Schröder's Neue Mitte (new center or nuevo centro in Spanish).

On 25 June 2000 Zapatero officially announced his intention to run for the federal Secretaryship General at an Extraordinary Conference of the Socialist Party of León. In his speech, he stated what can be considered his declaration of principles: # To build a society that would accept all foreigners notwithstanding their color or cultural background. # To give priority to education and to create good jobs for youngsters. # To provide parents with more time to spend with their children and in taking care of their elders. # To promote culture and its creators, making it possible for them to grab the spotlight from those aiming only at economic interests. # To convert Spain into a country admired for helping those with more needs. # To force the government to help those with initiative and enterprising qualities. # To foster democracy, to lend distinction to politics and to promote values over temporary interests.

Pasqual Maragall was the only regional leader of the Socialist Party who officially supported him before the Conference was held. José Borrell also decided to support him.

Zapatero ran against three other opponents (José Bono, Rosa Díez and Matilde Fernández). Matilde Fernández was the candidate of the guerristas while José Bono was the candidate of the reformers. Rosa Díez is a Basque politician who was a kind of intermediate option.

Zapatero was a dark horse who had against him his inexperience and in favour his image of reform and being the only MP among the candidates. (All the Spanish opposition leaders had been MPs before winning the elections. A very important factor in Spanish politics where electoral campaigns last for only 15 days and to be widely known long before they begin is essential.) Bono was deeply disliked by the guerristas, who also favoured Zapatero.

Zapatero finally won by a relatively small margin (he obtained 414 votes out of 995 and José Bono obtained 405) on 22 July 2000. The margin was relatively small because Bono had no likelihood of winning since the supporters of the other two candidates preferred Zapatero as their second choice. Zapatero accepted the cancellation of a run-off between himself and Bono because he was sure of his victory after only one ballot and he apparently did not want to humiliate his adversary.

After being elected Secretary General, he was congratulated by Lionel Jospin (then the Prime Minister of France), Gerhard Schröder (Chancellor of Germany) and José María Aznar.

He moved to Madrid with his family that year. As a Congressman he had lived from Monday to Thursday in Madrid and the rest of the time in León.

Opposition leader

This was the period when Zapatero was appointed as Secretary General of the PSOE in 2000 until he became Prime Minister of Spain on 14 March 2004.

Style of opposition

Zapatero has always claimed to base his political activity on his love of dialogue. When he was an opposition leader, he liked to contrast his behaviour with the "arrogant", "authoritarian" approach of the People's Party and, especially, that of its leader José María Aznar.

As a result, after being appointed Secretary General, he coined the term Calm Opposition () to refer to his opposition strategy. The Calm Opposition was supposedly based on an "open to dialogue", "soft", "constructive" attitude (talante constructivo, coined as talante) aimed not at damaging the government but at achieving the "best" for the people. (Zapatero has insisted on this point so many times that the term talante has become very popular in Spain.) Because of this supposed tactic, Zapatero received nicknames like "Bambi" or "Sosoman" (where "Soso"—meaning dull, insipid, bore—replaces "Super" in "Superman"), especially in the first months after being appointed General Secretary.

During Zapatero's years as an opposition leader (and later as Prime Minister), the tension between left-wing and right-wing supporters increased and, according to some opinions, a real radicalization of the society took (and is taking) place . Zapatero's supporters blame his opponents for that and the People's Party blames him stating facts such as the increase in the acts of violence committed against them, especially in the months before and during the war in Iraq. As a result, a new term has become popular: guerracivilismo (made up of a combination of the Spanish for Civil War and the -ismo suffix, equivalent to the English -ism), which would refer to the growing enmity of right and left-wing factions.

2000 and 2001

Zapatero's criticisms of the government were very active from the beginning. His first attack against the government was based on its inability to control the rise in the price of fossil fuel. He asked for a reduction in the taxes affecting it.

In 2000, the British nuclear submarine HMS Tireless arrived at Gibraltar harbour to have its nuclear reactor repaired. Aznar affirmed that there was no risk for the population but Zapatero criticized him for his inability to force the British government to take the submarine to another harbour. After almost one year, the Tireless was repaired and left Gibraltar without having caused any known problems.

Another point of friction came from the scheme to transfer water from the River Ebro to other areas especially the irrigated areas in the South East of Spain, one of the richest agricultural regions in the world. That scheme received support from, among others, 80% of the affected farmers and the Socialist regional governments of regions such as Extremadura, Andalusia or Castilla-La Mancha. Some Socialist politicians also supported it when they were members of the former Socialist government back in the 90s (e.g. José Borrell, the current leader of the European Spanish Socialist Group and former president of the European Parliament. The scheme was mainly opposed by Zapatero, environmentalist groups, the Socialist regional government of Aragon and some of the citizens of the areas from which water was to be transferred. The main criticisms of the scheme were the supposed damage to the environment and an argued real lack of sufficient water for all of the affected parties (the proponents of the scheme answered back that there was no risk of a serious environmental damage and that in 2003, 14 times more water reached the sea than what was needed annually). (The scheme, finally approved by the Government, was canceled by Zapatero soon after becoming Prime Minister.)

Zapatero was the main proponent of the "Pacto de las Libertades contra el Terrorismo" ("Anti Terrorist Freedom pact) which was signed on 8 December 2000. In the first moment this pact was disliked and rejected but later was considered a cornerstone of the strategy against Basque terrorism in Spain not only by the Socialist Party but by the People's Party (currently, it is considered broken by the People's Party). Zapatero's harsher critics have argued that the Pact was originated by the wish of the People's Party and the Socialist Party in order to bury the Socialist ambiguity towards nationalist parties caused by the Socialist Party's reliance on their votes.

At the end of the year, the Mad Cow disease came back into the spotlight after its outbreak in 1996. Zapatero repeatedly criticized the Government's management of the crisis arguing that it was out of control. As of March 2005, that disease has caused dozens of deaths all over Europe, though none in Spain.

In 2001 one of the biggest points of friction between the government and the opposition were the proposed reforms affecting the education system. The People's Party introduced the so-called LOU first, a law to change the University System, and later the LOCE (Organic Act for Education Quality), which affected Secondary Education. Zapatero strongly opposed both. The People's Party used its absolute majority in the Cortes to pass its reforms but after it had taken place an important number of protests by Student's Unions took place, which were featured prominently in the public media although their protests had usually passed unnoticed until Zapatero's arrival.

A regional election was held in the Basque Country on 13 May 2001. The socialists received 17.8 percent of the vote (against 17.6 percent in the previous 1998 elections) but lost one seat. Both, the Socialist Party and the People's Party had formed an alliance against the then ruling nationalist Basque political movements but the latter won again. The results were considered a failure. Nicolás Redondo Terreros, the Basque Socialist leader during the election who was strongly opposed to Basque nationalism and to ETA, resigned after some internal clashes, resigning his seat in the Basque parliament and in the Federal Executive. He was replaced by Patxi López, elected on 24 March 2002. Patxi López had actively supported Zapatero during his campaign to become Secretary General. [OCAM p. 257]

On 21 October 2001 a new regional election took place, this time in Galicia. The People's Party (led by Manuel Fraga Iribarne) obtained a new absolute majority. The Socialist party increased its number of seats from 15 to 17, but, after several years of opposition the results were also considered bad. These two negative results seemed to confirm that Zapatero's approach was not working.

On 19 December 2001 Zapatero travelled to Morocco, after the Moroccan government expelled the Spanish ambassador sine die. Javier Arenas, a prominent member of the People's Party, accusing him of not being loyal to Spanish interests. Zapatero denied it and claimed that one of his purposes was to help solve the crisis.

From 2002 to 2003

In 2002, Zapatero was chosen as the Socialist candidate for the next General Election. He was appointed directly, without a prior primary election .

