title: Anita Ekberg

text: Ekberg returned to Hollywood to make a second film with Martin and Lewis (and Tashlin), "Hollywood or Bust" (1956). Ekberg made a second film for Warwick with Mature, "Interpol" (1957). In 1956, Hedda Hopper said her fee was $75,000 per picture.


title: Anita Ekberg

text: When John Wayne split up with his producing partner Robert Fellows, Fellows took over Ekberg's contract.


title: Anita Ekberg

text: Ekberg returned to Hollywood to make "Valerie" (1957) with Sterling Hayden and her then-husband Anthony Steel for director Gerd Oswald. She co-starred with Bob Hope and Fernandel in "Paris Holiday" (1958). It was also directed by Oswald as was "Screaming Mimi" (1958). She did a third for Warwick, "The Man Inside" (1958) with Jack Palance. Another film was announced for her, entitled "A Lot of Woman", but it was not made.


title: Anita Ekberg

text: She stayed in Rome to make "La Dolce Vita" (1960) for Federico Fellini, performing as Sylvia Rank, the unattainable "dream woman" of the character played by Marcello Mastroianni. The film features a scene of her cavorting in Rome's Trevi Fountain alongside Mastroianni, which has been called "one of cinema's most iconic scenes".


title: Anita Ekberg

text: The movie was an international sensation and Ekberg settled in Rome. She had the lead in an Italian-French co production, "Last Train to Shanghai" (1960) (aka "The Dam on the Yellow River"), then was in "Le tre eccetera del colonnello" (1960), "The Call Girl Business" (1960), "Behind Closed Doors" (1961), and "The Mongols" (1961), which had an American director (André de Toth) and co star (Jack Palance).


title: Anita Ekberg

text: She later said "things became a little bit boring for me after "La Dolce Vita" because every producer or director in Italy, England and America wanted me to recreate the same role – the movie star from America who comes over to Italy."


title: Anita Ekberg

text: Ekberg then appeared in "Boccaccio '70" (1962), a film that also featured Sophia Loren and Romy Schneider. Soon thereafter, Ekberg was being considered by Broccoli to play the first Bond girl, Honey Ryder in "Dr. No", but the role went to the then-unknown Ursula Andress. However Broccoli then cast her in "Call Me Bwana" (1963) with Bob Hope. "Call Me Bwana" was featured in the second Bond film, "From Russia with Love", during a sequence where Ali Kerim Bey assassinates the Russian agent Krilencu with a sniper rifle. Krilencu attempts to escape through a window, which is situated in Anita Ekberg's mouth, on the wall-sized poster: "She should have kept her mouth shut", Bond quips.


title: Anita Ekberg

text: Ekberg co-starred with Andress, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin in the western-comedy "4 for Texas" (1963). She returned to Europe to make "Love Factory" (1964) and "Who Wants to Sleep?" (1965). She went to England for an Agatha Christie adaptation, "The Alphabet Murders" (1965), directed by Frank Tashlin who had directed her two Martin and Lewis films.


title: Anita Ekberg

text: Ekberg was in the Italian "How I Learned to Love Women" (1966) then had a small role in a Jerry Lewis comedy, "Way... Way Out" (1966). She was in "Pardon, Are You For or Against?" (1966), an Alberto Sordi comedy; "The Cobra" (1967), an Italian crime film with Dana Andrews; "The Glass Sphinx" (1967) with Robert Taylor; "Woman Times Seven" (1967), an anthology directed by Vittorio De Sica, in a segment with Michael Caine; and "Crónica de un atraco" (1968).


title: Anita Ekberg

text: She had a cameo in "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium" (1969) and the lead in "Fangs of the Living Dead" (1969), "Death Knocks Twice" (1969), and "A Candidate for a Killing" (1969).


title: Anita Ekberg

text: Fellini called Ekberg back for a cameo in "The Clowns "(1970). She had bigger parts in "The Divorce" (1970) with Vittorio Gassman; "The Conjugal Debt" (1970); "Quella chiara notte d'ottobre" (1970); "The French Sex Murders" (1972), a giallo; and "Deadly Trackers" (1972).


title: Anita Ekberg

text: She went to Asia to make a Hollywood film, "Northeast of Seoul" (1972). In 1972, she sued an Italian magazine for publishing naked photographs of her.


title: Anita Ekberg

text: Ekberg was also in "Gold of the Amazon Women" (1979), "Killer Nun" (1979), "" (1980), "Cicciabomba" (1982), and "The Seduction of Angela" (1986). Fellini used her in "Intervista" (1987), appearing as herself in a reunion scene with Mastroianni.


title: Anita Ekberg

text: Later performances included "Count Max" (1991), "Ambrogio" (1992), "Cattive ragazze" (1992), "Witness Run" (1996), and "Bámbola" (1996), in a part turned down by Gina Lollobrigida. She had a good part in "Le nain rouge" (1998).


title: Anita Ekberg

text: In 2021 actress Monica Bellucci co-produced and starred in a mockumentary dedicated to Ekberg, called “The girl in the fountain” presented as a special event at the 2021 Torino Film festival.


title: Anita Ekberg

text: Both of Ekberg's marriages were to actors, but neither of them succeeded. She was married to Anthony Steel from 22 May 1956 until their divorce on 14 May 1959 and to Rik Van Nutter from 9 April 1963 until their divorce in 1975. In a 2006 interview she said she wished she had a child, but stated just the opposite six months later. Ekberg's great love was Gianni Agnelli, the Italian industrialist and owner of Fiat. They were lovers for several years, although he was married.


title: Anita Ekberg

text: Ekberg was often outspoken in interviews, "e.g.", naming famous people she reportedly "couldn't bear". She was also frequently quoted as saying that it was Fellini who owed his success to "her", rather than "vice versa": "They would like to keep up the story that Fellini made me famous, that Fellini discovered me", she said in a 1999 interview with "The New York Times".


title: Anita Ekberg

text: Ekberg did not live in Sweden after the early 1950s, and rarely visited the country. However, she welcomed Swedish journalists into her home outside Rome and in 2005, appeared on the popular radio program "Sommar", talking about her life. She stated in an interview that she would not move back to Sweden but would be buried there.


title: Anita Ekberg

text: On 19 July 2009, she was admitted to the San Giovanni Hospital in Rome after falling ill in her home in Genzano, according to a medical official in the hospital's neurosurgery department. Despite her condition not being serious, Ekberg was put under observation in the facility.


title: Anita Ekberg

text: In December 2011, it was reported that the 80-year-old Ekberg was "destitute" following three months in a Rimini hospital with a broken hip, during which time her home was robbed of jewelry and furniture, and her villa was badly damaged by fire. Ekberg applied for help from the Fellini Foundation, which also found itself in difficult financial straits.


title: Anita Ekberg

text: Ekberg died on 11 January 2015, at the age of 83, at the clinic San Raffaele in Rocca di Papa, Roman Castles, from complications of chronic illnesses. The actress had been in a wheelchair for several years after being knocked down by one of her pet Great Danes, which broke her hip. Ekberg's funeral service was held on 14 January 2015, at the Lutheran-Evangelical Christuskirche in Rome, after which her body was cremated and her remains were buried at the cemetery of Skanör Church in Sweden, in accordance with her wishes to be buried in her land of birth.


title: China Chow

text: Chow was born in London to restaurateur Michael Chow and his wife, model/designer Tina Chow (). Her paternal grandfather was the Peking Opera's Zhou Xinfang. Her paternal aunt is actress and former "Bond girl" Tsai Chin. Her maternal aunt is the artist Adelle Lutz. Through Lutz's 1987 marriage, her uncle is David Byrne.


title: China Chow

text: Her parents left London for New York in 1980, when she was 5 years old. They then relocated to Los Angeles in 1985. Her mother, who was born in Ohio, was of German and Japanese ancestry and her father is Chinese. She has a younger brother, Maximilian (b. 1978). Her parents divorced in November 1989.


title: China Chow

text: In 1992, Chow's mother Tina died of AIDS. The same year, Chow's father married Eva Chun, a Korean fashion designer and Chow gained a half-sister, Asia Chow (b. 1994). In February 2019, her father married his fourth wife, Vanessa Rano, who is 49 years his junior. Through this marriage, Chow has a half-brother, Phoenix Chow (b. 2019) and half-sister Skye Chow (b. 2021).


title: China Chow

text: Chow was in a relationship with actor Mark Wahlberg for four years after meeting on the set of the 1998 film "The Big Hit". She was in a relationship with English actor and comedian Steve Coogan from 2007 until 2011. She has also been romantically linked to actor Keanu Reeves. She was in a relationship with English musician Billy Idol in February 2018.


title: China Chow

text: She attended the Lycée Français de Los Angeles. After graduating, she went to Boston University for two years before transferring to Scripps College in Claremont, California, where she graduated with a psychology degree in May 1997. She was the first in her family to graduate from college.


title: China Chow

text: Chow was discovered as a prospective fashion model by Roger Museenden. She spent several years following in her mother's footsteps working as a model for Shiseido cosmetics, Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein. Her modeling led to her being named one of "Harper's Bazaar"s "It Girls" in 1996 and an appearance in the December 1996 edition of "Vogue"'s "The Next Best-Dressed List".


title: China Chow

text: In 2000, she posed for "Maxim" and was featured in their gallery, "Girls of Maxim". She was ranked No. 22 and No. 54 on the "Maxim Hot 100 Women" (2000 and 2001, respectively).


title: China Chow

text: Chow made her acting debut in 1998, starring opposite Mark Wahlberg in "The Big Hit". In 2004, she appeared in "Frankenfish". Three years later, Chow appeared on USA Network's first season of "Burn Notice". She was the host and a judge of Bravo's "", which premiered on 9 June 2010.


title: Mensheviks

text: The Mensheviks (, from меньшинство 'minority') were one of the three dominant factions in the Russian socialist movement, the others being the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries.


title: Mensheviks

text: The factions emerged in 1903 following a dispute within the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) between Julius Martov and Vladimir Lenin. The dispute originated at the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP, ostensibly over minor issues of party organization. Martov's supporters, who were in the minority in a crucial vote on the question of party membership, came to be called "Mensheviks", derived from the Russian ('minority'), while Lenin's adherents were known as "Bolsheviks", from ('majority').


