Eddie Råbock (born Jonas Mohamed Omar; 7 June 1976) is a Swedish essayist, poet and literary critic of Swedish-Iranian origin. Råbock is the author of three collections of poetry. He was the editor of the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

journal ''Minaret'' from 2006 to 2008.

Career and controversial turns

Råbock had a very promising and popular career at first, as a well-liked progressive writer and poet. He was a progressive Muslim who opposed

islamism Islamism is a range of religious and political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is superior to communism ...

. Then in 2009, as a reaction to, and becoming emotionally upset about, Israeli strikes against the Gaza Strip, he began describing himself as a "radical Muslim" and supporter of the

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

Islamist movements

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

and

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

, seeing the late

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian leader

Ruhollah Khomeini Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 or 24 September 19023 June 1989) was an Iranian revolutionary, politician, political theorist, and religious leader. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian ...

as a role model for Islamist resistance movements. He organized an anti-Israeli protest at Sergels torg in Stockholm on September 20, 2009, at Al-Quds day in which leading figures from the

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

organization Nordisk Ungdom attended and both Arabic, Iranian and Swedish attendees did

Hitler salute The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute, or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the shoulder into the air with a straightened han ...

s. He also befriended and interviewed Ahmed Rami, owner of the webpage and former radio show Radio Islam, who was convicted for hate speech against Jews in Sweden, and who denies the Holocaust openly. Rami's anti-Semitic books was distributed by the neo-Nazi party Nationalsocialistisk Front. Råbock's statements during this period included both homophobic rhetoric, and racist statements. In an article in the newspaper ''Folket i Bild/Kulturfront'', on July 17, 2012, he withdrew from his Islamist standpoint and retracted his antisemitic statements, saying, "I ask for forgiveness for having promoted anti-Semitic ideas". In the publication "En opieätares bekännelser" (''Confessions of an opium-eater'', referencing to Marx's famous quote about religion), he explains and develops his thoughts about his return to "tolerance and secularism". He was for a while associated with the Communist Party (Sweden), but in 2017 he announced that he, as politically anti-Islamic nowadays, will vote for the anti-Islamic right

Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( , SD ) is a Nationalism, nationalist and Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in Sweden founded in 1988. As of 2024, it is the largest member of Sweden's Right-wing politics, right-wing bloc and the sec ...

(SD) in elections. He has continued to support SD since then. In 2017, he changed his name by deed poll to Eddie Råbock.

References

External links

Eddie Råbock's blog
1976 births Living people Swedish poets Swedish male writers Swedish male poets Writers from Uppsala {{Sweden-poet-stub