In 2002, the People's Party Government decided to reform the system of unemployment benefits, as it thought that there were too many workers who being able to find a job preferred to continue receiving public money. This led to a redefinition of those who were eligible for unemployment benefits. Left-wing parties and trade unions considered that redefinition an unacceptable reduction of rights. Zapatero became the political leader of the opposition against the reform (dubbed the Decretazo, because it was passed using a decree-law), which served him as his first important clash with Aznar's government.

A General Strike was announced for 20 June 2002 (the first since Aznar won the election in 1996). According to official data (including the electrical power consumption and the number of worked man-days calculated by the Social Security) the turnout was lower than 15 percent, the lowest since the restoration of democracy (there were four General Strikes during Felipe González' premiership). The unions and Zapatero disbelieved the data and considered the strike a resounding success, with more than "10 million" workers. Whatever the result, both the People's Party government and the trade unions signed an agreement that satisfied both parties in November.

In May 2002, Felipe González declared in reference to the change in the Socialist Party that "My state of mind tells me that a change has taken place, that perhaps a second Suresnes has happened, but it has yet to be proved that a new project with content and ideas really exists", thus doubting Zapatero's leadership. That declaration was expressed in a public event also attended by Zapatero, who calmly expressed his disagreement. González ended his intervention by remembering that his candidate for Secretary General was José Bono, not Zapatero. González backtracked the next day, declaring that either his words had been incorrectly construed or he had expressed his ideas erroneously. José Bono himself confirmed his total support for Zapatero. The incident seemed to confirm that Zapatero's strategy was not working.

On 22 October 2002 Zapatero spoke in the name of the Socialist Party during the debate about the National Budget. Initially, Jordi Sevilla was to have been the Socialist spokesman but, at the last moment, he was replaced in a surprise move. When Jordi Sevilla, after being called by the speaker, had already descended to the floor of the Congress of Deputies, Zapatero said to him "let me do it" and climbed to the orator platform. José María Aznar and other members of the People's Party had previously criticized him for not representing his party in the debate, suggesting a lack of the necessary political skills. Zapatero tried to prove it was false, and it seems that his action had quite a positive effect on his supporters; although the People's Party considered his action too theatrical.

In November 2002, the oil tanker Prestige suffered an accident in international waters near Galicia (a region in the Northwestern tip of Spain) that caused a grave oil slick which mainly affected Galicia, but also, to a lesser degree all the northern coast of Spain, and even the coast of France. The tanker was ordered by the governmental authorities to be moved away from the coast because it seems that the oil is easier to recover from the water than from the sand - for example, special ships already prepared for that exist - and increasing the distance increases the affected area but decreases the number of irremediably affected places. The Prestige finally split and sank.

Zapatero blamed the PP Government management during and after the accident for the accident. The decision to take the tanker away was especially criticized as Zapatero expressed it to be unnecessary. Zapatero thought that it should have been allowed to enter a harbour.

The accident and its consequences became the main source of Socialist criticisms and the biggest point of friction, together with Iraq, until the election of 2004. A Socialist MP in the Regional Assembly of Madrid, Antonio Carmona, declared soon after the catastrophe: "We have more than enough votes, if not, we will sink another boat". He resigned because of this statement. Jesús Caldera, who became a minister after the victory in 2004, was heavily criticized by the People's Party for using a manipulated document relative to the route of the Prestige in a parliamentary debate about the catastrophe. These events were used by the People Party's "to demonstrate" the "demagogical strategy" of the Socialist Party.

Probably, the main point of friction between Aznar and Zapatero was the war in Iraq. Opinion polls showed that a clear majority of Spanish voters (around 90 percent) were against the U.S.-led attack against Saddam Hussein's regime. Among them, Zapatero who considered any action against Saddam's regime to be illegal and who was opposed to the very concept of preemptive war.

On 26 May 2003 a Yakovlev Yak-42 plane carrying Spanish soldiers coming home from Afghanistan crashed in Turkey. The plane had been hired by an agency of NATO and any other country could have used it. In Zapatero's view it presented clear dangers and he blamed Aznar and his government for neglecting aspects like the plane insurance or safety. Further, Aznar had rejected calls for a full inquiry into the crash. After the 2004 March elections it was proven that there had been serious irregularities when recognizing the bodies with an important number of mistakes in the identifications.

Concerning the European Constitution, Zapatero criticized the People's Party Government for fighting to preserve the distribution of power agreed by the Nice treaty (December 2000) in the new European Constitution. Zapatero thought that Spain should accept a lesser share of power.

2003 local elections

On 25 May 2003, the first local and regional elections since Zapatero's appointment as leader of the Socialist party took place. The Socialist Party received a larger popular vote (which prompted Zapatero to claim his party had been the winner) but the People's Party obtained more posts in councils and regional governments. In general, there were not many changes in the results compared to those of the previous Elections held in 1999. The Socialists lost the Balearic Islands but got enough votes in Madrid to govern through a coalition with the communists of the United Left. The last "victory" was welcomed by Zapatero as the winner in Madrid had always won the next general election. However, an unexpected scandal, the so-called Madrid Assembly Scandal, negatively affected the socialist expectations of a victory in 2004.

After the Madrid election, the People's Party lacked two seats to obtain an absolute majority. This seemed to allow an alliance of Socialists and the United Left to seize power. But an unexpected event happened. Eduardo Tamayo and María Teresa Sáez, two Socialist MPs angry at the distribution of power in the future regional government between the United Left and the Socialist Party started a crisis that led to a re-run of the Election in Madrid in October 2003 with the subsequent victory of the People's Party.

Zapatero did not accept the account of the Socialist MPs and tried to explain it as a conspiratorial plot caused by speculative interests of the house building industry that would have bribed the MPs to prevent a left-wing government. The People's Party, on the other hand, defended the theory that the anger of the two Socialist MPs was caused by Zapatero's broken promise about the referred distribution of power within the Madrid section of the Socialist Party. That promise would have been made some months before the crisis in exchange of support for one of his more immediate collaborators (Trinidad Jiménez), who wanted to become the Socialist candidate for mayor of Madrid (the Spanish capital).

It was known that Eduardo Tamayo had played an active role in Zapatero's appointment as Secretary General of the party (See Zapatero's years as an opposition leader#Appointment as Secretary General), together with José Luis Balbás, the leader of the internal faction to which Eduardo Tamayo belonged, who was also expelled from the party because of the scandal.

Zapatero's team had entered into contact with José Luis Balbás through Enrique Martínez and Jesús Caldera (current Minister of Labor), who already knew him. In April 2000, Zapatero, Caldera and José Blanco had had lunch with Eduardo Tamayo in a restaurant in Madrid. Tamayo would become later a representative of Zapatero in the 35th party national conference. At the end of the month "Renovadores de la Base" (the faction of Tamayo and Balbás) decided to support Zapatero and the later agreed to be part of Zapatero's team. He played an important role during Zapatero's promotion. For example, Balbás together with José Blanco controlled the list of delegates. It was a fundamental job, as the different tasks of promotion needed that list, at least, to contact the delegates for the conference.

This was used by Zapatero's rivals to introduce doubts over Zapatero's leadership of the Socialist Party and over his honesty.

During the Debate over the State of the Nation, an annual debate that takes place every year in the Spanish Congress of Deputies, Zapatero was harshly criticised by José María Aznar on account of the scandal. For the first time, the opinion polls showed that most Spaniards believed that the then Spanish Prime Minister had been the winner (Zapatero had always been considered the winner since his first debate in 2001).

The scandal was especially damaging for the Socialists because they had to overcome their reputation of being a corrupt party to again become the government of Spain. The two MP's rebellion seemed to prove they were unable to solve their old problems.

Later, in October, a regional election took place in Catalonia, whose results were worse than expected for the Socialist Party. All the Autonomous communities of Spain hold the elections to their assemblies the same day, with the exception of Andalusia, Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country. That day coincides with the municipal elections all over Spain. Therefore, the results are hugely significant.