title: Mensheviks

text: Despite the naming, neither side held a consistent majority over the course of the entire 2nd Congress, and indeed the numerical advantage fluctuated between both sides throughout the rest of the RSDLP's existence until the Russian Revolution. The split proved to be long-standing and had to do both with pragmatic issues based in history, such as the failed Revolution of 1905 and theoretical issues of class leadership, class alliances and interpretations of historical materialism. While both factions believed that a proletarian revolution was necessary, the Mensheviks generally tended to be more moderate, and more positive towards the liberal opposition and the peasant-based Socialist Revolutionary Party.


title: Mensheviks

text: At the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP in August 1903, Julius Martov and Vladimir Lenin disagreed, firstly, with regard to which persons should be in the editorial committee of "Iskra", the Party newspaper; secondly, in regards to the definition of a "party member" in the future Party statute:


title: Mensheviks

text: Although the difference in definitions was small, with Lenin's being more exclusive, it was indicative of what became an essential difference between the philosophies of the two emerging factions: Lenin argued for a small party of professional revolutionaries with a large fringe of non-party sympathizers and supporters, whereas Martov believed it was better to have a large party of activists with broad representation.


title: Mensheviks

text: Martov's proposal was accepted by the majority of the delegates (28 votes to 23). However, after seven delegates stormed out of the Congress—five of whom were representatives of the Jewish Bund who left in protest about their own federalist proposal being defeated—Lenin's supporters won a slight majority, which was reflected in the composition of the Central Committee and the other central party organs elected at the Congress. This was also the reason behind the naming of the factions. It was later hypothesized that Lenin had purposely offended some of the delegates in order to have them leave the meeting in protest, giving him a majority. However, Bolsheviks and Mensheviks were united in voting against the Bundist proposal, which lost 41 to 5. Despite the outcome of the Congress, the following years saw the Mensheviks gathering considerable support among regular social democrats and effectively building up a parallel party organization.


title: Mensheviks

text: At the 4th Congress of the RSDLP in 1906, a reunification was formally achieved. In contrast to the 2nd Congress, the Mensheviks were in the majority from start to finish, yet Martov's definition of a party member, which had prevailed at the 1st Congress, was replaced by Lenin's. On the other hand, numerous disagreements about alliances and strategy emerged. The two factions kept their separate structures and continued to operate separately.


title: Mensheviks

text: As before, both factions believed that Russia was not developed enough to make socialism possible and that therefore the revolution which they planned, aiming to overthrow the Tsarist regime, would be a bourgeois-democratic revolution. Both believed that the working class had to contribute to this revolution. However, after 1905 the Mensheviks were more inclined to work with the liberal bourgeois democratic parties such as the Constitutional Democrats because these would be the "natural" leaders of a bourgeois revolution. In contrast, the Bolsheviks believed that the Constitutional Democrats were not capable of sufficiently radical struggle and tended to advocate alliances with peasant representatives and other radical socialist parties such as the Socialist Revolutionaries. In the event of a revolution, this was meant to lead to a dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry, which would carry the bourgeois revolution to the end. The Mensheviks came to argue for predominantly legal methods and trade union work, while the Bolsheviks favoured armed violence.


title: Mensheviks

text: Some Mensheviks left the party after the defeat of 1905 and joined legal opposition organisations. After a while, Lenin's patience wore out with their compromising and, in 1908, he called these Mensheviks "liquidationists".


title: Mensheviks

text: In 1912, the RSDLP had its final split, with the Bolsheviks constituting the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks), and the Mensheviks the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Mensheviks). The Menshevik faction split further in 1917 at the middle of World War I. Most Mensheviks opposed the war, but a vocal minority supported it in terms of "national defense".


title: Mensheviks

text: After the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty by the February Revolution in 1917, the Menshevik leadership led by Irakli Tsereteli demanded that the government pursue a "fair peace without annexations", but in the meantime supported the war effort under the slogan of "defense of the revolution". Along with the other major Russian socialist party, the Socialist Revolutionaries (also known as ), the Mensheviks led the network of soviets, notably the Petrograd Soviet in the capital, throughout most of 1917.


title: Mensheviks

text: With the monarchy gone, many social democrats viewed previous tactical differences between the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks as a thing of the past and a number of local party organizations were merged. When Bolshevik leaders Lev Kamenev, Joseph Stalin, and Matvei Muranov returned to Petrograd from Siberian exile in early March 1917 and assumed the leadership of the Bolshevik Party, they began exploring the idea of a complete re-unification of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks at the national level, which Menshevik leaders were willing to consider. However, Lenin and his deputy Grigory Zinoviev returned to Russia from exile in Switzerland on 3 April and re-asserted control of the Bolshevik Party by late April 1917, taking it in a more radical direction. They called for an immediate revolution and transfer of all power to the soviets, which made any re-unification impossible.


title: Mensheviks

text: In March–April 1917, the Menshevik leadership conditionally supported the newly formed liberal Russian Provisional Government. After the collapse of the first Provisional Government on 2 May over the issue of annexations, Tsereteli convinced the Mensheviks to strengthen the government for the sake of "saving the revolution" and enter a socialist-liberal coalition with Socialist Revolutionaries and liberal Constitutional Democrats, which they did on 17 May. With Martov's return from European exile in early May, the left-wing of the party challenged the party's majority led by Tsereteli at the first post-revolutionary party conference on 9 May, but the right wing prevailed 44–11. From then on, the Mensheviks had at least one representative in the Provisional Government until it was overthrown by the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution.


title: Mensheviks

text: With Mensheviks and Bolsheviks diverging, Mensheviks and non-factional social democrats returning from exile in Europe and United States in spring-summer of 1917 were forced to take sides. Some re-joined the Mensheviks. Others, like Alexandra Kollontai, joined the Bolsheviks. A significant number, including Leon Trotsky and Adolf Joffe, joined the non-factional Petrograd-based anti-war group called Mezhraiontsy, which merged with the Bolsheviks in August 1917. A small yet influential group of social democrats associated with Maxim Gorky's newspaper ("New Life") refused to join either party.


title: Mensheviks

text: The 1917 split in the party crippled the Mensheviks' popularity and they received 3.2% of the vote during the Russian Constituent Assembly election in November 1917 compared to the Bolsheviks' 23% and the Socialist Revolutionaries' 37%. The Mensheviks got just 3.3% of the national vote, but in the Transcaucasus they got 30.2%. 41.7% of their support came from the Transcaucasus and in Georgia, about 75% voted for them. The right-wing of the Menshevik Party supported actions against the Bolsheviks while the left-wing, the majority of the Mensheviks at that point, supported the left in the ensuing Russian Civil War. However, Martov's leftist Menshevik faction refused to break with the right-wing of the party, resulting in their press being sometimes banned and only intermittently available.


title: Mensheviks

text: The Mensheviks opposed War Communism and in 1919 suggested an alternative programme. During World War I, some anti-war Mensheviks had formed a group called Menshevik-Internationalists. They were active around the newspaper "Novaya Zhizn" and took part in the Mezhraiontsy formation. After July 1917 events in Russia, they broke with the Menshevik majority that supported continued war with Germany. The Mensheviks-Internationalists became the hub of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party (of Internationalists). Starting in 1920, right-wing Mensheviks-Internationalists emigrated, some of them pursuing anti-Bolshevik activities.


title: Mensheviks

text: The Democratic Republic of Georgia was a stronghold of the Mensheviks. In parliamentary elections held on 14 February 1919, they won 81.5% of the votes and the Menshevik leader Noe Zhordania became Prime Minister. Prominent members of the Georgian Menshevik Party included Noe Ramishvili, Evgeni Gegechkori, Akaki Chkhenkeli, Nikolay Chkheidze and Alexandre Lomtatidze. After the occupation of Georgia by the Bolsheviks in 1921, many Georgian Mensheviks, led by Zhordania, fled to Leuville-sur-Orge, France, where they set up the Government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia in Exile. In 1930, Ramishvili was assassinated by a Soviet spy in Paris.


title: Mensheviks

text: Menshevism was finally made illegal after the Kronstadt uprising of 1921. A number of prominent Mensheviks emigrated thereafter. Martov went to Germany, where he established the paper "Socialist Messenger". He died in 1923. In 1931, the Menshevik Trial was conducted by Stalin, an early part of the Great Purge. The "Messenger" moved with the Menshevik center from Berlin to Paris in 1933 and then in 1939 to New York City, where it was published until 1965.


title: June Brown

text: June Muriel Brown (16 February 1927 – 3 April 2022) was an English actress and author. She was best known for her role as Dot Cotton on the BBC soap opera "EastEnders" (1985–1993; 1997–2020). In 2005, she won Best Actress at the "Inside Soap" Awards and received the Lifetime Achievement award at The British Soap Awards. Brown was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours for services to drama and to charity, and promoted to an OBE in the 2022 New Year Honours. In 2009, she was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress, making her the second performer to receive a BAFTA nomination for their work in a soap opera, after Jean Alexander. In February 2020, at the age of 93, she announced that she had left "EastEnders" permanently.


title: June Brown

text: Brown was born on 16 February 1927 in Needham Market, Suffolk, one of five children of Louisa Ann (née Butler) and Henry William Melton Brown. Her ancestry included English, Irish and Scottish, and from her maternal grandmother, Sephardic Jewish (from Algeria, the Netherlands and Italy). Through her grandmother, she was descended from the noted Jewish bare-knuckle boxer Isaac Bitton.


title: June Brown

text: Brown was educated at St John's Church of England School in Ipswich and then won a scholarship to Ipswich High School, where she passed the school certificate examinations. During the Second World War, she was evacuated to the Welsh village of Pontyates in Carmarthenshire. During the later years of the war, she served in the Wrens and was classically trained at the Old Vic Theatre School in Lambeth, London.


title: June Brown

text: Brown had a long television career, with small roles in "Coronation Street" as Mrs Parsons (1970–71); the "Play for Today", "Edna, the Inebriate Woman" as Clara (1971); the "Doctor Who" story "The Time Warrior" as Lady Eleanor (1973–74); the nursing soap "Angels"; the history-of-Britain "Churchill's People"; long-running comedy drama "Minder"; the police drama soap "The Bill"; and cult sci-fi series "Survivors". She had a bigger part as Mrs Leyton in the costume drama "The Duchess of Duke Street" (1976), and played Mrs Mann in "Oliver Twist" (1985).


