Fariborz Raisdana

Fariborz Raisdana was born on January 19, 1945, in Tehran, into a landowning family from the Buin Zahra region. He began his university studies in agriculture at the University of Tehran but was expelled due to political activities. He then continued in economics at the National University of Iran (later Shahid Beheshti University) and eventually completed a doctorate in economics and political science at the London School of Economics.

Throughout his career, he combined university teaching in economics with writing, translation, journalism, and political and social activism. He served on the executive board of the Iranian Writers' Association and was a well-known advocate for workers' rights, addressing topics such as money and inflation, socio-economic underdevelopment, and the political economy of globalization in his specialized works. He was arrested several times over his public statements on structural adjustment and subsidy-elimination policies and his journalistic and political activities, and was sentenced to one year in prison in one such case.

Intellectually, Raisdana always identified with socialist and Marxist ideals, believing that overcoming poverty and inequality required such a framework. He was a sharp critic of liberal and neoliberal economic policy, describing much of it as a "transfer of resources and capital to specific groups," and tended to view governments as transient intermediaries serving particular economic interests. His interests extended beyond economics into literary criticism, poetry, and writing on contemporary Persian literature.

Raisdana died on March 16, 2020, at Tehran Pars Hospital after contracting the coronavirus. Following his death, figures from across the political and intellectual spectrum, including both supporters and critics of his economic views, praised his personal integrity and outspokenness.