On 16 November 2003, the regional election for the Assembly of Catalonia was held. Two days before, Zapatero had predicted a historic victory for the Socialists' Party of Catalonia and the beginning of the People's Party defeat. The Socialist Party won the election in popular vote but CiU obtained more MPs due to the electoral law. The final results were 46 seats for Convergence and Union (CiU) (ten fewer than in 1999, the year of the previous election), 42 for the Socialist Party (ten fewer), 15 for the People's Party (three more), 9 for Iniciativa per Catalunya-Verds and 23 (nine more) for the Republican Left of Catalonia. Zapatero attributed the bad results to the consequences of the crisis of Madrid. However, Maragall became the President of the Regional Government after a Pact with Republican Left of Catalonia and Iniciativa per Catalunya-Verds.

That alliance resulted in another setback for the Socialist Party when the Spanish newspaper ABC published an article stating that Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira, leader of Republican Left of Catalonia, had met some ETA members secretly in January 2004. According to ABC, Carod-Rovira had promised to provide ETA with political support if the group did not act in Catalonia, which seemed to have been confirmed by the ETA announcement of a truce affecting only that region some months later, before the general election of 2004. Carod-Rovira resigned as vice president of the Catalan government, but continued to be the leader of his party. The scandal damaged Zapatero's image, as ETA and political violence are controversial issues in Spain and Carod-Rovira's party was seen as a possible ally if Zapatero won the election.

At end of 2003 and the beginning of 2004 the Spanish political parties started to prepare themselves for the general election of 2004. All of the opinion polls elaborated at the time foreseen a defeat for Zapatero, as they always predicted a new victory for the People's Party. (See Zapatero and the 2004 General Election)

The 2004 general election

Election campaign

The campaign for the General Election started a fortnight before 14 March 2004. Polls favoured the People's Party, with some polls predicting a possible repeat of their absolute majority.

Previously, on 8 January 2004, Zapatero had created a Committee of Notables composed of 10 highly qualified experts with considerable political weight. Its mission was to help him to become prime minister. Among its members: José Bono (his ex-rival for the Secretaryship of the party and later appointed Minister of Defence), Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra (president of the regional government of Extremadura and one of the most important socialist leaders), Miguel Ángel Moratinos (his minister of Foreign affairs 2004-2010), Gregorio Peces-Barba (later appointed by him High Commissioner for the Victims of Terrorism, although he has already made public his resignation), Carmen Calvo (later appointed Minister of Culture), etc.

Ten days later, on 18 January 2004, Zapatero announced that he would only become prime minister if the Spanish Socialist Workers Party received a plurality, renouncing possible parliamentary alliances in advance if that situation did not happen after the election. Minority parties (especially United Left, a communist party) criticized the decision, for they considered it an attempt to attract their own voters, who would rather ensure a defeat of the People's Party even at the expense of voting for an unfavorable party.

Zapatero's slogan became "we deserve a better Spain", which was coupled with "Zapatero Presidente", or "(ZP)", which itself has become a popular nickname of the current Spanish Prime Minister.

Campaign promises

180,000 new houses every year to buy or to rent

Preservation of a balanced budget with no deficit but with a more flexible approach than that of the People's Party

Bilingual education (English and Spanish, together with the official regional language in the areas where it existed)

A computer for every two students

A two year maximum for legal processes or financial compensation

Further investment in research and development

Make the state-owned television company more independent from the government by making its director answerable to parliament, etc.

During the campaign, Zapatero harshly criticized the People's Party for its management of the Prestige crisis, its attitude towards the invasion of Iraq and the high cost of housing. Mariano Rajoy, the new leader of the People's Party after Aznar's voluntary retirement, on his part, attacked Zapatero's foreseeable future alliances with parties like United Left or Republican Left of Catalonia (a pro-Independence Catalan party).

One of the most important points of friction was the absence of televised debates between the candidates. Zapatero was the first to propose a debate to Mariano Rajoy. Rajoy accepted on the condition that Zapatero could not be alone but accompanied at least by two of his potential allies after the election: Gaspar Llamazares (the leader of United Left) and Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira (leader of Republican Left of Catalonia). Rajoy justified his decision on the grounds that, in his opinion, he was not running against the Socialist Party but against a "coalition" of forces opposed to the People's Party's policies. Zapatero never formally responded to this proposal and throughout the campaign he continued criticizing what he always defined as Rajoy's reluctance to defend his political program face-to-face. (Zapatero has promised to change electoral law to make televised debates compulsory.)

Madrid Bombings

On 11 March 2004 the most deadly peacetime attacks in Spanish history took place. Several commuter trains were bombed, causing 191 deaths and outrage all over Spain. The attacks took place three days before the General Election and all electoral activities were suspended. The common sorrow, instead of promoting unity among Spaniards, increased the already bitter tone of the campaign.

The People's Party government and Zapatero (who accused ETA in a radio statement broadcast at 8:50 a.m.), initially claimed the attacks to be the work of ETA, an armed Basque nationalist separatist organization. Later, after an audiotape in Arabic was found in a van near a railway station where the perpetrators boarded one of the trains, Aznar declared that all of the possibilities were being investigated. The government was accused of manipulating information about who was responsible for the attacks to avoid the consequences of public anger at a bombing motivated by its foreign policy - Aznar personally phoned the editors of the four national daily newspapers to tell them that ETA were responsible, whilst Minister of the Interior Ángel Acebes attacked those who believed that responsibility lay elsewhere, despite not offering any evidence for ETA's culpability, and the state broadcaster TVE initially failed to report the protest outside the Popular Party's headquarters which ran through the night before the day of the election.

Zapatero himself has repeatedly accused the Popular Party of lying about those who were responsible for the attacks. On the other hand, the book 11-M. La venganza by Casimiro Abadillo, a Spanish journalist who works for the newspaper El Mundo, claims that, before the General Election, Zapatero had told that newspaper's director, Pedro J. Ramirez, that two suicide bombers had been found among the victims (although the specialists that examined the bodies said they found no such evidence). When he was asked in December 2004 about the issue by the Parliamentary Investigative Committee created to find the truth about the attacks, he declared that he did not remember what he had said.

Election day

The campaign had ended abruptly two days before it was expected to convene as a result of the bombings. The day before the elections — in this case 13 March 2004 — is considered to be a "Day of Reflection" under Spanish electoral law, with candidates and their parties legally barred from political campaigning. Despite this prohibition, numerous demonstrations took place against the government of José María Aznar in front of the premises of the People's Party all over Spain. There were some claims that most of these demonstrations were instigated or orchestrated by the Socialist Party, through the use of SMS text messaging from mobile phones belonging to the Socialist Party. The Socialist Party publicly denied these accusations.

As the demonstrations escalated, Mariano Rajoy himself appeared on national TV to denounce the illegal demonstrations. In reply, both José Blanco and Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba broke the silence from the Socialist Party's side, in separate appearances. In the end both sides accused each other of breaking the electoral law on reflection day.

In this climate of social unrest and post-attack shock, the elections were held on 14 March 2004. Zapatero's Socialist Party won the elections, with 164 seats in the Cortes, while the People's Party obtained 148. It seems likely that the election result was influenced to a greater or lesser extent by the Spanish public's response to the attacks and the informative coverage by the different media and political parties. He took office on 17 April.

Influence of the attacks on the election outcome

An important point of controversy is if the purpose of the Madrid attacks were to force a Socialist victory; at issue as well was that, if that was the case, whether they succeeded in altering the final result. This has been called the "4 March theory" (that is, if the election had been scheduled for 7 March, the attacks would have taken place on 4 March) by Aznar, among others. No definitive data exists in favour of that possibility but some facts have been used to support it. Thus, the first question Jamal Zougam (one of the first arrested suspects) made when he arrived at the Courthouse on 15 March 2004 was: 'Who won the election?'.