title: June Brown

text: She also played Nanny Slagg in the BBC's big-budget production of "Gormenghast" in 2000. She was cast in small roles in several movies, appearing as the grieving mother of an undead biker in British horror flick "Psychomania" (1971), as well as "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (1971), "Sitting Target" (1972), "The 14" (1973), "Murder by Decree" (1979), "Nijinsky" (1980), "The Mambo Kings" (1992) and the "Mr. Bean" movie spin-off "Bean" (1997). She also appeared as Tom Hedden's wife in "Straw Dogs" (1971), although her scenes were cut from the film. In 1984, she featured in the TV mini-series "Lace" which starred actress Phoebe Cates.


title: June Brown

text: In 2006, Brown appeared as Aunt Spiker at the Children's Party at the Palace, an all-star event to celebrate the Queen's 80th birthday. In 2010, Brown took part in the annual Christmas special of "Strictly Come Dancing". Brown said "I'm terrified and apprehensive about what I've let myself in for, I must be barmy and I'm not sure what's come over me ... I just hope I can remember the steps to the routines. I'm looking forward to working with the professional dancers and the other contestants." Her dancing partner was Vincent Simone, with whom she danced the tango.


title: June Brown

text: In August 2011 she was featured in the BBC's "Who Do You Think You Are?", and was the oldest person to have appeared on the programme.


title: June Brown

text: In July 2012, Brown hosted a documentary for the BBC called "Respect Your Elders", which looked at society's treatment and attitudes towards the elderly.


title: June Brown

text: Brown was also active in British theatre. She directed and starred in "Pin Money" by Malcolm Needs in London, and "Double D" by Matthew Westwood in Edinburgh and London. She played Mrs Danvers in a touring production of "Rebecca". Other plays include "An Inspector Calls", "The Lion in Winter", "A View from the Bridge", and numerous pantomimes. During her early career, she played the roles of Hedda Gabler and Lady Macbeth.


title: June Brown

text: In 2009, Brown played Jessie in the West End production of "Calendar Girls" at the Noël Coward Theatre. Also in the play were former "EastEnders" stars Anita Dobson (Angie Watts), Jill Halfpenny (Kate Mitchell) and Jack Ryder (Jamie Mitchell).


title: June Brown

text: Brown was recommended to producers for the role of Dot Cotton in "EastEnders" by one of its original cast members, Leslie Grantham, who played Den Watts. Brown played the role from 1985 to 2020, with a break between 1993 and 1997.


title: June Brown

text: On 31 January 2008, aged 80, Brown became the first and, to date, only soap actor to carry an entire episode single-handed. The episode featured a monologue looking back over her character's life, dictated to a cassette machine for her husband Jim to listen to in hospital following a stroke. The fact that co-star and close friend John Bardon (who played Jim) was recovering from a stroke in real life added extra pathos to the episode. In 2009, Brown was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress. Brown's nomination came as a result of her "single-hander" episode of "EastEnders", the director of which she praised.


title: June Brown

text: On 30 April 2012, it was announced that Brown was to take a six-month break from "EastEnders" and planned to write her autobiography during her time off. In October 2012, it was announced she had returned to filming, and she appeared on screen again from January 2013. Her autobiography, "Before the Year Dot", was published in 2013.


title: June Brown

text: In May 2015, Brown revealed that her eyesight was failing due to macular degeneration. Later, in 2016, a storyline for Dot in which her eyesight was deteriorating was introduced. Speaking about the condition in April 2019, Brown said that it had worsened since undergoing surgery in 2017, and that she no longer went out socially because of her eyesight: "I never go to soap awards or suchlike now. I don't recognise people that I know and they would think I was snubbing them."


title: June Brown

text: In 1950, Brown met and married actor John Garley; he suffered from depression and died from suicide in 1957. In 1958, she married actor Robert Arnold. They had six children in seven years, one of whom died in infancy. The couple were together for 45 years, until he died in 2003 of Lewy-body dementia. Thereafter, she lived alone in Surrey.


title: June Brown

text: Brown was a supporter of the Conservative Party and told "The Guardian" in 2009, "I wouldn't vote Labour, dear, if you paid me. I vote Conservative." Like her "EastEnders" character, she was a Christian.


title: June Brown

text: Brown was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours, both for services to drama and to charity.


title: June Brown

text: Brown died on 3 April 2022, aged 95. On the announcement of her death, the following day, "EastEnders" paid tribute to Brown and posted condolences from several of her former co-stars on social media, including Gillian Taylforth, Natalie Cassidy, Lacey Turner, Diane Parish, Emma Barton, Shona McGarty, Adam Woodyatt and Letitia Dean. The episode broadcast that evening was dedicated to her memory. Following this, the documentary "June Brown: A Walford Legend", which originally aired in 2017, to celebrate Brown's 90th birthday, and her 2011 episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?", were aired on BBC One, in a change to the original schedule.


title: Vox (political party)

text: Vox (Latin for "voice", often stylized as VOX; ) is a national-conservative political party in Spain. Founded in 2013, it is currently led by party president Santiago Abascal, vice presidents Jorge Buxadé, Javier Ortega Smith, Reyes Romero, and secretary general Ignacio Garriga. Vox is identified as right-wing to far-right by academics and mainstream journalists.


title: Vox (political party)

text: The party entered the Spanish parliament for the first time in the April 2019 general election, and became the country's third political force after the November 2019 Spanish general election, in which it secured 3.6 million votes and 52 seats in the Congress of Deputies. Its public support is on the rise, according to results of subsequent regional elections, and opinion polls.


title: Vox (political party)

text: Vox was founded on 17 December 2013, and publicly launched at a press conference in Madrid on 16 January 2014 as a split from the People's Party (PP). This schism was interpreted as an offshoot of "neoconservative" or "social conservative" PP party members. The party platform sought to rewrite the constitution to abolish regional autonomy and parliaments. Several of their promoters (for example: Alejo Vidal-Quadras, José Antonio Ortega Lara, and Santiago Abascal) had been members of the platform "reconversion.es" that issued a manifesto in 2012 vouching for the recentralization of the State. Vidal-Quadras was proclaimed as the first chairman in March 2014.


title: Vox (political party)

text: The initial funding, totalling nearly 972,000 euros, came from individual money transfers by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), thanks to their "personal relationship" with Vidal-Quadras, who had supported NCRI throughout his stint in the EU Parliament until 2014. There is no evidence that Vox has broken Spanish or EU funding rules accepting these donations.


title: Vox (political party)

text: Vox ran for the first time in the 2014 European elections but narrowly failed to win a seat in the European Parliament.


title: Vox (political party)

text: In September 2014, the party elected Santiago Abascal, one of the founders, as new President, and Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, also a founder, as General Secretary. Eleven members of the National Executive Committee were also elected.


title: Vox (political party)

text: The party participated in the 2015 and the 2016 elections, but did not do well, scoring 0.23% and 0.20% of votes respectively.


title: Vox (political party)

text: After the Catalan referendum of 2017 and the start of a Spanish constitutional crisis, Vox opted to not participate in the Catalan regional elections of 2017. After the Catalan declaration of independence, the party sued the Parliament of Catalonia and several independentist politicians the number of its members increased by 20% in forty days.


title: Vox (political party)

text: On 10 September 2018, Vox enlisted an independent legislator in the regional parliament of Extremadura (who had dropped out of the PP parliamentary group) as party member. On 2 December 2018, they won 12 parliamentary seats in the Andalusian regional election, entering a regional parliament for the first time. It supported the coalition regional government by Ciudadanos and the Popular Party. With this result, Vox was also given a first seat in the Senate of Spain, which was taken by Francisco José Alcaraz.


title: Vox (political party)

text: The party obtained 10.26% of votes in the April 2019 general election, electing 24 Deputies and entering the Congress of Deputies for the first time. Later, the party entered the European Parliament for the first time with 6.2% of the votes and three Eurodeputies, which after Brexit became four. After this election, the party joined the European Conservatives and Reformists group and the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe. In the second general election of the year in November, Vox came third and increased its number of deputies from 24 to 52. It was the most-voted party in the Region of Murcia and the autonomous city of Ceuta.


title: Vox (political party)

text: At the beginning of 2020, during the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Vox called for travel restrictions between China and Spain, and later between Italy and Spain, to safeguard against the "Chinese virus". At that time the epidemic was already in full swing in those countries, but it was prior to any COVID cases being officially confirmed within Spain in significant numbers. That position found no support among other parties, and it was criticized as xenophobic rhetoric. The party claims that serious counter-COVID measures were deliberately delayed in Spain by the government, which hid the information and downplayed known risks to allow for mass public events on International Women's Day (8 March) to take place, as these events were important for the left wing agenda of the newly formed coalition government of PSOE and UP. At the same time, Vox went forward with their own global party conference on 8 March in Vistalegre, where party supporters from all parts of Spain were invited. The conference resulted in numerous cases of COVID infection, including confirmed cases of COVID transmission between members of Vox leadership. This fact was often brought up by Vox opponents to criticize Vox attitude towards COVID situation in Spain.


title: Vox (political party)

text: During the anti-COVID lockdown and follow-up restrictions, Vox routinely criticized government measures as inefficient, partisan, and partially unconstitutional. In April 2020 the party appealed to the Constitutional Court of Spain against the first State of Alarm (15 March – 21 June) declared by the government. In October 2020, Vox's parliamentary group at the Congress of Deputies tabled a motion of no confidence against the current Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, bringing Santiago Abascal as alternative candidate. The motion failed to gain any support among the other parliamentary groups, gathering 52 'yes' votes (those of Vox legislators) and 298 'no' votes (the rest of the chamber). In November 2020 Vox appealed to the Constitutional Court of Spain against the second State of Alarm (October 25, 2020 – May 9, 2021) declared by the government.


