Mojahedin. WS

Bombs ticking on the US soil

Claiming to be the dissident movement seeking democratic reform in Iran, Mojahedin Khalq Organization (aka MKO, MEK, PMOI, NCRI, NLA) is listed by several nations as a terrorist organization for its atrocities against Iranian people and activities under the former Iraqi regime. Being the first of countries to put the group on the terror list, the US is commonly known to have established ambiguous relationship with MKO due to its anti-Iranian stance. However, nobody denies that the US was again the first, among other forces invading Iraq under the pretext of war on terrorism, to grant the group the protected status and to take it under its own protection.

But to grant citizenship to a number of leading terrorist members of MKO, 16 members as reported, might be a truth that hurts. Some may say that it is hard to believe even as gossip. But, as people say, where there is smoke there is fire. It is not an issue concerning the US government to deal with and let the recognized terrorists freely in and out of the country. It is an issue of national security and no American citizen ever fancies being again eyewitness to another national tragedy even more appalling than that of 9/11.

Being trained under the most sophisticated methods of terrorism as well as enigmatic, destructive cult techniques in the safe haven of Camp Ashraf heavily protected by American themselves, MKO leading members are like time bombs that start ticking in any corner of the world where they opt to detonate. As the media have reported lately, several members of MKO were arrested in France and Switzerland on terrorist charges. Justifying the arrests for no clear reason, some officials familiar with the group’s activities claim that the arrested were sympathizers, not official members. Does it really make any difference to be a sympathizer or an official member when the instilled ideology induces to detonate a bomb, disturb the social order, or commit self-destruction? It is hard to believe that the US is giving assent to bombs ticking rampant on its soil!

October 5, 2008 0 comments

Auver-sur-Oise

A Camp Ashraf in France

Once and following the French police raid against MKO’s HQs in Auvers-sur-Oise, M. Bousquet de Florian, the director of French counter-intelligence, confirmed that many MKO leaders had returned to France since the American intervention in Iraq to turn “Auvers-sur-Oise into an operational headquarters for terrorism”. It was hard to believe what he meant. The Camp Ashraf once turned into a bastion of terrorist plots and operational headquarters heavily supported by Saddam, now MKO needed new HQs the patron being fallen.

Reported by VO news on 24 September 2008, a number of elected representatives of Val-d’Oise gathered to support the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). As the report states, “sixty mayors of Val-d’Oise support the PMOI, main opposition to the regime to the mullahs in Tehran. All are demanding the withdrawal of the Iranian Resistance from the list of terrorist organizations of the European Union”.

In its 8 October 2006 edition, the paper Al Irak Al-Yom wrote: "72 sheikhs and leaders of the tribes in the vicinity of Ashraf City, while supporting the charter of honor of the tribal sheikhs of all the Province of Diyali which states that the People’s Mojahedin are honorary citizens and members of their tribes, signed a new charter in which they undertake the defense of Ashraf City against all threats constituted from the ruling regime in Iran. They emphasized that any attack against the People’s Mojahedin and Ashraf City amounted to an attack against themselves, their families and their tribes".

Now the Province of Diyali in Iraq becomes known as Val-d’Oise in France in the same way that the mayors of Val-d’Oise replace the Iraqi sheikhs and tribe leaders. Has France really accented to the formation of another Camp Ashraf in the heart of the country?

October 4, 2008 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Learning prohibited in the Cult of Mojahedin

Almost all MKO former members unanimously report that the organization leaders are opposed to further extra organizational studies. They reason that members have to give priority to practical considerations rather than Learning prohibited within PMOI theoretical ones. Absolute pragmatism constitutes one of the main parts of controlling system in MKO. It bans any kind of study aiming at improving theoretical political knowledge. Before reviewing the statements made by Mojahedin ex-members concerning such an approach, it is tried to evaluate it with regard to the new executed value system within MKO after the development of the ideological revolution. The reason why Rajavi, MKO leader, prevents members of obtaining theoretical knowledge has its roots in his worldview and ideological objectives.