How the bombing influenced the results is widely debated. The three schools of thought are:

The attacks themselves might have changed the electoral winner. A sufficient number of voters suddenly decided to vote for the Socialist party because they thought that if it won, Islamist terrorism would be placated.

The handling of the attacks by the government, rather than the attacks themselves, might have changed the electoral winner. People who had the perception that the information about the attacks was being manipulated decided to vote the Socialist party as a response.

The attacks might have changed the result but not the winner. The Socialist Party was going to win but with fewer votes. (Despite this claim, most polls before the attacks gave a victory to Mariano Rajoy.)

At least some of these controversies put a blemish on Zapatero's victory, as the shadow of what had happened the three previous days did not allow the Socialist Party to fully enjoy its triumph.

The electoral result was considered by some foreign media, especially in the US, an example of weakness that would encourage further terrorist attacks, as Zapatero had opposed George W. Bush's policy in the Middle East and had promised to withdraw the Spanish troops from Iraq.

The theory that the bombing affected the result is a counterfactual that cannot be verified. As elections in European states hinge on social and economic policies mainly, it is equally possible the terrorist events had no notable effect. In this regard, a majority of 74% of the Spanish people were against Spanish involvement in the war.

On 13 June 2004 (three months after the General Election) the Election for the European Parliament took place. The Socialist Party tied with 25 seats vs 25 for the People's Party (out of 54), but narrowly won in popular vote. Although José Borrell was the official candidate, Zapatero played an important role in that campaign (as is usual in Spain).

Premiership

name	José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
reference	Excelentísimo Señor (Don)
spoken	Señor Presidente
alternative	Señor Zapatero, Don José Luis }}

In the Spanish media, Zapatero is sometimes portrayed as a mock superman called "soso-man" (Spanish for "dull man"). It reflects a popular image of the Premier as a politician devoid of any strong political convictions or marked personality traits. His style's defining word is (buen) talante, roughly "pleasantness", "niceness" or "good disposition", which is in brisk and carefully chosen contrast with the more confrontational and brusque premiership style of previous Prime Minister José María Aznar. Sometimes, however, the talante "appears to be a mere end in itself and has laid him open to the claim that what you see is what you get; a bland, soft-focus premiership that lacks precision, vision or strategic goals". Similarly, Zapatero has been quoted to shy away from adopting unpopular measures, having a "habit of showering public money on any problem" and, in all, being "averse to tough decisions".

Withdrawal from Iraq

One of the first measures he carried out as soon as he took office was to withdraw every Spanish soldier fighting in Iraq, which he did in less than a month. This drew criticism from the right, who held the view that he was ceding to the pressure of the terrorists who attacked Spain. However, it was a measure announced by him before the general elections and supported by the majority of Spanish population.

Domestic policy

Much of Zapatero's work has been on social issues, including gender-motivated violence and discrimination, divorce and same-sex marriage. The most recent social issue tackled has been the Dependency Law, a plan to regulate help and resources for people in dire need of them, and who cannot provide for themselves and must rely on others on a daily basis. Zapatero has also made it clear that he values funding of research and development and higher education and believes them to be essential for Spain's economic competitiveness. At the same time, he has increased the minimum wage and pursued other classically socialist policies. He has also announced his intention to undertake limited reforms to the Spanish Constitution, though no specifics have been made available.

Economic problems

Facing a recession and rising unemployment, ZP pledged to cut government spending by 4.5% and raise taxes, but not income taxes. The Popular Party contends that ZP lacked a coherent economic plan and stated "There is no tax increase capable of filling the hole that you have created,". On June 23, 2008 Zapatero announced 21 reforms designed to aid economic recovery in a speech pointedly avoiding popular terms of the period such as 'crisis'. Although government deficits are projected to increase to 10% of GDP, ZP promises to reduce it to 3% required by EU policy by 2012.

In January 2011 Spain's Unemployment Rate had risen to 20.33% exceeding Prime Minister Zapatero's target rate of 19.4 percent.

LGBT rights

The legalization of same-sex marriage in Spain on 1 July 2005 includes adoption rights as well as other rights that were previously only available to heterosexual couples. This caused a stir within the Catholic Church, which opposed the measures and supported a demonstration attended by some 166,000 (according to official figures) and one million people (according to the organisers) in Madrid.

In 2007, Zapatero's government was also responsible for a Gender Identity Law that allows transsexual persons the right to have their identity legally recognised, the criteria being one clinical evaluation and two years of treatment (generally hormone replacement therapy), and without demanding mandatory genital surgery or irreversible sterility. The law is, alongside with the legislation of some US states, one of the most simple and non-bureaucratic that currently exist in the world. Transsexual persons also have the right to marry persons of the opposite or same sex they have transitioned into, and to biologically parent children either before or after transitioning.

Regional territorial tensions

Zapatero has often declared that his government will not be "soft on terrorism" and will not allow regional nationalists to endanger Spanish unity. Some say that this comment was probably made for his party alliances with parties like Republican Left of Catalonia.

On 13 November 2003 in a rally in Barcelona during the election campaign that took Pasqual Maragall to power in the Generalitat, Rodríguez Zapatero gave a famous promise to approve the Statute of Catalonia: :I will support the reform of the Statute of Catalonia that the Parliament of Catalonia approves.

In October 2005, a controversial proposal to reform the Catalan statute arrived at the Spanish parliament after being passed in Catalonia. Zapatero, who had often expressed his support for a change of the statute (although he did not entirely support the draft passed by the Catalan Parliament), supported the reform.

Spanish Civil War remnants

In October 2004 Zapatero's government undertook the task of morally and legally rehabilitating those who were suppressed during and after the Spanish Civil War, by instituting a Memorial Commission chaired by Vice-Prime Minister María Teresa Fernández de la Vega.

On 17 March 2005, Zapatero's government ordered the removal of the last remaining statue of former dictator Francisco Franco that remained in Madrid.

Reform of the education system

Just after he took office, Zapatero repealed the law reforming the Education System passed by the previous government and, in November 2005, introduced his own reform bill. The bill was opposed by the People's Party, the Catholic Church, the Muslim community, The Catholic Confederation of Parents' Associations and an important part of the educational community, often for disparate reasons. Complaints against the reform include the limits it imposes upon parents' freedom to choose a school, the decrease in academic status of voluntary religious education, the introduction of a compulsory course ("Education for Citizenship") and a perceived ineffectiveness of the reform in terms of combating poor educational results. The last complaint would be reinforced by the opinion that Spain has ranked poorly amongst the developed countries in the quality and results of its education.

After a major demonstration took place against this education reform, the government held a series of meetings with many of the organizations that opposed the reform, reaching agreements with some of them (especially parents' associations and teachers' unions). Some others, most prominently the People's Party and the Catholic Church remain staunchly opposed to it.

ETA

ETA declared what it described at the time as a "permanent ceasefire" that began on midnight 23 March 2006. On 5 June 2007 ETA declared this ceasefire over. After the initial ceasefire declaration Zapatero informed the Congress that steps would be taken to negotiate with ETA in order to end its terrorist campaign while denying that there would be any political price paid to put an end to ETA. The PP grew concerned about the possibility of political concessions being made to the group to stop their ways, and actively opposed anything other than the possibility of an organized surrender and dismantling of ETA, refusing to support any kind of negotiation. On 30 December 2006 the ceasefire was broken when a car bomb exploded in Madrid's International Airport, Barajas and ETA claimed authorship. Following this, Zapatero gave orders to halt initiatives leading to negotiations with ETA. Demonstrations across Spain followed the next day, most condemning the attack, others condemning the Government's policies and a minority even questioning the authorship of the Madrid bombings.

A massive rally in Madrid followed on 25 February 2007 promoted by the Victims of Terrorism Association (AVT in Spanish acronym), rejecting what are perceived to be concessions from the government to the separatists.