title: Vox (political party)

text: In the face of the 2020 United States presidential election, Vox was fully supportive of President Donald Trump's candidacy, even tweeting from its official account that Joe Biden was the preferred candidate of "El País, Podemos, Otegi, Maduro, China, Iran and pedophiles", which according to the international news agency EFE was echoing QAnon conspiracy theories. Vox took part in the 2021 CPAC conference and refused to acknowledge Biden's victory.


title: Vox (political party)

text: At the beginning of 2021, Vox's abstention was instrumental in securing European COVID-recovery funds on socialist terms, criticized by independent experts for allowing the government inefficient partisan spending without any effective independent control. Many Vox supporters considered this as the "largest error in Vox's history", leading to party leaders admitting it as a mistake and apologizing.


title: Vox (political party)

text: During 2020 and 2021 electoral campaigns for regional elections in the Basque Country, Catalonia, and the Community of Madrid multiple legal electoral events of Vox were physically attacked by radical political opponents on the premises of "Vox's legitimate electoral events in some regions being provocative acts". The view of the events as provocations was endorsed by high ranking UP members, including their speaker Pablo Echenique, and their leader, the Second Deputy Prime Minister of Spain at the time, Pablo Iglesias.


title: Vox (political party)

text: On 14 July 2021, in response to the Vox's appeal the previous year, the Constitutional Court of Spain declared by a narrow majority (6 votes in support "vs." 5 votes against) that the first anti-COVID State of Alarm was unconstitutional in the part of suppressing the freedom of movement established by the Article 19 of the Constitution. In October 2021 the Constitutional Court of Spain supported two other appeals by Vox, and declared unconstitutional the closing down of Spanish Parliament and Senate in the beginning of pandemic, and the second State of Alarm. As reported on 22 October 2021, the Government of Spain ordered all fines collected in relation to the first State of Alarm to be returned to citizens.


title: Vox (political party)

text: On 13 February 2022 Vox came third in the 2022 Castilian-Leonese regional election, raising its representation from 1 up to 13 seats, and becoming the key player for the rival People's Party (PP), who won the elections, to form a government. Following this election result, and an unfolding leadership crisis in PP, Vox for the first time was recognized as the Spain's second political force, according to some opinion polls for the next general elections. In March 2022, it was announced that Vox would form government with the PP in Castile and León, taking three of ten ministerial positions including vice president for regional leader Juan García-Gallardo. Vox member Carlos Pollán was elected President of the Cortes of Castile and León, the position of speaker. This represents the first participation of Vox in any regional government.


title: Vox (political party)

text: On 19 June 2022 Vox came third in the 2022 Andalusian regional elections. With Macarena Olona as the leading candidate, the party improved over the previous regional elections, gaining about 100k more votes, and two more seats in the Parliament of Andalusia, but failed short of the expectations to achieve significantly better results and become the key to the new regional government. In the aftermath of elections, despite initial promises to stay and lead Vox's opposition group in Andalusia, on 29 July 2022 Olona announced her decision to resign and left politics due to unnamed "medical reasons".


title: Vox (political party)

text: The party sees itself as a more right-wing alternative to the centre-right People's Party, from which it split in 2013. This point of view is shared by some Spanish media, while some journalists and academics routinely describe it as a far-right party. Adding to the confusion is the exact understanding of the "far-right" term by different sources. While some of scholars cited below, who qualify Vox as a far-right or radical right party, make a clear fundamental distinction between "far-right", "radical right", and "extreme right", other sources and laymen often treat these terms as equivalent. As a young party, Vox somewhat lacks a well-elaborated ideology basis, and might still be considered as "a party under construction", subject to day-to-day ideology adjustments, further complicating its analysis.


title: Vox (political party)

text: According to the book by Rama, Zanotti, Turnbull-Dugarte, and Santana, Vox is a populist radical right party, in contrast to an extreme right. They view the party to be ideologically radical but not extreme since discursively it does not go against the central tenets of democracy. They write that "however, belonging to the populist radical right family means that the party communicates and advocates for policies that are somewhat at odds with some of the core principles of liberal democracy such as the rule of law, individual liberties or the rights of minorities." According to their analysis the central to Vox's ideology are: (i) a strong anti-immigration stance, and advocation for stricter law and order policies; (ii) a strong defence of the unity of Spain against all who allegedly want to break or undermine it; (iii) an opposition to what it labels as the "progressive dictatorship"; and strong defence of the Catholic religion and traditional moral values.


title: Vox (political party)

text: Carles Ferreira in his analysis comes to the conclusion that Vox is a far-right organization as it fits the characteristics of the radical right party family. He sums up: "Vox's ideology is based on a combination of nationalism and xenophobia (nativism) and an authoritarian view of society, attached to the values of law and order. This authoritarianism, however, represents neither the willingness to establish an autocratic regime nor the use of violence to reach political goals." According to Ferreira, the nationalism, nativism, authoritarianism, and traditionalism are central to Vox's ideology; the neoliberalism is present but not central; the populism is indicated, but not explicit; and there are no antidemocratic views in the party's ideology.


title: Vox (political party)

text: According to Xavier Casals the unifying part of Vox's ideology up to this point is a warlike ultranationalism, that is identified by the party with a palingenetic and biological vision of the country, the so-called "España Viva", but also with a Catholic-inspired culture. He says that ideological roots of the party's ultranationalism lie in the "incondicionalismo" ("unconditionalism"), the nationalist discourse based on the "fear of amputation of the homeland" coined in the 19th century in Colonial Cuba against Cuban separatism and also "autonomist" concessions (replicated in Catalonia in the 1910s). Casals writes that their specific brand of Spanish nationalism is linked to the unconditional support to the State Security Forces and Corps, and the party's discourse has also revived the myth of the "Antiespaña" ("Anti-Spain"), an umbrella term created in the 1930s by the domestic ultranationalist forces to designate the (inner) "Enemies of Spain", creating a simplistic "España viva/Antiespaña" duality that comes handy for the communication in brief messages characteristic of social media. Casals notes regarding the external projection of their discourse that the party has reanimated the concept of "Hispanidad"; party leader Abascal has stated that an immigrant coming from a "brotherly Hispanic-American country" is not comparable to the immigration coming from "Islamic countries".


title: Vox (political party)

text: According to Guillermo Fernández Vázquez, Vox's discourse, which he described as ""economically" anti-statist and neoliberal" as well as ""morally" authoritarian", is similar to Jörg Haider's FPÖ or Jean Marie Le Pen's National Front from the 1980s, thus likening the emergence of the party to an archaic stage of current radical right parties, more worried about the need to modernize their image than Vox; the latter's approach to cultural issues would be in line with old school Spanish nationalist parties, restricting the scope of "culture" to "language and tradition".


title: Vox (political party)

text: Vox supports the State of Israel within the context of Israeli–Palestinian conflict. On the other hand, the party has appealed to conspiracy theories invoking the figure of George Soros as a mastermind behind Catalan separatism and the alleged "Islamization" of Europe. Support of anti-Soros conspiracy theories is widely considered as a sign of antisemitism, though leading figures of Vox never brought up the roots of Soros in their anti-Soros discourse. Vox used to feature some former neo-Nazis in party cadres and lists; some of them have been expelled from the party or have resigned. In November 2018, during a party event in Murcia, the party leader Santiago Abascal defined his party as "antifascist, anti-Nazi and anticommunist".


title: Vox (political party)

text: Vox supports the constitutional monarchy, advocates for the recentralization of Spain by abolishing Spain's autonomous communities, and strongly opposes separatist movements in the country, in particular the Catalan independence movement and Basque nationalism. Fighting the latter one is also a personal question for multiple founding members, including the current president Santiago Abascal, whose family was threatened by the terrorist group ETA during his youth in the Basque country, José Antonio Ortega Lara who was kidnapped by ETA and kept hostage for 532 days and María Teresa López Álvarez whose father survived an assassination attempt by ETA. Vox promotes the illegalization of separatist parties in Spain, "e.g." EH Bildu, ERC, "etc.," and opposes the indulgence of Catalonia independence leaders convicted for the organization of illegal independence referendum of 1 October 2017 (in mid-2021 the indulgence was granted by the Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez in spite of his commitments two years earlier, something that is further disputed by Vox and Cs in the Supreme Court of Spain). The party's centralist discourse incorporates economic arguments, claiming that current structure of autonomous and local governments in Spain are responsible for significant superfluous budget spending.


title: Vox (political party)

text: Vox calls for recuperation of Spanish sovereignty over Gibraltar, and extra efforts for safeguarding Spanish control of Ceuta and Melilla.


title: Vox (political party)

text: Vox is considered anti-feminist by some, and wants to repeal the gender violence law, which they see as "discriminant against one of the sexes" and replace it with a "family violence law that will afford the same protection to the elderly, men, women and children who suffer from abuse". Left-leaning critics believe Vox undermines the importance of feminist struggle in the advance of liberties of women by means of linking the latter to a culture with "Christian foundations".


title: Vox (political party)

text: Vox is opposed to abortion rights. The party advocates for life sentences for sex offenders and abusers.


title: Vox (political party)

text: Vox opposes the legalization of euthanasia. The party supports bullfighting, which it considers an important element of Spanish culture that should be defended.


title: Vox (political party)

text: While Vox's platform only espouses proposals against Islamic fundamentalism, the statements in the public sphere by party figures espouse a wider Islamophobia, helping to underpin, according to Casals, their discourse against Maghrebi immigration, the development of a closer bond to Catholicism. The party pleads for the closure of fundamentalist mosques as well as the arrest and expulsion of extremist imams. Vox has openly called for the deportation of tens of thousands of Muslims from Spain. In 2019, the party's leader demanded a Reconquista or reconquest of Spain, explicitly referencing a new expulsion of Muslim immigrants from the country.


title: Vox (political party)

text: Vox opposes same-sex marriage while supporting same-sex civil unions. The party has been accused of homophobia which the party denies. Party leader Santiago Abascal has denied allegations of homophobia, stating in an interview that Vox is in no way a homophobic party and that it merely opposes "LGBT ideology", going on to say that party membership includes many homosexuals, and that he personally has friends that are gay. José María Marco, Spanish essayist, liberal-conservative opinion journalist, and an open gay conservative contested the April 2019 Senate election in Madrid as the candidate from Vox, and also ran second in the party list for the 2019 Madrilenian regional election.


