In November 2012 he was awarded the prestigious
Octavio Paz Prize of Poetry and Essay.[2]
In that same year 2012, with issue number 222 (May–June 2012), he became Editor in Chief of "Claves de razón práctica" (
Spanish for "Keys for Practical Reason"), a critical thought and cultural crusading review founded by
Javier Pradera in 1990, thus giving start to a second era of this prestigious publication, with an editorial board composed of Basilio Baltasar,
Francisco Calvo Serraller, Joaquín Estefanía, Carlos García Gual,
Santos Juliá and José María Ridao.[3]
Political activism
Savater founded a political party currently disbanded called Unión, progreso y democracia (Spanish for
Union, Progress and Democracy and often shortened as UPyD) with former socialists MP
Rosa Díez,
Albert Boadella and
Mario Vargas Llosa in order to oppose different nationalist movements in Spanish mainstream politics.[4][5]
Savater was one of the intellectuals and politicians who endorsed the 2012 manifesto of the "reconversion.es" platform vouching for a recentralization of the country, and considered a precursor of the far-right
Vox.[6] In 2018, Savater adhered to the manifesto Manifiesto por la historia y la libertad promoted by
Francisco Franco National Foundation, decrying the
Law of Historical Memory.[7]
He has taken an active part in several organizations engaged with peace in the Basque Country and against
terrorism and
Basque nationalism, such as Movimiento por la Paz y la No Violencia, Gesto por la Paz, Foro Ermua, and currently ¡Basta Ya!
Personal life
Savater is also known as a philosophy
popularizer, TV host, lecturer and for his political
activism.