On 10 March 2007 a new massive rally was held in Madrid gathering -depending on the source's relationships to the government- between 342,000 and over two million people. This demonstration was organized by the opposition party PP and backed by the AVT and several other associations of victims, to not allow Iñaki de Juana Chaos out of prison and accusing Zapatero's government of surrendering to terrorism.

Immigration

During the meeting of the European Union Justice and Home Affairs Ministers held in Tampere on 22 September 2006, some of the European ministers reprimanded the Spanish authorities for the aforementioned massive regularisation of undocumented immigrants which was regarded as too loose and opposed to the policies of other State members (on 2 September and 3 alone, during the height of the last illegal immigration wave, 2,283 people arrived illegally in the Canary Islands having shipped from Senegal aboard 27 pirogues).

Once they reach Spanish territory, the undocumented immigrants can travel freely -for the internal frontiers are basically open within the European Union (with the exception of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland who maintain full border controls); thus, it is not unknown for some of them have other European countries as their final destinations. This started a short lived polemic between France's Nicolas Sarkozy and the Spanish premier Rodríguez Zapatero.

Areas of foreign policy action

Iraq

Before being elected, Zapatero opposed the American policy in regard to Iraq pursued by former Spanish Prime Minister Aznar. During the electoral campaign Zapatero had promised to withdraw the troops if control in Iraq was not passed to the United Nations after 30 June (the ending date of the initial Spanish military agreement with the multinational coalition that had overthrown Saddam Hussein). Zapatero declared that he did not intend to withdraw the Spanish troops before that date after being questioned about the issue by the People's Party's leader Mariano Rajoy in his inauguration parliamentary debate as Prime Minister.

On 19 April 2004 Zapatero announced the withdrawal of the 1,300 Spanish troops in Iraq.

The decision aroused international support worldwide, though the Bush administration claimed that terrorists could perceive it as "a victory obtained due to the 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings". John Kerry, then Democratic party candidate for the U.S. Presidency, asked Zapatero not to withdraw the Spanish soldiers. Some months after withdrawing the troops, the Zapatero government agreed to increase the number of Spanish soldiers in Afghanistan and to send troops to Haiti to show the Spanish Government's willingness to spend resources on international missions approved by the United Nations.

On 8 June 2004, with the withdrawal already complete, Zapatero's government voted in the United Nations Security Council in favour of Resolution 1546 where the following could be read:

:"The Security Council, Recognising the importance of international support [...] for the people of Iraq [...], Affirming the importance of international assistance in reconstruction and development of the Iraqi economy [...]

:15. Requests Member States and international and regional organizations to contribute assistance to the multinational force, including military forces, as agreed with the Government of Iraq, to help meet the needs of the Iraqi people for security and stability, humanitarian and reconstruction assistance, and to support the efforts of UNAMI;"

Latin America

An important change in Spanish foreign policy was Zapatero's decision to approach left-wing leaders such as Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez. Zapatero has played an important role in the improvement of the relationship between the Cuban government and the European Union.

At the end of March 2005, Zapatero travelled to Venezuela to sign a deal to sell military ships and aircraft to Venezuela worth around US$1 billion. The US government attempted to intervene but failed, accusing Venezuela of being a "dangerous country."

After the election of Evo Morales in Bolivia, Spain was one of the countries the new president visited during his first international tour.

At the 2007 Ibero-American Summit, Chávez called Zapatero's predecessor José María Aznar a fascist for allegedly supporting the 2002 coup attempt. Zapatero used his speaking time to defend Aznar, noting that he was "democratically elected by the Spanish people." Chávez kept trying to interrupt Zapatero, even as summit organisers turned off his microphone. King Juan Carlos, who was seated beside Zapatero, attempted to rebuke Chávez, but was stopped by Zapatero who, displaying significant patience, told him to wait a moment. When Chávez continued to interrupt Zapatero, Juan Carlos, in a rare outburst of anger, asked Chávez "¿Por qué no te callas?" (Why don't you shut up?). The king left the hall shortly afterwards when the President of Nicaragua began to criticize the Spanish government as well. Zapatero continued to participate in the negotiations, later delivering, to loud applause, a speech demanding respect for the leaders of other countries.

United States

The relations between José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and former U.S. president George W. Bush were difficult, mostly as a result of Zapatero's opposition to the war in Iraq.

On 12 October 2003, during the Fiesta Nacional de España military parade held in Madrid, then opposition leader and presidential candidate Zapatero remained seated as a U.S. Marine Corps honour guard carrying the American flag walked past Zapatero and other VIPs. Everybody else stood as with the rest of the foreign guest armies representations. He declared afterwards that his action was a protest against the war and certainly not intended as an insult to the American people.

Later on, during an official visit to Tunisia shortly after Zapatero was elected, he asked all of the countries with troops in Iraq to withdraw their soldiers. This declaration moved Bush to send a letter expressing discontent to the Spanish premier.

American troops were subsequently instructed to not take part during the traditional military parade on the Spanish national holiday in 2004 and in 2005, something which they used to, as both the Spanish and American armies –being NATO allies– are part of joint humanitarian missions; American troops returned to the military parade in 2006; this time Zapatero, being the Spanish premier, stood.

Zapatero publicly stated his support for John Kerry as a candidate running in the U.S. Presidential election in 2004. After the election took place, winner George W. Bush did not return Zapatero's congratulation phone call, though the White House firmly denied that Bush's intention was to snub the Spanish prime minister. Meanwhile Zapatero repeatedly insisted that Spain's relations with the United States were good. In spite of that, Zapatero acknowledged years after that the phone conversation held with President George W. Bush was "unforgettable" and that when told that the Spanish troops were leaving Iraq, the American president had told him "I am very disappointed in you" and that the conversation ended in a "very cold" manner.

Zapatero later told a New York Times reporter off the record that he had a “certain consideration” for Bush, because “I recognise that my electoral success has been influenced by his governing style". i.e. that Bush was so unpopular in Spain that he helped Zapatero win in 2004 and 2008.

A similar situation to that of the Iraq pullout happened in March 2009, this time under the Democratic administration led by Barack Obama. Spain announced by surprise that it is pulling out from the peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. State Department spokesman Robert Wood issued unusually strong criticism by stating that the United States was "deeply disappointed" by the decision. He said that Washington only learned of the move shortly before Spain announced it publicly. Spanish Defense Minister Carme Chacon made the announcement saying, "The mission has been completed and it is time to return home." Asked if the United States shared that assessment, Wood said, "Not at all." Later on, Vice President Joe Biden stated that the American relationship with Spain goes beyond "whatever disagreement we may have over Kosovo".

Europe

Zapatero's predecessor, José María Aznar, defended a strong Atlanticist policy. Zapatero has downplayed that policy in favour of a pan-European one. He has also sponsored the idea of an Alliance of Civilizations which is co-sponsored by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

In the writing of what was to be the European Constitution Zapatero accepted the distribution of power proposed by countries such as Germany and France. After signing the treaty in Rome together with other leaders, he decided to call for a referendum, which was held on 20 February 2005. It was the first referendum on the EU treaty, a fact highly publicized by Zapatero's government. A 'Yes' vote was supported by the Socialist Party and the People's Party and as a result almost 77 percent voted in favour of the European Constitution, but turnout was around 43 percent. However, this result came to nothing when a referendum in France voted to reject the European Constitution which meant that the EU could not ratify the treaty because support was not unanimous.

Presidency of the European Union

On 1 January 2010, Spain assumed the Presidency of the European Union for the first six months of the 18 month 'Trio' along with Belgium and Hungary. Within days, Spain's web site for its Presidency www.eu2010.es was defaced by a picture of the main character of a popular television show, Mr. Bean, the supposed lookalike of Zapatero although the XSS attack lasted only several hours.

