Ali Esbati ( fa, علی اثباتی; born 12 September 1976) is an Iranian-Swedish politician of the Left Party and

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

, and was the chairman of Young Left from 2001 to 2004. As of today, he is a handling officer of labour market policies at the Left Party's office of the

Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

and the chairman of the Left Party's program commission. He became famous for his blogging; his blog ''Esbatis kommentarer'' was at one time one of the most popular Swedish political blogs. Esbati lives in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. After resigning from his position as debate and opinion editor in Norwegian daily left-leaning newspaper

Klassekampen ''Klassekampen'' ( en, The Class Struggle) is a Norwegian daily newspaper. It describes itself as "the newspaper of the Left." The paper's net circulation is 34,000 (2021), and it has around 111,000 daily readers on paper (160,000 on Saturdays). ...

, he started at the Norwegian think tan
Manifest senter for samfunnsanalyse
where he now is the managing director. He is also a common contributor to several Swedish and Norwegian magazines. Esbati has also been published in a number of books.

Biography

Esbati was born in

Teheran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most populo ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and came to Sweden in 1985 with his mother and one younger brother (his father arrived six months later). He grew up in the suburb

Tensta Tensta is a district in Spånga-Tensta, Spånga-Tensta borough, Stockholm, Sweden. There are about 6,000 apartments in Tensta

, north of

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, and joined Young Left in 1990. After primary school, he attended

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in Tensta and another one, specialized in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

, in

Danderyd Danderyd Municipality (''Danderyds kommun''; ) is a municipality north of Stockholm in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. It is one of the smallest municipalities of Sweden, but the most affluent. Its seat is located in Djursholm and it is ...

. After graduation he began studying at the

Stockholm School of Economics The Stockholm School of Economics (SSE; sv, Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, HHS) is a private business school located in city district Vasastaden in the central part of Stockholm, Sweden. SSE offers BSc, MSc and MBA programs, along with ...

. In 1999-2000 he completed his military service at Televapenkompaniet in

Uppland Uppland () is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. On the small uninhab ...

, where he also was trained in

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

. He is a self-proclaimed atheist.

Utøya shooting

Esbati was invited to host a lecture at the summer camp of the Norwegian Workers' Youth League on

Utøya Utøya () is an island in the Tyrifjorden lake in Hole municipality, in the county of Viken, Norway. The island is , situated off the shore, by the E16 road, about driving distance south of Hønefoss, and northwest of Oslo city centre. Over ...

outside

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

22 July 2011. There he became a witness of the

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

of 69 people by the lone gunman

Anders Behring Breivik Fjotolf Hansen (born 13 February 1979), better known by his birth name Anders Behring Breivik () and by his pseudonym Andrew Berwick, is a Norwegian far-right domestic terrorist, known for committing the 2011 Norway attacks on 22 July 2011. On ...

, most of them young members of the League. Esbati told afterwards that he saw how several people were killed, but managed to survive the tragedy by hiding in the surrounding woods and water.

Personal

Ali Esbati lives with journalist and former Red youth leader

Marte Michelet Marte Brekke Michelet (born 26 May 1975) is a Norwegian journalist, critic and non-fiction writer. She is the daughter of novelist and politician Jon Michelet and Toril Brekke. They resided in Lindeberg, Oslo before her parents split up. Marte Mic ...

. The couple has a daughter together.Line Brustad et al
Det må være bittert for ham at han ikke fikk tatt noen av oss
(In Norwegian)

Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newsp ...

, 9 April 2012

Bibliography

* Rasismer i Europa (2004). Edited by:

Étienne Balibar Étienne Balibar (; ; born 23 April 1942) is a French philosopher. He has taught at the University of Paris X-Nanterre, at the University of California Irvine and is currently an Anniversary Chair Professor at the Centre for Research in Modern Eu ...

. Published by Agora. Note that this is an anthology and that Esbati contributed one article. * Agenda : julafton för allt reaktionärt : bloggtexter 2005-2006 (2006). Edited by: Ali Esbati and

Jesper Weithz Jesper is a given name commonly believed to be of ancient Persian origin, meaning "Treasurer". Some notable people with the name Jesper include: Music * Jesper Koch (born 1967), Danish composer * Jesper Kyd (born 1972), Danish video game and fil ...

. Published by Karneval förlag. This publication is a collection of articles from Esbati's blog. * Kuba på riktigt (2007). Edited by: Ali Esbati and Daniel Suhonen. Published by Murbruk förlag. Note that this is an anthology and that is as such contains articles by several authors.

References

External links

Official blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Esbati, Ali 1976 births Living people Politicians from Stockholm Members of the Riksdag from the Left Party (Sweden) Stockholm School of Economics alumni Swedish bloggers Swedish atheists Swedish politicians of Iranian descent Politicians from Tehran Members of the Riksdag 2010–2014 Members of the Riksdag 2014–2018 Members of the Riksdag 2018–2022 Members of the Riksdag 2022–2026 21st-century Swedish politicians