Alexander Prokhanov

Alexander Andreyevich Prokhanov ( _ru. Александр Андреевич Проханов; born on February 26 1938 in Tbilisi) is a writer in Russia. He is a member of the secretariat of the Writers Union of the Russian Federation and the editor-in-chief of ultra-nationalist newspaper "Завтра" (Zavtra - "Tomorrow"). In the nationalist press, he is often referred to as the "leader of the patriotic opposition".

Journalist and writer

After graduation from Moscow Aviation Institute in 1960, Prokhanov worked as a forester in Karelia and in the Moscow oblast.

Until 1970 he worked as a correspondent for the newspapers "Pravda" and "Literaturnaya Gazeta" in Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Angola and Ethiopia. He was the first to report on the March 1969 events on Damansky Island during the Sino-Soviet border conflict. In 1971 he published his first polemical books: "Иду в путь мой" ("I Am Going on My Way") and "Письма о деревне" ("The Letters about the Village").

In 1972 Prokhanov was accepted into the Writers Union of the USSR. Since 1986 he has actively participated in Russian nationalist publications: the magazines "Молодая гвардия" ("The Young Guards"), "Наш современник" ("Our Contemporary") and the newspaper "Литературная Россия" ("The Literarature Russia").

In 1989-1991 he served as the editor-in-chief of the journal "Советская литература" ("The Soviet Literature"). After December 1990, he became the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "День" ("Day").

For many of Prokhanov's novels ("600 Years After the Battle, The Red-Brown"), Polyphony is typical. In 2002, he won the National Bestseller award for his novel "Mr. Hexagen". [http://www.russiaprofile.org/culture/2006/2/2/3175.wbp] .

Political activism

In 1991, during the Presidential elections of the RSFSR, Prokhanov worked for the campaign of General Albert Makashov. During the failed August Coup of 1991, he supported the State Emergency Committee.

In the summer of 1992, Prokhanov turned the association of the readers of the anti-semitic newspaper "Day" into a political movement. During the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993, he participated in the defense of the White House, Moscow. On October 4, 1993, the Ministry of Justice of the RF ordered a stop to the editorial and publishing activity of the newspaper "Day", but in November of the same year Prokhanov's son-in-law Alexander Khudorozhkov registered the newspaper "Tomorrow" ("Zavtra"). Prokhanov became its editor-in-chief.

Reportedly, "Alexander Prokhanov states openly that Jews are the cause of Russia’s misery. Warning that "we will not sit tight with our arms folded idly if the Jews continue to pressure Russian nationalists," Prokhanov threatened to "answer them with a fist." [http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=63&x_article=154] .

In the interviews [http://taf.ilim.ru/public/porhanov.html] and articles [http://www.zavtra.ru/cgi//veil//data/zavtra/06/635/11.html] , Prokhanov himself states, that spilt exists between thieves and their victims, not between Jews and Russians, sometimes attacking Zionism [http://www.zavtra.ru/cgi//veil//data/zavtra/06/638/11.html] and sometimes speaking of possible co-operation with it [http://www.zavtra.ru/cgi/veil/data/zavtra/00/344/41.html] .

In the Russian presidential election, 1996 he supported the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov. In 1997 Prokhanov co-founded the Agency of Patriotic Information.

In 1999, Alexander Prokhanov together with Konstantin Kasimovsky invited former klansman David Duke to visit Russian Federation. [http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=324]

Since 2004, his newspaper is close to the party Rodina ("Fatherland"). He commented about the recent war of Russia with Georgia: [ [http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/beware-the-rise-of-russias-new-imperialism-20080820-3yw6.html?page=-1 Beware the rise of Russia's new imperialism] , by Robert Horvath, August 21, 2008 ]

See also

* Aleksandr Dugin

References

* [http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/rusorthfascism.html Russian Orthodox Fascism after Glasnost] by Paul D. Steeves, Stetson University. Presented to the Conference on Faith and History, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, October 8, 1994.
* [http://www.newtimes.ru/eng/detail.asp?art_id=658 Velvet Nazism. Ultra-nationalist ideas are in vogue nowadays in the literary mainstream and political salons] By Andrey Kolesnikov

* [http://www.peoples.ru/state/citizen/prohanov/ Bio]