title: Vox (political party)

text: In some discourses, party leaders suggest that their opposition to mass immigration from Islamic countries effectively protects the LGBT community, as homosexuality is largely prosecuted in Islamic cultures, and most immigrants do not alter their attitude upon arrival to Spain.


title: Vox (political party)

text: Vox opposes "Ley Trans," developed by Irene Montero and the Ministry of Equality, and approved by Spanish government in June 2021. According to Vox, the law as proposed "attacks the rights of women, children, biology, and common sense".


title: Vox (political party)

text: Vox congratulated the Hungarian parliament for passing legislation that would ban media and educational content which may be seen by underage persons from depicting LGBT individuals or addressing LGBT issues.


title: Vox (political party)

text: Multiple Vox politicians have made allegedly disparaging statements about homosexuals. Thus, (ex-leader of Vox in Albacete, who left the party in 2019) told in 2013: "If I had a gay son I would help him, there are therapies to correct such psychology". Francisco Serrano Castro (ex-leader of Vox in Andalusia, who left the party in 2020) tweeted in 2017: "Homosexuals have penises and lesbians have vulvas, and don't be fooled, nobody cares about it". Juan E. Pflüger (director of communications of Vox in 2019) tweeted in 2013: "Why do gays celebrate Saint Valentine day, if their thing is not love, it's just vice".


title: Vox (political party)

text: Vox has proposed that citizens should be allowed to keep arms at home, and supports the castle doctrine, but does not support the right to carry arms or the free sale of firearms. Current party leaders, Santiago Abascal and Javier Ortega, are both licensed to carry handguns for self-defence due to recurrent threats to their lives for their political activities. Under strict Spanish gun laws, such licenses are rarely granted to civilians, only when authorities consider proven a real high risk of an individual being attacked (about 0.02% of the Spanish population holds such licenses).


title: Vox (political party)

text: Vox's economic position is often described as economically liberal or neo-liberal. The party defends liberalization of Spanish labour laws, lower taxation, and support for self-employed workers. Some public declarations of party members demonstrate understanding of emerging trends in modern economy; thus, Ivan Espinosa compared to dinosaurs many politicians who approach modern tax affairs the conservative way, willing to subdue to high taxation easily dislocatable cutting edge businesses. At the same time, Vox's discourse includes protectionist ideas for national companies, and criticism of globalization, and large multinational corporations, which can be viewed as anti-liberal.


title: Vox (political party)

text: The party's economic rhetoric includes elements aimed to attract the working class electorate, traditionally supportive of left-oriented parties, like PSOE. In 2020, Vox declared the launch of its own workers union named Solidaridad (Solidarity, the name reminiscent of numerous historic organizations in Spain, "e.g. Solidaridad Española"; and other countries, "e.g." Polish Solidarity, UK Solidarity, "etc."). According to some declarations, the union is just endorsed, but independent from Vox party.


title: Vox (political party)

text: Vox's discourse includes calls to cut inefficient and superfluous government spending. In particular, the costs associated with the administration of autonomous communities and local governments (which also should be downscaled according to the views of the party on internal politics), and "ideological chiringuitos", the party's label for various organizations, recipients of public funds, considered by Vox as just promotors of government agenda.


title: Vox (political party)

text: According to the party's platform, and numerous interviews of its leaders, Vox positions itself strongly against illegal immigration, which is a significant contributor to crime in Spain (in 2019, according to INE data, 25% of convicts in Spain were foreign nationals, 16% of convicts were non-European nationals; there is no official statistics on immigration status of foreign convicts). Vox calls for unconditional deportation of illegal immigrants; tightening of Spanish immigration laws; legal and police actions against non-profits ("e.g." Proactiva Open Arms) and organized crime facilitating illegal immigration; and the militarization of problematic frontiers. The party emphasizes its support for legal immigration complied with the Spanish law. At the same time, they promote stricter regulation of immigration according to the needs of national economy; with preference for immigration from Hispanic cultures, on the premises of easier integration of such immigrants into Spanish society, compared to immigrants from Islamic countries.


title: Vox (political party)

text: During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vox supported the accommodation of Ukrainian refugees in Europe. According to Abascal "these are real war refugees, women, children, and elderly people", unlike "young Muslim males of military age invading Europe frontiers with intentions to destabilize and colonize it".


title: Vox (political party)

text: Opponents of Vox describe and criticize the party's position as xenophobic, anti-immigrant and Islamophobic. With especially strong criticism of Vox's harsh position against vulnerable immigrant groups, such as unaccompanied minors, refugees or victims of crime in their country of origin.


title: Vox (political party)

text: The party is critical of multiculturalism and demographic transition, supporting natalist politics and opposing replacement migration.


title: Vox (political party)

text: There are persons of non-European descent among Vox members and supporters. Notable figures of African descent associated with the party include Ignacio Garriga and Bertrand Ndongo.


title: Vox (political party)

text: The party's discourse about the environment has evolved over time, going from climate change denial to a conservationist approach. However, the party still opposes the mainstream environmental views, labelling them as "Green religion", and as recent as April 2021 voted against the , which was adopted anyway.


title: Vox (political party)

text: Vox promotes the "" policy: changes in laws aimed to guarantee the rights of parents to control public education of their children, and veto their children from obligatory attendance to classes contradicting values of parents. Party representatives claim that Spanish national and regional authorities abuse the control of the public education system to impose their political and ideological agenda on children.


title: Vox (political party)

text: Since its formation, Vox was close to Matteo Salvini's Lega Nord party in Italy. In March 2021, Salvini said there were no longer any links between the two parties, with Vox growing closer to Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party instead. A member of the European Conservatives and Reformists, Vox shares group with parties such as Polish Law and Justice, Brothers of Italy, Dutch JA21 or the Sweden Democrats.


title: Vox (political party)

text: Vox holds a Eurosceptic view of the European Union, arguing that Spain should make no sovereignty concessions to the EU, because according to the Constitution of Spain "national sovereignty is vested in the Spanish people, from whom emanate the powers of the State". The party's leadership is strongly opposed to the EU becoming a federal superstate and instead argues for a Europe of "strong and sovereign states" that "defends its borders and its Christian roots and opposes multiculturalism and mass immigration." Political science professor Andrés Santana and Lisa Zanotti noted that out of all the parties in Spain, Vox's voters and grassroots activists were the most likely to oppose Spain's membership of the EU.


title: Vox (political party)

text: In July 2021, party leader Abascal signed a statement about Europe's future that opposed the EU's "federalist drift" with Viktor Orbán (Prime Minister of Hungary and president of Fidesz), Marine Le Pen (President of the National Rally), Jarosław Kaczyński (leader of PiS and ex-Prime Minister of Poland), Giorgia Meloni, among others.


title: Vox (political party)

text: Following the beginning of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Vox took a strong pro-Ukrainian stance, announcing its support to "all measures" to defend Ukraine, including shipments of armaments to Ukraine.


title: Vox (political party)

text: Vox was supportive of Donald Trump and his political ideals during his presidency and met with his government in February 2019 to present the "Madrid Charter"; the document divided political groups in the Americas into the two sides of Western democracies and "criminal" left-wing groups that were "under the umbrella of the Cuban regime". The "Madrid Charter" called for scholars and the media to adopt and disseminate the ideas of the document."" In September 2021, 15 senators and three deputies from the National Action Party of Mexico met Abascal to sign the charter. The charter was primarily signed by Venezuelan opposition members, Cuban dissidents and Fujimorists from Peru, with "El País" writing that Vox gathered groups of Evangelicals, Catholics, neoconservatives, right-wing populists and individuals "nostalgic for military dictatorships" to sign the document.


title: Vox (political party)

text: A 2020 study based on a statistical analysis of April 2019 general election results found that Vox's support is stronger among middle-aged, urban population with higher secondary education and at the higher end of income distribution. Authors say that such voter profile is in direct contrast with that of a typical supporter of radical right parties in other European states, expected to be a man from a rural area with low education and low income. Vox's support is stronger among electorate dissatisfied with the current political situation in Spain, and voters who identify themselves as Spaniards.


title: Vox (political party)

text: A 2021 study of the influence of Spanish party leaders on Twitter during the April 2019 general election campaign found that the messages tweeted during the electoral campaign by Santiago Abascal (Vox) reached the highest diffusion and viralization capacity compared to Twitter messages by leaders of Cs, PSOE, PP and UP. The main focus of Abascal's tweets, according to the authors, was Spanish territorial model (27.2%), government and parties (19.3%) and economy (14.5%).


title: Tagetes

text: Tagetes () is a genus of annual or perennial, mostly herbaceous plants in the family Asteraceae. They are among several groups of plants known in English as marigolds. The genus "Tagetes" was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.


title: Tagetes

text: These plants are native to Mexico, growing naturally since Mexico's valley down to the south and even reaching several other Latinamerican countries, but some species have become naturalized around the world. One species, "T. minuta", is considered a noxious invasive plant in some areas.


title: Tagetes

text: "Tagetes" species vary in size from 0.1 to 2.2 m tall. Most species have pinnate green leaves. Blooms naturally occur in golden, orange, yellow, and white colors, often with maroon highlights. Floral heads are typically (1-) to 4–6 cm diameter, generally with both ray florets and disc florets. In horticulture, they tend to be planted as annuals, although the perennial species are gaining popularity. They have fibrous roots.


title: Tagetes

text: Depending on the species, "Tagetes" species grow well in almost any sort of soil. Most horticultural selections grow best in soil with good drainage, and some cultivars are known to have good tolerance to drought.


title: Tagetes

text: The Latin "Tagētes" derives from the name of the Etruscan Tages, born from the plowing of the earth. It likely refers to the ease with which plants of this genus come out each year either by the seeds produced in the previous year, or by the stems which regrow from the stump already in place.


title: Tagetes

text: The common name in English, marigold, is derived from "Mary's gold", a name first applied to a similar plant native to Europe, "Calendula officinalis".


title: Tagetes

text: The most commonly cultivated varieties of "Tagetes" are known variously as African marigolds (usually referring to cultivars and hybrids of "Tagetes erecta"), or French marigolds (usually referring to hybrids and cultivars of "Tagetes patula", many of which were developed in France). The so-called signet marigolds are hybrids derived mostly from "Tagetes tenuifolia".