France and Germany

On 1 March 2005, Zapatero became the first Spanish prime minister to speak to the French National Assembly. He supported the PS candidate Ségolène Royal during her campaign for the 2007 French presidential election.

Zapatero directly supported the SPD candidate, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, before the German election of 18 September 2005.

Gibraltar

While Zapatero complained about Gibraltar's celebrations for the tercentenary of British rule and rejected the Gibraltarians' requests for Spain to recognise their right to self-determination, at the end of 2004 his policy changed and he became the first Spanish prime minister to accept the participation of Gibraltar as a partner on the same level as Spain and the United Kingdom in discussions both countries hold regularly concerning the territory. The decision was criticized by many in Spain as a surrender of their claim to sovereignty over Gibraltar as well as an alleged disruption of the Treaty of Utrecht. Zapatero said it was a new way to solve a 300-year-old issue.

Israel and Palestine

:''See: 2006 Franco-Italian-Spanish Middle East Peace Plan.

2008 election

On 9 March 2008, Zapatero won the general elections. The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). won with 43.8 percent of the votes with 93 percent of the votes counted. Two days earlier, on 7 March, Isaías Carrasco, a PSOE Basque politician was shot dead in what is believed to be an attack by ETA, and which resulted in the agreed canceling of the final days of the campaign.

Ancestry

{{ahnentafel-compact5 |style=font-size: 90%; line-height: 110%; background-color: transparent; margin:auto; |border=1 |boxstyle=padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0; |boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc; |boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9; |boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc; |boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc; |boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe; |1= José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero |2= Juan Rodríguez y García-Lozano |3= María de la Purificación Zapatero y Valero |4= Juan Rodríguez y Lozano |5= Josefina García y García |6= Faustino Zapatero y Coronel |7= María de la Natividad Valero y Asensio |8= Sebastián Rodríguez |9= N Lozano |10= |11= }}

See also

History of Spain

Politics of Spain

Viva Zapatero!

Constitutive Treaty

References

External links

Official

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

(2004–2005) (2009–2010)

Press

The Economist, Jun 24th 2004">"The second transition, a survey of Spain" The Economist, Jun 24th 2004

Interview published by Time, 19 Sep 2004

The Times">"Accidental Prime Minister" The Times

Extended biography by CIDOB Foundation

"The real Rodriguez Zapatero"; Critical review from the Victims of Terrorism association

|- |- |years=2000–present}} |- |-

Category:1960 births Category:Current national leaders Category:Living people Category:Members of the third Congress of Deputies (Spain) Category:Members of the fourth Congress of Deputies (Spain) Category:Members of the fifth Congress of Deputies (Spain) Category:Members of the sixth Congress of Deputies (Spain) Category:Members of the seventh Congress of Deputies (Spain) Category:Members of the eighth Congress of Deputies (Spain) Category:Members of the ninth Congress of Deputies (Spain) Category:People from Valladolid Category:Prime Ministers of Spain Category:Recipients of the Order of the Three Stars, 2nd Class Category:Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 1st Class Category:Spanish agnostics Category:Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politicians

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honorific-prefix	The Honourable
name	Bob Marley
alt	Black and white picture of a man with long dreadlocks playing the guitar on stage.
background	solo_singer
birth name	Robert Nesta Marley
alias	Tuff Gong
birth date	February 06, 1945
birth place	Nine Mile, Saint Ann, Jamaica
death date	May 11, 1981
death place	Miami, Florida, U.S.
instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano, saxophone, harmonica, percussion
genre	Reggae, ska, rocksteady
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician
years active	1962–1981
label	Studio One, Upsetter, Tuff Gong
associated acts	Bob Marley & The Wailers, Wailers Band, The Upsetters, I Threes
website
notable instruments	Gibson Les Paul Special }}

Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers (1963–1981). Marley remains the most widely known and revered performer of reggae music, and is credited with helping spread both Jamaican music and the Rastafari movement to a worldwide audience.

Marley's music was heavily influenced by the social issues of his homeland, and he is considered to have given voice to the specific political and cultural nexus of Jamaica. His best-known hits include "I Shot the Sheriff", "No Woman, No Cry", "Could You Be Loved", "Stir It Up", "Jamming", "Redemption Song", "One Love" and, together with The Wailers, "Three Little Birds", as well as the posthumous releases "Buffalo Soldier" and "Iron Lion Zion". The compilation album Legend (1984), released three years after his death, is reggae's best-selling album, going ten times Platinum which is also one Diamond in the U.S., and selling 25 million copies worldwide.

Early life and career

Bob Marley was born in the village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica as Nesta Robert Marley. A Jamaican passport official would later swap his first and middle names. His father, Norval Sinclair Marley, was a white Jamaican of mixed and English descent whose family came from Essex, England. Norval was a captain in the Royal Marines, as well as a plantation overseer, when he married Cedella Booker, an Afro-Jamaican then 18 years old. Norval provided financial support for his wife and child, but seldom saw them, as he was often away on trips. In 1955, when Marley was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack at age 70. Marley faced questions about his own racial identity throughout his life. He once reflected:

I don't have prejudice against meself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don't dip on nobody's side. Me don't dip on the black man's side nor the white man's side. Me dip on God's side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white.

Although Marley recognised his mixed ancestry, throughout his life and because of his beliefs, he self-identified as a black African, following the ideas of Pan-African leaders. Marley stated that his two biggest influences were the African-centered Marcus Garvey and Haile Selassie. A central theme in Bob Marley's message was the repatriation of black people to Zion, which in his view was Ethiopia, or more generally, Africa. In songs such as "Black Survivor", "Babylon System", and "Blackman Redemption", Marley sings about the struggles of blacks and Africans against oppression from the West or "Babylon".

Marley became friends with Neville "Bunny" Livingston (later known as Bunny Wailer), with whom he started to play music. He left school at the age of 14 to make music with Joe Higgs, a local singer and devout Rastafari. At a jam session with Higgs and Livingston, Marley met Peter McIntosh (later known as Peter Tosh), who had similar musical ambitions. In 1962, Marley recorded his first two singles, "Judge Not" and "One Cup of Coffee", with local music producer Leslie Kong. These songs, released on the Beverley's label under the pseudonym of Bobby Martell, attracted little attention. The songs were later re-released on the box set Songs of Freedom, a posthumous collection of Marley's work.

Bob Marley & the Wailers

1963–1974

In 1963, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith formed a ska and rocksteady group, calling themselves "The Teenagers". They later changed their name to "The Wailing Rudeboys", then to "The Wailing Wailers", at which point they were discovered by record producer Coxsone Dodd, and finally to "The Wailers". By 1966, Braithwaite, Kelso, and Smith had left The Wailers, leaving the core trio of Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, and Peter Tosh.

In 1966, Marley married Rita Anderson, and moved near his mother's residence in Wilmington, Delaware in the United States for a short time, during which he worked as a DuPont lab assistant and on the assembly line at a Chrysler plant, under the alias Donald Marley.

Though raised in the Catholic tradition, Marley became captivated by Rastafarian beliefs in the 1960s, when away from his mother's influence. Formally converted to Rastafari after returning to Jamaica, Marley began to wear his trademark dreadlocks (see the religion section for more on Marley's religious views). After a conflict with Dodd, Marley and his band teamed up with Lee "Scratch" Perry and his studio band, The Upsetters. Although the alliance lasted less than a year, they recorded what many consider The Wailers' finest work. Marley and Perry split after a dispute regarding the assignment of recording rights, but they would remain friends and work together again.

