Jan Myrdal

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Jan Myrdal (born 19 July 1927 in Bromma) is a Swedish author, leftist-political writer and columnist. He is the son of the Social Democrats and Nobel Laureates Alva Myrdal and Gunnar Myrdal.

Myrdal got his breakthrough in 1963 with the book Report from a Chinese Village, a report from Mao's China. Subsequently he has written many similar "reports" and travel notes from Asian countries in collaboration with his wife, photographer Gun Kessle.

Myrdal's best-known works include his autobiographical books about his childhood and conflicts with his parents, Alva Myrdal and Gunnar Myrdal.

Politically, Myrdal belongs to the far-left and is an adherent of or at least associated with Maoism and other forms of non-Soviet communism in the Third World. Over the years he has expressed his support for leaders such as Josef Stalin^[1], Mao Zedong^[1], Enver Hoxha^[1] and Pol Pot^[1]. In 1992 he said that the Iranian fatwa against Salman Rushdie was "formally correct"^[1] and in 1997 he publicly defended the Chinese government's intervention during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 (also known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre)^[1]. He has also been criticized for his stance towards homosexuality^[2].

Myrdal's influence on the cultural life of Sweden was most prominent during the 1960s, but he has maintained his views up to this day, regardless of their diminishing popularity. Myrdal has been provocatively opposed to the Swedish literary and cultural establishment, systematically defying both conventional opinions and so-called political correctness. That has included his arguing for the right of radical Islamists to make anti-Semitic statements in accordance with the principles of free speech, leading to allegations of anti-Semitism against him.