title: Tagetes

text: Depending on the species, marigold foliage has a musky, pungent scent, though some varieties have been bred to be scentless. It is said to deter some common insect pests, as well as nematodes. "Tagetes" species — notably "T. patula" — are hence often used in companion planting for tomato, eggplant, chili pepper, tobacco, and potato. Due to antibacterial thiophenes exuded by the roots, "Tagetes" should not be planted near any legume crop. Some of the perennial species are deer-, rabbit-, rodent- and javelina or peccary-resistant.


title: Tagetes

text: "T. minuta" (khakibush or huacatay), originally from South America, has been used as a source of essential oil for the perfume and industry known as tagette or "marigold oil", and as a flavourant in the food and tobacco industries. It is commonly cultivated in South Africa, where the species is also a useful pioneer plant in the reclamation of disturbed land.


title: Tagetes

text: The florets of "Tagetes erecta" are rich in the orange-yellow carotenoid lutein and are used as a food colour (INS number E161b) in the European Union for foods such as pasta, vegetable oil, margarine, mayonnaise, salad dressing, baked goods, confectionery, dairy products, ice cream, yogurt, citrus juice and mustard. In the United States, however, the powders and extracts are only approved as colorants in poultry feed.


title: Tagetes

text: Marigolds are recorded as a food plant for some Lepidoptera caterpillars including the dot moth, and a nectar source for other butterflies and bumblebees. They are often part of butterfly gardening plantings. In the wild, many species are pollinated by beetles.


title: Tagetes

text: The species "Tagetes lucida", known as "pericón", is used to prepare a sweetish, anise-flavored medicinal tea in Mexico. It is also used as a culinary herb in many warm climates, as a substitute for tarragon, and offered in the nursery as "Texas tarragon" or "Mexican mint marigold".


title: Tagetes

text: "Tagetes minuta", native to southern South America, is a tall, upright marigold plant with small flowers used as a culinary herb in Peru, Ecuador, and parts of Chile and Bolivia, where it is called by the Incan term "huacatay". The paste is used to make the popular potato dish called "ocopa". Having both "green" and "yellow/orange" notes, the taste and odor of fresh "T. minuta" is like a mixture of sweet basil, tarragon, mint and citrus.


title: Tagetes

text: It is also used as a medicinal tea for gastrointestinal complaints and specifically against nematodes.


title: Tagetes

text: The marigold was regarded as the flower of the dead in pre-Hispanic Mexico, parallel to the lily in Europe, and is still widely used in the Day of the Dead celebrations.


title: Tagetes

text: Another variety of marigold called pot marigold (Calendula officinalis) were historically used in ancient Greek, Roman, Middle Eastern, and Indian cultures as a medicinal herb, as well as a dye for fabrics, foods, and cosmetics. Many of these uses persist today. They are also used to make oil that protects the skin.


title: Tagetes

text: During the colonial period the native varieties of these flowers were replaced by American species like "T. erecta", "T. patula", and "T. tenuifolia". The marigold is also widely cultivated in India and Thailand, particularly the species "T. erecta, Tagetes patula," and "T. tenuifolia". It is always sold in the markets for daily worships and rituals.


title: Tagetes

text: Vast quantities of marigolds are used in garlands and decoration for weddings, festivals, and religious events. Marigold cultivation is extensively seen in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh (for Deepawali market) states of India.


title: Tagetes

text: In Ukraine, "chornobryvtsi" ("T. erecta", "T. patula", and the signet marigold, "l. tenuifolia") are regarded as one of the national symbols, and are often mentioned in songs, poems, and tales.


title: Under Pressure

text: "Under Pressure" is a song by the British rock band Queen and singer David Bowie. Originally released as a single in October 1981, it was later included on Queen's 1982 album "Hot Space". The song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Queen's second number-one hit in their home country and Bowie's third, and also charted in the top 10 in more than 10 countries around the world.


title: Under Pressure

text: The song has been described as a "monster rock track that stood out" on the "Hot Space" album, as well as "an incredibly powerful and poignant pop song". "Under Pressure" was listed at number 31 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s, and voted the second-best collaboration of all time in a poll by "Rolling Stone". In 2021, it was ranked number 429 on "Rolling Stone"s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was played live at every Queen concert from 1981 until the end of the band's touring career in 1986. Live recordings appear on the Queen live albums "Queen Rock Montreal" and "Live at Wembley '86".


title: Under Pressure

text: The song was included on some editions of Queen's first "Greatest Hits" compilations, such as the original 1981 Elektra release in North America. It is included on the band's compilation albums "Greatest Hits II", "Classic Queen", and "Absolute Greatest", as well as Bowie compilations such as "Best of Bowie" (2002), "The Platinum Collection" (2005), "Nothing Has Changed" (2014), "Legacy" (2016), and "Re:Call 3" (2017).


title: Under Pressure

text: "Under Pressure" was sampled by American rapper Vanilla Ice for his 1990 single "Ice Ice Baby". Vanilla Ice initially did not credit Bowie or Queen for the sample, resulting in a lawsuit that gave Bowie and Queen songwriting credit. The song has been covered by American rock bands My Chemical Romance and the Used, and singer Shawn Mendes, whose version featured singer Teddy Geiger. Xiu Xiu also covered the song with Swans frontman Michael Gira, a version that was included on Xiu Xiu's 2008 album "Women as Lovers".


title: Under Pressure

text: "Under Pressure" was recorded at Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland, in July 1981. Queen, working on their 1982 album "Hot Space", had been working on a song called "Feel Like", but were not satisfied with the result. While they were there, David Bowie was also at Mountain recording his vocals for "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)", the title song for the 1982 horror film of the same name. The artists ran into each other during the session. Bowie sang backing vocals for Queen's song "Cool Cat", but his vocals were removed from the final song because he was not satisfied with his performance. Afterward, they worked together for a while and wrote the song. It was credited as being co-written by the five musicians. The scat singing that dominates much of the song is evidence of the jam-beginnings as improvisation. However, according to Queen bassist John Deacon (as quoted in a French magazine in 1984), the song's primary musical songwriter was Freddie Mercury – though all contributed to the arrangement. As Brian May recalled to "Mojo" magazine in October 2008, "It was hard, because you had four very precocious boys and David, who was precocious enough for all of us. David took over the song lyrically. Looking back, it's a great song, but it should have been mixed differently. Freddie and David had a fierce battle over that. It's a significant song because of David and its lyrical content." The earlier, embryonic version of the song without Bowie, "Feel Like", is widely available in bootleg form, and was written by Queen drummer Roger Taylor.


title: Under Pressure

text: Also, some confusion has arisen about who had created the song's bassline. John Deacon said (in Japanese magazine "Music life" in 1982) that David Bowie created it. In more recent interviews, Brian May and Roger Taylor credited the bass riff to Deacon. Bowie, on his website, said the bassline was already written before he became involved. Roger Taylor, in an interview for the BBC documentary "Queen: The Days of Our Lives", stated that Deacon did indeed create the bassline, and that all through the sessions in the studio, he had been playing the riff over and over. He also claims that when the band returned from dinner, Deacon misremembered the riff, but Taylor was still able to remember it. Brian May clarified matters in a 2016 article for Mirror Online, writing that it was actually Bowie, not Taylor, who had inadvertently changed the riff. The riff began as "Deacy began playing, 6 notes the same, then one note a fourth down". After the dinner break, Bowie changed Deacon's memory of the riff to "Ding-Ding-Ding Diddle Ing-Ding".


title: Under Pressure

text: "Under Pressure" has received critical acclaim since its release, with multiple publications ranking it among Queen and Bowie's best songs and among the greatest songs of all time. On release, Sandy Robertson of "Sounds" called "Under Pressure" the "cornerstone" of its parent album. Reviewing "Hot Space" decades later, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called "Under Pressure" as the album's "undeniable saving grace" and "the only reason most listeners remember this album". He described the song as "an utterly majestic, otherworldly duet... that recaptures the effortless grace of Queen's mid-'70s peak, but is underscored with a truly affecting melancholy heart that gives it a genuine human warmth unheard in much of their music." Similarly, Ned Raggett of AllMusic described the song as "anthemic, showy, and warm-hearted, [and] a clear standout for both acts".


title: Under Pressure

text: Following Bowie's death in 2016, Jack Hamilton of "Slate" called "Under Pressure" a "masterpiece" and is a reminder to the public that Bowie could be "wonderfully, powerfully human." Jack Whatley wrote for "Far Out Magazine" "with all the animosity, wine, cocaine, and vocal battles, which helped come together to birth the song, what remains is an incredibly powerful and poignant pop song that we will likely not see matched in our lifetimes. The two juggernauts of Freddie Mercury and David Bowie collide here with perfect and enriching precision."


title: Under Pressure

text: The September 2005 edition of online music magazine "Stylus" singled out the bassline as the best in popular music history. In November 2004, "Stylus" music critic Anthony Miccio commented that "Under Pressure" "is the best song of all time" and described it as Queen's "opus". In 2012, "Slant Magazine" listed "Under Pressure" as the 21st best single of the 1980s. It was listed at number 31 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s and voted the second best collaboration of all time in a poll by "Rolling Stone" magazine. It is ranked number 429 on "Rolling Stone"s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.


title: Under Pressure

text: The music video for the song features neither Queen nor David Bowie due to touring commitments. Taking the theme of pressure, director David Mallet edited together stock footage of traffic jams, commuter trains packed with passengers, explosions, riots, cars being crushed, and various pieces of footage from silent films of the 1920s, most notably Sergei Eisenstein's influential Soviet film "Battleship Potemkin", the silent "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" starring John Barrymore, and F.W. Murnau's "Nosferatu", a masterpiece of the German Expressionist movement. The video explores the pressure-cooker mentality of a culture willing to wage war against political machines, and at the same time love and have fun (there is also footage of crowds enjoying concerts, and many black and white kissing scenes). "Top of the Pops" refused to show the video in its original form due to it containing footage of explosions in Northern Ireland, so an edited version was instead shown. In 2003, "Slant Magazine" ranked "Under Pressure" number 27 among the 100 greatest music videos of all time.


