Post by radovic on Apr 30, 2009 13:18:59 GMT -5
The Peter Pan of politics
> print version
Anna Arutunyan
He has done time, been kicked out of the Soviet Union for shooting his mouth off, written dozens of books and hundreds of pamphlets, wielded a Kalashnikov in Serbia, organised street protests in what he calls a police state, and his followers are notorious for finding novel ways of getting arrested.
But now, the 66-year-old punk politician and writer may be trying something new: mildly respectable.
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Two years after his National Bolshevik Party was outlawed by a Russian court, and a year after an unlikely alliance with liberal former chess champion Gary Kasparov failed to make much of an impact on Russia's presidential election, Limonov is setting his sights on a new bid for the presidency, in 2012.
In an interview this week at his modest Moscow office, Limonov struck a busy, pragmatic tone, talked about how Russia needed a modern political system with free elections.
After a lifetime of problems with authorities in various countries, Limonov insists on at least three bodyguards being with him everywhere.
Monday was no exception, and a bodyguard with the blues eyes one often encounters among Huskies and security agents, led us silently to Limonov's headquarters, a Spartan two-room apartment with a closet, desk, sofa and two chairs.
Dismissing President Dmitry Medvedev as "banal," Limonov talked about politics as a business and said his first act as president would be to turn the Kremlin into a museum.
"These people aren't any different no matter what country you're in," he said, referring to the security services he's had to deal with. "Same type, usually tall, thin guys a little older than 30, sporty-looking, sometimes wearing glasses. Not too bright. I mean, if I were in their place I'd be much more effective." No one, however, has tried to recruit him.
Asked how he managed to irk so many security structures - the KGB, FBI, France's DST and now the FSB - he described himself as "a restless person, active, energetic, politically engaged. This type of person presents a threat, especially if he is also a foreigner. Why would you accept a dangerous foreigner?"
One thing that seems to run through Limonov is that all politics is cynical, and at one point he called one of the fellow founders The Other Russia coalitions a "business partner."
But doesn't business imply profit, I asked? "In politics, profit isn't measured in dollars," Limonov said. "It's measured in..." and here he searched for the right words, nervously aligning a paperclip and a pen on his desk. "Say, in units of popular acceptance and goodwill that accumulates. And then, when free elections actually happen, all this translates into millions of votes."
"I intentionally announced my plans three years in advance to prepare an opposition, to prepare public opinion. Because we live in a police state, it will take three years to convince the public. Later, I plan to take part in the fight. And I will not step back. If the registration committee tells me I can't run because I'm missing a button on my coat, I will fight back, and say that missing a button on your coat doesn't have anything to do with the executive post for which I am running.
In the last elections, when we had Kasparov, Kasyanov, Bukovsky - they were very careless about the challenges put up by the authorities. Kasparov didn't even hold an assembly. Kasyanov went further and then he didn't get registered and just gave up. I won't give up at any stage."
It is banal to say that in Limonov's case, politics and art combine. The National Bolsheviks, he said, encompassed "many cultures, people of various dimensions, poets, musicians, philosophers."
"What kind of culture does United Russia have? It has none. They have a few athletes, for example. But athletes, with respect to the amount of grey matter they have, are inferior to other disciplines. And grey matter is more valuable in politics than a healthy body."
The National Bolsheviks were feared by the liberal-minded intelligentsia as a dangerous, revanchist force, much like Vladimir Zhirinovsky, with whom Limonov aligned in the early 1990s and almost immediately denounced.
It was surprising, then, that in 2006 Limonov joined forces with the pro-Western Gary Kasparov and the Other Russia coalition, which united both right-wing and left-wing opposition forces. But now the relationship with Kasparov seems to have cooled.
"In the first two years of our partnership, he was a very effective politician."
Kasparov's mistake was joining the liberal Solidarity coalition, Limonov said.
"It's a big mistake, possibly fatal. Politics, after all, isn't like chess. You can lose all your political weight in just one match."
The Limonov file
Name: Eduard Veniaminovich Savenko
Born: February 22, 1943
1958 Begins writing poetry.
1963 Takes part in a labour strike.
1974 Expelled from the Soviet Union and emigrates to the United States.
1979 His first book, "It's Me, Eddie" published, recalling his bohemian life in New York.
1980 Moves to France, works closely with the French Communist Party.
1991 Returns to Russia and begins publishing Limonka, a radical newspaper.
1993 Defender of the White House against Yeltsin's forces; fights as a volunteer supporting Bosnian Serbs.
1994 Founds the National Bolshevik Party, which espouses Russian nationalism.
2001 Accused of creating an armed military group to invade Kazakhstan; charges later dropped.
Serves two years for weapons possession before being freed on parole.
2006 Joins The Other Russia coalition with Garry Kasparov; abandons some more radical nationalist positions.
2007 National Bolshevik Party outlawed.
2009 Limonov announces run for president in 2012.
> print version
Anna Arutunyan
He has done time, been kicked out of the Soviet Union for shooting his mouth off, written dozens of books and hundreds of pamphlets, wielded a Kalashnikov in Serbia, organised street protests in what he calls a police state, and his followers are notorious for finding novel ways of getting arrested.
But now, the 66-year-old punk politician and writer may be trying something new: mildly respectable.
Capture the Season's Best Memories
Get a free Sony Cybershot 10MP camera and Sony 9" Digital Picture Frame!