Between 1968 and 1972, Bob and Rita Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer re-cut some old tracks with JAD Records in Kingston and London in an attempt to commercialise The Wailers' sound. Bunny later asserted that these songs "should never be released on an album ... they were just demos for record companies to listen to". Also in 1968, Bob and Rita visited the Bronx to see Johnny Nash's songwriter Jimmy Norman. A three-day jam session with Norman and others, including Norman's co-writer Al Pyfrom, resulted in a 24-minute tape of Marley performing several of his own and Norman-Pyfrom's compositions. This tape is, according to Reggae archivist Roger Steffens, rare in that it was influenced by pop rather than reggae, as part of an effort to break Marley into the American charts. According to an article in The New York Times, Marley experimented on the tape with different sounds, adopting a doo-wop style on "Stay With Me" and "the slow love song style of 1960's artists" on "Splish for My Splash". An artist yet to establish himself outside his native Jamaica, Marley lived in Ridgmount Gardens, Camden, London during 1972.

In 1972, the Wailers entered into an ill-fated deal with CBS Records and embarked on a tour with American soul singer Johnny Nash. Broke, the Wailers became stranded in London. Marley turned up at Island Records founder and producer Chris Blackwell's London office, and asked him to advance the cost of a new single. Since Jimmy Cliff, Island's top reggae star, had recently left the label, Blackwell was primed for a replacement. In Marley, Blackwell recognized the elements needed to snare the rock audience: "I was dealing with rock music, which was really rebel music. I felt that would really be the way to break Jamaican music. But you needed someone who could be that image. When Bob walked in he really was that image." Blackwell told Marley he wanted The Wailers to record a complete album (essentially unheard of at the time). When Marley told him it would take between £3,000 and £4,000, Blackwell trusted him with the greater sum. Despite their "rude boy" reputation, the Wailers returned to Kingston and honored the deal, delivering the album Catch A Fire.

Primarily recorded on eight-track at Harry J's in Kingston, Catch A Fire marked the first time a reggae band had access to a state-of-the-art studio and were accorded the same care as their rock'n'roll peers. Blackwell desired to create "more of a drifting, hypnotic-type feel than a reggae rhythm", and restructured Marley's mixes and arrangements. Marley travelled to London to supervise Blackwell's overdubbing of the album, which included tempering the mix from the bass-heavy sound of Jamaican music, and omitting two tracks.

The Wailers' first major label album, Catch a Fire was released worldwide in April 1973, packaged like a rock record with a unique Zippo lighter lift-top. Initially selling 14,000 units, it didn't make Marley a star, but received a positive critical reception. It was followed later that year by Burnin', which included the standout songs "Get Up, Stand Up", and "I Shot the Sheriff", which appealed to the ear of Eric Clapton. He recorded a cover of the track in 1974 which became a huge American hit, raising Marley's international profile. Many Jamaicans were not keen on the new "improved" reggae sound on Catch A Fire, but the Trenchtown style of Burnin' found fans across both reggae and rock audiences.

During this period, Blackwell gifted his Kingston residence and company headquarters at 56 Hope Road (then known as Island House) to Marley. Housing Tuff Gong Studios, the property became not only Marley's office, but also his home.

The Wailers were scheduled to open 17 shows for the number one black act in the States, Sly and the Family Stone. After 4 shows, the band was fired because they were more popular than the acts they were opening for. The Wailers broke up in 1974 with each of the three main members pursuing solo careers. The reason for the breakup is shrouded in conjecture; some believe that there were disagreements amongst Bunny, Peter, and Bob concerning performances, while others claim that Bunny and Peter simply preferred solo work.

1974–1981

Despite the break-up, Marley continued recording as "Bob Marley & The Wailers". His new backing band included brothers Carlton and Aston "Family Man" Barrett on drums and bass respectively, Junior Marvin and Al Anderson on lead guitar, Tyrone Downie and Earl "Wya" Lindo on keyboards, and Alvin "Seeco" Patterson on percussion. The "I Threes", consisting of Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths, and Marley's wife, Rita, provided backing vocals. In 1975, Marley had his international breakthrough with his first hit outside Jamaica, "No Woman, No Cry", from the Natty Dread album. This was followed by his breakthrough album in the United States, Rastaman Vibration (1976), which spent four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. In December 1976, two days before "Smile Jamaica", a free concert organised by the Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley in an attempt to ease tension between two warring political groups, Marley, his wife, and manager Don Taylor were wounded in an assault by unknown gunmen inside Marley's home. Taylor and Marley's wife sustained serious injuries, but later made full recoveries. Bob Marley received minor wounds in the chest and arm. The shooting was thought to have been politically motivated, as many felt the concert was really a support rally for Manley. Nonetheless, the concert proceeded, and an injured Marley performed as scheduled, two days after the attempt. When asked why, Marley responded, "The people who are trying to make this world worse aren’t taking a day off. How can I?" The members of the group Zap Pow, which had no radical religious or political beliefs, played as Bob Marley's backup band before a festival crowd of 80,000 while members of The Wailers were still missing or in hiding.

Marley left Jamaica at the end of 1976, and after a month-long "recovery and writing" sojourn at the site of Chris Blackwell's Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, arrived in England, where he spent two years in self-imposed exile. Whilst there he recorded the albums Exodus and Kaya. Exodus stayed on the British album charts for 56 consecutive weeks. It included four UK hit singles: "Exodus", "Waiting in Vain", "Jamming", and "One Love" (a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's hit, "People Get Ready"). During his time in London, he was arrested and received a conviction for possession of a small quantity of cannabis. In 1978, Marley returned to Jamaica and performed at another political concert, the One Love Peace Concert, again in an effort to calm warring parties. Near the end of the performance, by Marley's request, Michael Manley (leader of then-ruling People's National Party) and his political rival Edward Seaga (leader of the opposing Jamaica Labour Party), joined each other on stage and shook hands.

Under the name Bob Marley and the Wailers eleven albums were released, four live albums and seven studio albums. The releases included Babylon by Bus, a double live album with thirteen tracks, were released in 1978 and received critical acclaim. This album, and specifically the final track "Jamming" with the audience in a frenzy, captured the intensity of Marley's live performances.

Survival, a defiant and politically charged album, was released in 1979. Tracks such as "Zimbabwe", "Africa Unite", "Wake Up and Live", and "Survival" reflected Marley's support for the struggles of Africans. His appearance at the Amandla Festival in Boston in July 1979 showed his strong opposition to South African apartheid, which he already had shown in his song "War" in 1976. In early 1980, he was invited to perform at the 17 April celebration of Zimbabwe's Independence Day. Uprising (1980) was Bob Marley's final studio album, and is one of his most religious productions; it includes "Redemption Song" and "Forever Loving Jah". Confrontation, released posthumously in 1983, contained unreleased material recorded during Marley's lifetime, including the hit "Buffalo Soldier" and new mixes of singles previously only available in Jamaica.

Personal life

Religion

Bob Marley was a member of the Rastafari movement, whose culture was a key element in the development of reggae. Bob Marley became an ardent proponent of Rastafari, taking their music out of the socially deprived areas of Jamaica and onto the international music scene. He once gave the following response, which was typical, to a question put to him during a recorded interview:

Interviewer: "Can you tell the people what it means being a Rastafarian?"

Bob: "I would say to the people, Be still, and know that His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is the Almighty. Now, the Bible seh so, Babylon newspaper seh so, and I and I the children seh so. Yunno? So I don't see how much more reveal our people want. Wha' dem want? a white God, well God come black. True true." Observant of the Rastafari practice Ital, a diet that shuns meat, Marley was a vegetarian. According to his biographers, he affiliated with the Twelve Tribes Mansion. He was in the denomination known as "Tribe of Joseph", because he was born in February (each of the twelve sects being composed of members born in a different month). He signified this in his album liner notes, quoting the portion from Genesis that includes Jacob's blessing to his son Joseph. Marley was baptised by the Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Kingston, Jamaica, on 4 November 1980.

Family

Bob Marley had a number of children: three with his wife Rita, two adopted from Rita's previous relationships, and several others with different women. The Bob Marley official website acknowledges eleven children.

