Mohammad Reza Rezaee ( fa, رضا رضایی; 24 December 1960 – 30 October 2022) was a Norwegian-Iranian politician representing the Marxist, left-wing political party

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

Political career

Born and raised in

Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As o ...

in Iran, Rezaee was politically active since he entered politics as a 16-year-old in Iran. Due to this, he fled his homeland and arrived in Norway as a refugee in 1989, eventually settling in

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 ...

. He became active in the Socialist Left Party, sitting on the Central Committee. He lost his standing in the latter after publicly calling for leader

Kristin Halvorsen Kristin Halvorsen (born 2 September 1960) is a Norwegian politician of the Socialist Left Party. She served as Minister of Finance from 2005 to 2009 and as Minister of Education from 2009 to 2013. She also served as the party's leader from 1997 ...

to step down, following a controversial decision to send Norwegian combat troops to serve in the War in Afghanistan. Rezaee left the party altogether in 2009 due to the party's support for the war while in government. He joined the revolutionary socialist party Red ( no, Rødt) instead. In the 2011 local elections, he stood as the party's candidate for Mayor of Oslo. Although not elected mayor, he was elected into the Oslo City Council, along with Bjørnar Moxnes, the party's chairman. Rezaee died on 30 October 2022, at the age of 61.

Political views

Education

Rezaee supported the abolishment of school grades, as he believed it has a demoralizing effect on students. Additionally, he wanted to remove the concept of Homework, and rather focus on teaching at school. To address the acute shortage of Preschool teachers in Norway, Rezaee called for more of the unskilled employees in kindergartens to be offered continuing education to become teachers.

Foreign policy

A staunch opponent to the state of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, Rezaee frequently called for a national arms and trade boycott of the state. Apart from this, he was also active in the support for the Polisario Front in the Western Sahara conflict, repeatedly condemning the state of Morocco for alleged human rights violations against the Sahrawi population.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rezaee, Reza 1960 births 2022 deaths People from Shiraz Iranian emigrants to Norway Socialist Left Party (Norway) politicians Red Party (Norway) politicians Politicians from Oslo BI Norwegian Business School alumni Refugees in Norway Norwegian politicians of Iranian descent