ElectronicsSource.us.com
LATEST NEWS
Car rams crowd watching Dutch Queen's Day parade, 4 dead
21:17 30/04/2009 |Four people were killed in the Dutch city of Apeldoorn on Thursday when a car careened through a crowd watching a royal parade for Queen's Day, national media reported.
Russians approve of St. George Ribbon campaign - poll
20:20 30/04/2009 |Most Russians approve of the country's annual St. George Ribbon campaign, according to a poll conducted by the SuperJob.ru portal on April 24-27.
Medvedev says NATO exercises in Georgia 'open provocation' - 2
20:02 30/04/2009 |NATO's plans to hold military exercises in Georgia on May 6-June 1 are an "open provocation," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday, warning of negative consequences.
Russian scientists could create swine flu vaccine in 3 months
19:08 30/04/2009 |Russian scientists could create a vaccine to combat swine flu in three months, the head of Russia's Flu Research Institute said in an interview with RIA Novosti on Thursday.
more news
Two years after his National Bolshevik Party was outlawed by a Russian court, and a year after an unlikely alliance with liberal former chess champion Gary Kasparov failed to make much of an impact on Russia's presidential election, Limonov is setting his sights on a new bid for the presidency, in 2012.
In an interview this week at his modest Moscow office, Limonov struck a busy, pragmatic tone, talked about how Russia needed a modern political system with free elections.
After a lifetime of problems with authorities in various countries, Limonov insists on at least three bodyguards being with him everywhere.
Monday was no exception, and a bodyguard with the blues eyes one often encounters among Huskies and security agents, led us silently to Limonov's headquarters, a Spartan two-room apartment with a closet, desk, sofa and two chairs.
Dismissing President Dmitry Medvedev as "banal," Limonov talked about politics as a business and said his first act as president would be to turn the Kremlin into a museum.
"These people aren't any different no matter what country you're in," he said, referring to the security services he's had to deal with. "Same type, usually tall, thin guys a little older than 30, sporty-looking, sometimes wearing glasses. Not too bright. I mean, if I were in their place I'd be much more effective." No one, however, has tried to recruit him.
Asked how he managed to irk so many security structures - the KGB, FBI, France's DST and now the FSB - he described himself as "a restless person, active, energetic, politically engaged. This type of person presents a threat, especially if he is also a foreigner. Why would you accept a dangerous foreigner?"
One thing that seems to run through Limonov is that all politics is cynical, and at one point he called one of the fellow founders The Other Russia coalitions a "business partner."
But doesn't business imply profit, I asked? "In politics, profit isn't measured in dollars," Limonov said. "It's measured in..." and here he searched for the right words, nervously aligning a paperclip and a pen on his desk. "Say, in units of popular acceptance and goodwill that accumulates. And then, when free elections actually happen, all this translates into millions of votes."
"I intentionally announced my plans three years in advance to prepare an opposition, to prepare public opinion. Because we live in a police state, it will take three years to convince the public. Later, I plan to take part in the fight. And I will not step back. If the registration committee tells me I can't run because I'm missing a button on my coat, I will fight back, and say that missing a button on your coat doesn't have anything to do with the executive post for which I am running.
In the last elections, when we had Kasparov, Kasyanov, Bukovsky - they were very careless about the challenges put up by the authorities. Kasparov didn't even hold an assembly. Kasyanov went further and then he didn't get registered and just gave up. I won't give up at any stage."
It is banal to say that in Limonov's case, politics and art combine. The National Bolsheviks, he said, encompassed "many cultures, people of various dimensions, poets, musicians, philosophers."
"What kind of culture does United Russia have? It has none. They have a few athletes, for example. But athletes, with respect to the amount of grey matter they have, are inferior to other disciplines. And grey matter is more valuable in politics than a healthy body."
The National Bolsheviks were feared by the liberal-minded intelligentsia as a dangerous, revanchist force, much like Vladimir Zhirinovsky, with whom Limonov aligned in the early 1990s and almost immediately denounced.
It was surprising, then, that in 2006 Limonov joined forces with the pro-Western Gary Kasparov and the Other Russia coalition, which united both right-wing and left-wing opposition forces. But now the relationship with Kasparov seems to have cooled.
"In the first two years of our partnership, he was a very effective politician."
Kasparov's mistake was joining the liberal Solidarity coalition, Limonov said.
"It's a big mistake, possibly fatal. Politics, after all, isn't like chess. You can lose all your political weight in just one match."
The Limonov file
Name: Eduard Veniaminovich Savenko
Born: February 22, 1943
1958 Begins writing poetry.
1963 Takes part in a labour strike.
1974 Expelled from the Soviet Union and emigrates to the United States.
1979 His first book, "It's Me, Eddie" published, recalling his bohemian life in New York.
1980 Moves to France, works closely with the French Communist Party.
1991 Returns to Russia and begins publishing Limonka, a radical newspaper.
1993 Defender of the White House against Yeltsin's forces; fights as a volunteer supporting Bosnian Serbs.
1994 Founds the National Bolshevik Party, which espouses Russian nationalism.
2001 Accused of creating an armed military group to invade Kazakhstan; charges later dropped.
Serves two years for weapons possession before being freed on parole.
2006 Joins The Other Russia coalition with Garry Kasparov; abandons some more radical nationalist positions.
2007 National Bolshevik Party outlawed.
2009 Limonov announces run for president in 2012.