title: Under Pressure

text: Controversy arose when Vanilla Ice sampled the bassline for his 1990 single "Ice Ice Baby". Initially, he denied the accusation and then said he had modified it but did not originally pay songwriting credit or royalties to Queen and Bowie. A lawsuit resulted in Bowie and all members of Queen receiving songwriting credit for the sample. Vanilla Ice later claimed that he purchased the publishing rights to "Under Pressure", saying that buying the song made more financial sense than paying out royalties, but a Queen spokesman clarified that Vanilla Ice's statement was inaccurate.


title: Under Pressure

text: Although very much a joint project, only Queen incorporated the song into their live shows at the time. Bowie chose not to perform the song before an audience until the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, when he and Annie Lennox sang it as a duet (backed by the surviving Queen members). However, after Mercury's death and the "Outside" tour in 1995, Bowie performed the song at virtually every one of his live shows, with bassist Gail Ann Dorsey taking Mercury's vocal part. The song also appeared in set lists from A Reality Tour mounted by Bowie in 2004, when he frequently would dedicate it to Freddie Mercury. Queen + Paul Rodgers have recently performed the song; and in summer of 2012, Queen + Adam Lambert toured, including a performance of the song by Lambert and Roger Taylor in each show. While Bowie was never present for a live performance of the song with Mercury, Taylor instead filled for backing vocals in unison with Mercury, as Mercury took over all of Bowie's parts.


title: Under Pressure

text: A remixed version (called the "Rah Mix") was issued in December 1999 to promote Queen's "Greatest Hits III" compilation, reaching No. 14 on the UK Singles Chart. The video for the Rah Mix was directed by DoRo, featuring footage of Freddie Mercury from Queen's Wembley concert on 12 July 1986 and David Bowie at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert also at Wembley Stadium on 20 April 1992 spliced together using digital technology (with Annie Lennox carefully edited out). This version is featured on the "Greatest Hits III" compilation, the Rah Mix CD single (as an Enhanced CD video) and the 2011 iTunes LP edition of "Hot Space".


title: Under Pressure

text: Two CD singles (one multimedia enhanced) released 6December 1999 and 7" picture disc released 13 December 1999. As "Bohemian Rhapsody" won "The Song of The Millennium" award, this was released with Bohemian Rhapsody as B-side


title: Under Pressure

text: Mouth Pressure. Released in January 2017 as a part of the Neil Cicierega album "Mouth Moods", "Mouth Pressure" pairs the instrumentals from "Under Pressure" with the vocals from Smash Mouth's "All Star".


title: Under Pressure

text: Percy's Pressure. A karaoke version of the song was released in September as a part of the soundtrack of the animated Warner Brothers musical film "Smallfoot" whose lyrics detail one of the central human characters Percy's (voiced by James Corden) fall from fame and his need to bounce back. Additional lyrics were written by Karey Kirkpatrick, the film's director, and his brother Wayne Kirkpatrick.


title: Under Pressure

text: In the U.K., "Under Pressure" was Queen's second number-one hit and Bowie's third. Queen's smash hit "Bohemian Rhapsody" reached number one in November 1975, just two weeks after Bowie's "Space Oddity" had done the same. Bowie also topped the British charts in August 1980 with "Ashes to Ashes", his answer song to "Space Oddity".


title: Under Pressure

text: The song was covered in 2005 by American alternative rock bands the Used and My Chemical Romance for tsunami relief. The cover was originally released as an Internet download track but has subsequently been featured as a bonus track on the 2005 re-release of the Used's second studio album "In Love and Death", and received wide airplay in 2005.


title: Under Pressure

text: On the "Billboard" charts, the single reached number 28 on Modern Rock chart and number 41 on the Hot 100.


title: Under Pressure

text: In October 2018, Canadian singer and songwriter Shawn Mendes featuring American singer and songwriter Teddy Geiger (credited as teddy<3) released a version of the song.


title: Under Pressure

text: The song was released to coincide with the release of the film "Bohemian Rhapsody". Universal Music Group released three tracks by different artists "channeling their inner Freddie Mercury"; this was the first installment, released in October 2018 followed by 5 Seconds of Summer's "Killer Queen" cover track.


title: Under Pressure

text: A portion of the profits from the "Under Pressure" cover was donated to Mercury Phoenix Trust, which was founded by Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor (and the group's manager, Jim Beach) after Mercury's death to help fight AIDS worldwide. Mendes said in a statement: "I am so honoured to be able to support the amazing legacy of Freddie and Queen by doing a cover of one of my favourite songs, 'Under Pressure'".


title: Under Pressure

text: Taylor Weatherby from "Billboard" called the track "breezy" and said "Mendes and Geiger put their voices at the forefront of the stripped-down rendition, with Mendes' falsetto and Geiger's 'raspier' tone complementing their plucky acoustic guitars."


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: The Afghanistan conflict is a series of events and wars that have kept Afghanistan in a continuous state of armed conflict since 1978. The country's instability began during the time of the Republic of Afghanistan in the 1970s, which had been established following the collapse of the Kingdom of Afghanistan in the 1973 coup d'état; with the overthrow of Afghan monarch Mohammed Zahir Shah, who reigned for almost forty years, Afghanistan’s relatively peaceful period in modern history came to an end. The triggering event for the ongoing Afghanistan conflict was the Saur Revolution of 1978, which overthrew the Republic of Afghanistan and established the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Rampant post-revolution fighting across the country ultimately led to a pro-government military intervention by the Soviet Union, sparking the Soviet–Afghan War in the 1980s.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: Following the Soviet withdrawal at the end of the Cold War, mujahideen forces continued fighting against the government, which collapsed in 1992. Unable to come to agreement on a governing coalition, a multifactional war broke out between various mujahideen groups, with grave atrocities committed by many of the factions. By 1996, the Taliban, a militia group supported by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), captured Kabul and took control over most of the country, declaring an Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan that received little international recognition. However, much of northern Afghanistan remained in the hands of the Northern Alliance, with war continuing between the two sides.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: Following the September 11 attacks in the United States, an American-led invasion deposed the Taliban government and reinstated a transitional government. Afterwards, a Taliban insurgency was waged against the government and a NATO-led coalition for almost twenty years. The Taliban recaptured most of Afghanistan following the withdrawal of American and NATO forces. Though the state of war in the country has ended as of 2021, armed conflict persists in some regions amid fighting between the Taliban and the local branch of the Islamic State, as well as an anti-Taliban Republican insurgency.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: By 2014, it had been estimated that 1,405,111 to 2,084,468 people have been killed over the duration of the Afghanistan conflict.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: From 1933 to 1973, the Kingdom of Afghanistan experienced a lengthy period of peace and relative stability. It was ruled as a monarchy by King Zahir Shah, who belonged to the Afghan Musahiban Barakzai dynasty. In the 1960s, Afghanistan as a constitutional monarchy held limited parliamentary elections.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: Shah was overthrown by his cousin Mohammed Daoud Khan in July 1973, after discontent with the monarchy grew in the urban areas of Afghanistan. The country had experienced several droughts, and charges of corruption and poor economic policies were leveled against the ruling dynasty. Khan abolished the monarchy and declared the Republic of Afghanistan, and he became the first President of Afghanistan. He was supported by a faction of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), Afghanistan's communist party, which was founded in 1965 and enjoyed a strong relationship with the Soviet Union. In "The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War, and the Future of the Region", Neamatollah Nojumi writes: "The establishment of the Republic of Afghanistan increased the Soviet investment in Afghanistan and the PDPA influence in the government's military and civil bodies."