Those listed on the official site are: # Sharon, born 23 November 1964, to Rita in previous relationship # Cedella born 23 August 1967, to Rita # David "Ziggy", born 17 October 1968, to Rita # Stephen, born 20 April 1972, to Rita # Robert "Robbie", born 16 May 1972, to Pat Williams # Rohan, born 19 May 1972, to Janet Hunt # Karen, born 1973 to Janet Bowen # Stephanie, born 17 August 1974; according to Cedella Booker she was the daughter of Rita and a man called Ital with whom Rita had an affair; nonetheless she was acknowledged as Bob's daughter # Julian, born 4 June 1975, to Lucy Pounder # Ky-Mani, born 26 February 1976, to Anita Belnavis # Damian, born 21 July 1978, to Cindy Breakspeare

Makeda was born on 30 May 1981, to Yvette Crichton, after Marley's death. Meredith Dixon's book lists her as Marley's child, but she is not listed as such on the Bob Marley official website.

Various websites, for example, also list Imani Carole, born 22 May 1963 to Cheryl Murray; but she does not appear on the official Bob Marley website.

Final years and death

In July 1977, Marley was found to have a type of malignant melanoma under the nail of one of his toes. Contrary to urban legend, this lesion was not primarily caused by an injury during a football match in that year, but was instead a symptom of the already existing cancer. Marley turned down doctors' advice to have his toe amputated, citing his religious beliefs. Despite his illness, he continued touring and was in the process of scheduling a world tour in 1980. The intention was for Inner Circle to be his opening act on the tour but after their lead singer Jacob Miller died in Jamaica in March 1980 after returning from a scouting mission in Brazil this was no longer mentioned.

The album Uprising was released in May 1980 (produced by Chris Blackwell), on which "Redemption Song" is particularly considered to be about Marley coming to terms with his mortality. The band completed a major tour of Europe, where they played their biggest concert, to a hundred thousand people in Milan. After the tour Marley went to America, where he performed two shows at Madison Square Garden as part of the Uprising Tour.

The final concert of Bob Marley's career was held September 23, 1980 at the Stanley Theater (now called The Benedum Center For The Performing Arts) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The audio recording of that concert is now available on CD, vinyl, and digital music services.

Shortly after, Marley's health deteriorated and he became very ill; the cancer had spread throughout his body. The rest of the tour was cancelled and Marley sought treatment at the Bavarian clinic of Josef Issels, where he received a controversial type of cancer therapy partly based on avoidance of certain foods, drinks, and other substances. After fighting the cancer without success for eight months, Marley boarded a plane for his home in Jamaica.

While flying home from Germany to Jamaica, Marley's vital functions worsened. After landing in Miami, Florida, he was taken to the hospital for immediate medical attention. He died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami (now University of Miami Hospital) on the morning of May 11, 1981, at the age of 36. The spread of melanoma to his lungs and brain caused his death. His final words to his son Ziggy were "Money can't buy life". Marley received a state funeral in Jamaica on 21 May 1981, which combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafari tradition. He was buried in a chapel near his birthplace with his red Gibson Les Paul (some accounts say it was a Fender Stratocaster).

On 21 May 1981, Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga delivered the final funeral eulogy to Marley, declaring:

Legacy

In 1999 Time magazine chose Bob Marley & The Wailers' Exodus as the greatest album of the 20th century. In 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and a feature-length documentary about his life, Rebel Music, won various awards at the Grammys. With contributions from Rita, The Wailers, and Marley's lovers and children, it also tells much of the story in his own words. A statue was inaugurated, next to the national stadium on Arthur Wint Drive in Kingston to commemorate him. In 2006, the State of New York renamed a portion of Church Avenue from Remsen Avenue to East 98th Street in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn "Bob Marley Boulevard". In 2008, a statue of Marley was inaugurated in Banatski Sokolac, Serbia.

Internationally, Marley’s message also continues to reverberate amongst various indigenous communities. For instance, the Aboriginal people of Australia continue to burn a sacred flame to honor his memory in Sydney’s Victoria Park, while members of the Native American Hopi and Havasupai tribe revere his work. There are also many tributes to Bob Marley throughout India, including restaurants, hotels, and cultural festivals.

Marley has also evolved into a global symbol, which has been endlessly merchandised through a variety of mediums. In light of this, author Dave Thompson in his book Reggae and Caribbean Music, laments what he perceives to be the commercialized pacification of Marley's more militant edge, stating:

Film adaptation(s)

In February 2008, director Martin Scorsese announced his intention to produce a documentary movie on Marley. The film was set to be released on 6 February 2010, on what would have been Marley's 65th birthday. Recently, however, Scorsese dropped out due to scheduling problems. He is being replaced by Jonathan Demme.

In March 2008, The Weinstein Company announced its plans to produce a biopic of Bob Marley, based on the book No Woman No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley by Rita Marley. Rudy Langlais will produce the script by Lizzie Borden and Rita Marley will be executive producer.

Discography

The Wailing Wailers (1965)

The Best of The Wailers (1970)

Soul Rebels (1970)

Soul Revolution (1971)

Catch a Fire (1973)

Burnin' (1973)

Natty Dread (1974)

Rastaman Vibration (1976)

Exodus (1977)

Kaya (1978)

Survival (1979)

Uprising (1980)

Confrontation (1983)

Awards and honors

1976: Band of the Year (Rolling Stone).

June 1978: Awarded the Peace Medal of the Third World from the United Nations.

February 1981: Awarded Jamaica's third highest honour, the Jamaican Order of Merit.

March 1994: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1999: Album of the Century for Exodus by Time Magazine.

February 2001: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

February 2001: Awarded Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

2004: Rolling Stone ranked him No.11 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

"One Love" named song of the millennium by BBC.

Voted as one of the greatest lyricists of all time by a BBC poll. 2006: A blue plaque was unveiled at his first UK residence in Ridgmount Gardens, London, dedicated to him by Nubian Jak community trust and supported by Her Majesty's Foreign Office. 2010: "Catch a Fire" inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (Reggae Album).

See also

Bob Marley Museum

Jamaican Patois

Lion of Judah

List of reggae musicians

Rastafarian vocabulary

Religious and spiritual use of cannabis

References

Further reading

Farley, Christopher (2007). Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley, Amistad Press ISBN 0060539925

Goldman, Vivien (2006). The Book of Exodus: The Making and Meaning of Bob Marley and the Wailers' Album of the Century, Aurum Press ISBN 1845132106

Marley, Rita; Jones, Hettie (2004) No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley Hyperion Books ISBN 0786887559

Masouri, John (2007) Wailing Blues: The Story of Bob Marley's "Wailers" Wise Publications ISBN 1846096898

White, Timothy (2006). Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley Owl Books ISBN 0805080864

External links

The Bob Marley Foundation

Online Home of the Marleys

Bob Marley at Rolling Stone

Marley Elected one of the Greatest Songwriters BBC News, 23 May 2001

Showcase: Bob Marley by James Estrin, The New York Times, 18 May 2009

Interview with Heather Marley in Bob Marley Magazine

Extensive discography

Category:1945 births Category:1981 deaths Category:Anti-apartheid activists Category:Attempted assassination survivors Category:Cancer deaths in Florida Category:Cannabis culture Category:Converts to Christianity Category:Converts to the Rastafari movement Category:Deaths from skin cancer Category:English-language singers Category:Ethiopian Orthodox Christians Category:Former Roman Catholics Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Jamaican expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:Jamaican expatriates in the United States Category:Jamaican male singers Category:Jamaican people of English descent Category:Jamaican Rastafarians Category:Jamaican reggae singers Category:Jamaican songwriters Category:Jamaican vegetarians B Category:Pan-Africanism Category:Performers of Rastafarian music Category:People from Saint Ann Parish Category:People from Wilmington, Delaware Category:Resonator guitarists Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Shooting survivors Category:The Wailers members

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