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: In 1976, alarmed by the growing power of the PDPA and the party's strong affiliation with the Soviet Union, Khan tried to scale back the PDPA's influence. He dismissed PDPA members from their government posts, appointed conservative elements instead and finally announced the dissolution of the PDPA, arresting senior party members. On 27 April 1978, the PDPA and military units loyal to the PDPA revolted and killed Khan, his immediate family and bodyguards in a violent coup during the battle to seize control of the capital, Kabul, in the Saur Revolution. As the PDPA had chosen a weekend holiday to conduct the coup, when many government employees were having a day off, Khan was not able to fully activate the well-trained armed forces which remained loyal to him to counter the coup.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: The PDPA formed a new government through a 'revolutionary council', which attempted to balance the two major competing factions within itself—the more radical and revolutionary Khalq and the more moderate and reformist Parcham. The Khalqist wing, led by the charismatic Nur Muhammad Taraki, who became the new chairman, gained supremacy in the aftermath of the revolution and adopted a program of land reform, abolition of feudal and tribal structures and equality for women. The council also prefixed the term "Democratic" to the country's Daoud-era name, making it the "Democratic Republic of Afghanistan." Though these reforms were supported by the army and city-dwelling population, they opposed the very traditional, religious and tribal customs of rural Afghanistan, which in turn led to strong rural and clerical opposition to the government and various anti-government uprisings. Around this time, the party came to be influenced by Hafizullah Amin, who undermined Taraki despite being a fellow Khalqist, purged Parchamites from the party and began ruthlessly cracking down on political opposition. Therefore, a hostile doctrine against any political dissent was adopted, whether inside or outside the party. Taraki, who had ruled for only about a year, was assassinated by Amin, who took over formal leadership of the country.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: Amin was known for his independent and nationalist inclinations and was also seen by many as a ruthless leader. He has been accused of killing tens of thousands of Afghan civilians at Pul-e-Charkhi and other national prisons while cracking down on both the opposition and the Parchamites: 27,000 politically motivated executions reportedly took place at Pul-e-Charkhi prison alone. Afghans generally held Amin personally responsible for most of the repression, while the Soviet Union considered his government illegitimate, discredited and doomed to collapse in a civil war.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: The Soviet Union secured an alliance with the more moderate Babrak Karmal and his Parchamite faction, invading Afghanistan on 24 December 1979 and originally meeting only limited resistance. Amin was deposed from power almost immediately, as he and 200 of his guards were killed during Operation Storm-333 on 27 December by Soviet Army Spetsnaz, replaced by Karmal. After deployment into Afghanistan, Soviet forces, whom the locals dubbed Shuravi, along with government forces would begin to engage in a protracted counterinsurgency war against a wide coalition of various anti-government insurgent forces, who in turn styled themselves as mujahideen—Islamic holy warriors.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: Karmal declared a general amnesty for people imprisoned during Taraki and Amin's rule and restored the Afghan national symbols in place of the Khalqist red flag. He also granted several concessions to religious leaders and at least partially restored property seized during the original Khalqist land reform. However, this did not satisfy the opposition, as they considered his ascension to power during the Soviet intervention to be a mark that he would rule as a "Soviet puppet", thus continuing their insurgency against the government.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: The Soviet government realized that a military solution to the conflict would require far more troops. Because of this they discussed troop withdrawals and searched for a political and peaceful solution as early as 1980, but they never took any serious steps in that direction until 1988. Early Soviet military reports confirm the difficulties the Soviet army had while fighting on the mountainous terrain, for which the Soviet army had no training. Parallels with the Vietnam War were frequently referred to by Soviet army officers.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: Policy failures and the stalemate that ensued after the Soviet intervention led the Soviet leadership to become highly critical of Karmal's leadership. Under Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union was able to depose Karmal and replace him with Mohammad Najibullah. Karmal's leadership was seen as a failure by the Soviet Union because of the rise of violence and crime during his administration. Najibullah, another Parchamite, attempted to end the insurgency through a policy of accommodation and power sharing known as the National Reconciliation. He reversed several of his predecessor's unpopular reforms, abolished the one-party system, reinstated Islam as the state religion (though still maintaining a fairly secular legal and political setup), replaced the Revolutionary Council with a republican presidency and bicameral parliament, removed communist symbols deemed "provocative" to the opposition from the country's national emblem, dropped the "Democratic" prefix from the country's name, offered amnesty to mujahideen fighters and called for a six-month ceasefire in which fighting would stop in exchange for political negotiations intended to create a coalition government between the PDPA and various rebel groups in an attempt to end the country's crisis.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: The talks did not succeed in reconciling the government and the mujahideen, though it was noted that they increased the government's popularity among urban areas, stabilized the armed forces and led to a round of defections from disillusioned mujahideen fighters to government militias. Despite this, the only insurgent group to fully reconcile with the government was the Shia-dominated Afghan Hizbullah. A mujahideen boycott of the 1988 elections, which were the first-ever Afghan elections to allow competing political parties, foiled Najibullah's attempt to reconstruct the nation's parliament, who in turn ordered 50 seats be left vacant to offer to the mujahideen if they decided to reconcile at a later date. Moreover, though Najibullah presented himself personally as a pious Muslim and restored the legal status of Islam, his government was unable to acquire the same Islamic credentials that the mujahideen forces wielded, which in turn meant that many of his reforms were not nearly as successful at convincing the devout, conservative rural and tribal population as Najibullah had hoped. Most importantly, Najibullah oversaw the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan. The withdrawal was to be done according to the Geneva Accords, which entailed a full removal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in exchange for the end of American and Pakistan support to the mujahideen.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: Throughout the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, troop convoys came under attack by Afghan rebel fighters. In all, 523 Soviet soldiers were killed during the withdrawal. The total withdrawal of all Soviet troops from Afghanistan was completed in February 1989. The last Soviet soldier to leave was Lieutenant General Boris Gromov, leader of the Soviet military operations in Afghanistan at the time of the Soviet invasion. In total, 14,453 Soviet soldiers died during the Soviet–Afghan War. Though the Soviet forces did withdraw, the mujahideen refused to abide by the accords since they were not party to the negotiations. Furthermore, the United States reneged on its agreement and continued funding the insurgent groups even after the Soviet withdrawal. Najibullah's government further complained to the UN that Pakistan had also continued supplying, training and arming the rebel forces fighting against his government.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: The Soviet war had a damaging impact on Afghanistan. The deaths of up to 2 million Afghans in the war has been described as "genocide" by a number of sources. Five to ten million Afghans fled to Pakistan and Iran, amounting to 1/3 of the prewar population of the country, and another 2 million were displaced within the country. Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province functioned as an organisational and networking base for the anti-Soviet Afghan resistance, with the province's influential Deobandi ulama playing a major supporting role in promoting the jihad.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: After the Soviet withdrawal, the Republic of Afghanistan under Najibullah continued to face resistance from the various mujahideen forces and instituted a state of emergency as he prepared to fend off the armed opposition on his own. Nevertheless, Najibullah received funding and arms from the Soviet Union until 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. For several years the Afghan army had actually increased their effectiveness past levels ever achieved during the Soviet military presence. The Afghan army was able to prove itself in combat during the Battle of Jalalabad in 1989, where it defeated a major assault on the city by mujahideen forces with U.S. and Pakistani backing, inflicting on them greater than 3,000 losses. Moreover, it was actually able to go on the offensive, forestalling several more attacks and preventing the governmental collapse that both American and Pakistani policymakers expected. This greatly increased army morale and demoralized the rebel groups, who had hoped for a quick post-withdrawal victory.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: In 1990, Najibullah reformed the PDPA into the "Watan" (Homeland) Party, which rejected Marxism–Leninism in favour of leftist Afghan nationalism. This did not necessarily have the desired effect, as it did not lead to significant drop in opposition, but did enrage several of his party members, not only Khalqists but also pro-Karmal Parchamites, who accused him of conceding too much of the Saur Revolution's gains to the mujahideen. Najibullah rejected the accusations, stating that his actions had been done in an attempt to preserve and protect the gains of the revolution, not sacrifice them. Regardless, these reforms caused further rifts within the ruling party. These tensions boiled over in the 1990 Afghan coup d'état attempt, in which a group of disillusioned Khalqists, led by Defence Minister Shahnawaz Tanai, attempted to overthrow Najibullah with the aid of Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin and external support from Pakistan. The coup failed but led to many pro-Khalqist officers either fleeing the country or being sacked by Najibullah, considerably weakening the Afghan armed forces. The resulting instability led to a defeat in the Siege of Khost a year later to the hands of Pakistan-backed mujahideen forces after ten years of heavy fighting.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: Another blow was dealt to his government in late 1991, as the dissolution of the Soviet Union signalled the end of foreign aid for Najibullah's Afghanistan, as Russian President Boris Yeltsin had neither the resources nor the desire to aid the Afghan government. Because of this and with Afghanistan being landlocked and not having a fuel supply of its own, the relatively modern and formidable Afghan Air Force essentially became grounded by a lack of fuel, which in turn made it all the more difficult to supply the army and various pro-government militias spread across Afghanistan's harsh geography, consequently causing a considerable increase in desertion. A few months later and with the war still continuing, Najibullah offered his entire government's resignation and voiced his support for a United Nations plan for a transitional administration including both Watan and all mujahideen groups in the country. This announcement led to the desertion of many of his own supporters, who feared the end of his government.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: In these circumstances, Abdul Rashid Dostum, a leading army general, created an alliance with the Shura-e Nazar of Ahmad Shah Massoud and turned against Najibullah, taking with him over 40,000 previously pro-government soldiers. Najibullah sent a high-ranking army general to talk to Dostum and attempt to salvage the situation, only to learn that the general had also defected, alongside his own foreign minister. These defections devastated the Afghan Armed Forces' morale, and large parts of the Afghan government and armed forces capitulated to the forces of Massoud in early 1992. By April, Najibullah stated that he would be handing power to a seven-member transitional council and resigning immediately. Mujahideen forces loyal to Massoud and Dostum entered and captured Kabul shortly thereafter, leading to the definitive end of PDPA/Watan rule in Afghanistan.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: Najibullah was granted safety by the UN office in Kabul. He had obtained political asylum in India but was unable to leave as he was prevented from doing so by forces loyal to Massoud, Dostum and Hekmatyar. Because of this, he was forced to remain in the UN building until he was captured, dragged from a truck, castrated and executed by the Taliban several years later. After the Soviet defeat, "The Wall Street Journal" named Massoud "the Afghan who won the Cold War". He had defeated the Soviet forces nine times in his home region of the Panjshir Valley in northeastern Afghanistan.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: Pakistan tried to install Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in power in Afghanistan despite the opposition of all other mujahideen commanders and factions. As early as October 1990, the Inter-Services Intelligence had devised a plan for Hekmatyar to conduct a mass bombardment of the Afghan capital Kabul with possible Pakistani troop enforcements. This unilateral ISI-Hekmatyar plan came although the thirty most important mujahideen commanders had agreed on holding a conference inclusive of all Afghan groups to decide on a common future strategy. Peter Tomsen reports that the protest by the other mujahideen commanders was like a "firestorm". Ahmad Zia Massoud, the brother of Ahmad Shah Massoud, said that his faction strongly opposed the plan and like other factions would take measures if any "Pakistani troops reinforced Hekmatyar". Abdul Haq was reportedly so angry about the ISI plan that he was "red in the face". And Nabi Mohammad, another commander, pointed out that "Kabul's 2 million could not escape Hekmatyar's rocket bombardment—there would be a massacre." Representatives for Massoud, Haq and Wardak said that "Hekmatyar's rocketing of Kabul ... would produce a civilian bloodbath." The United States finally put pressure on Pakistan to stop the 1990 plan, which was subsequently called off until 1992.


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: After the fall of Najibullah's government in 1992, the Afghan political parties agreed on a power-sharing agreement, the Peshawar Accord. The Peshawar Accord created the Islamic State of Afghanistan and appointed an interim government for a transitional period to be followed by general democratic elections. Human Rights Watch said: "The sovereignty of Afghanistan was vested formally in the Islamic State of Afghanistan, an entity created in April 1992, after the fall of the Soviet-backed Najibullah government. ... With the exception of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e Islami, all of the parties ... were ostensibly unified under this government in April 1992. ... Hekmatyar's Hezb-e Islami, for its part, refused to recognize the government for most of the period discussed in this report and launched attacks against government forces and Kabul generally. ... Shells and rockets fell everywhere."


title: Afghanistan conflict (1978–present)

text: Hekmatyar received operational, financial and military support from Pakistan. On "Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival", Afghanistan expert Amin Saikal says that "Pakistan was keen to gear up for a breakthrough in Central Asia. ... Islamabad could not possibly expect the new Islamic government leaders ... to subordinate their own nationalist objectives in order to help Pakistan realize its regional ambitions. ... Had it not been for the ISI's logistic support and supply of a large number of rockets, Hekmatyar's forces would not have been able to target and destroy half of Kabul.