Absolute submission to leadership is considered to be one of the inseparable aspects of all political cults and that of MKO. Mojahedin’s theoreticians have focused on such a feature and calling Rajavi the man of ideology within MKO, point to blind obedience of members as their sole way of salvation. According to Mojahedin leaders, organizational improvement is achieved through absolute submission rather than obtaining political and theoretical knowledge. Taking a brief look at the statements of some MKO former members may prove this claim. It is said that before the initiation of the ideological revolution in MKO, members were qualified according to the following factors:

Ideological instructions aiming at achieving ideological unity between members and the organization; political-social instructions to make members familiar with experiences of other revolutions; ability to make political analysis and familiarity with political and strategic stances of the organization; economic instructions for detecting the roots of economic crises and their solution and also finding an appropriate economic system; organizational and security instructions to make members aware of the principles of the organization, its internal challenges, how to solve these challenges, and how to act in cases concerned with security considerations. (1)

In other words practical as well as theoretical competencies were taken into considerations simultaneously as practiced in all political groups and organizations. However, after the start of the ideological revolution, parallel to the change of the value system within MKO, all such criteria change and were replaced with just one criterion, namely blind obedience to leadership. Rajavi asked the members not to speak but act according to what they were ordered to do with no questioning. In fact they needed no further study since they needed no knowledge and understanding. Anne Singleton, an MKO ex-member, refers to this aspect of the ideological revolution and says:

He pushed the members to work harder and not to ask questions. He changed the ethos of the organisation by passing messages down to the membership of what he expected of them. The major theme of the time was that ‘ideology is what you do, not what you say’. In other words, don’t speak, act. (2)

She further compares and contrasts the organization attitude toward members before and after the ideological revolution as follows:

The major change too was in what was meant by ideological competence. In the original Mojahedin organisation this meant someone who had political, social and moral knowledge and experience. Someone who had undergone ideological instruction as had the first members way back in the 1960s. Since the Ideological Revolution, however, it came to mean someone who is, more than others, unquestioningly obedient to Rajavi, with no ability or desire to think for themselves, who will suppress any previous knowledge or experience they had in order to parrot what Rajavi requires of them. (3)

Another former member quotes Rajavi putting forth the new criterion for organizational advancement:

Rajavi told us: ‘You are not capable enough for political discussions and analysis and may go astray. You’d better let me do it, there is no need for you to pursue political events and analyze them, I will do it for you and tell you the results. If not, you may be disappointed since you have no political knowledge. There is no need to be anxious and pour out your heart to others; it is out of your business to know whether the ways are open or not. (4)

In order to develop a deeper understanding of this controlling process in MKO it has to be noted that one of the inherent aspects of all absolutist ideological trends is that they classify outsiders as either friends or enemies. Such a viewpoint has many consequences one of which is their focus on absolute submission of members. According to one of the theoreticians of Mojahedin:

One of the features of groups with ideological absolutism is that in establishing relation with outsiders close to them, they recognize no independence. In other words, the system’s rules necessitate it to have just two options regarding political outsiders, either absolute agreement or absolute opposition. (5)

It is not possible to understand how organizational limitations and prohibitions result in controlling members unless the value system of the organization is understood since the structure of mojahedin ideological revolution is very complex and intermingled and there is a kind of cause and effect relationship between its strategies and procedures. Therefore, a deep knowledge about the ideological revolution and its consequences is needed in order to evaluate the course of events within MKO.

References:

1. Niyabati, Bijan, A different look at the ideological revolution within MKO.

2. Singleton, Anne, Saddam’s private army

3. ibid

4. Shams-e Haeri, Hadi, The swamp

5. Niyabati, Bijan, A different look at the ideological revolution within MKO.

October 4, 2008 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

Camp Ashraf, a heavily controlled cult haven

Of the most common controlling techniques within MKO is that of collective control. Camp Ashraf plays an important role in keeping full all-out control over all members as well as carrying out brainwashing mechanisms. Strengthening security systems within Ashraf to prevent the members’ exit, resistance against transferring Mojahedin to other places and such activities imply the necessity of collective life for Mojahedin. The first consequence of dispersion of MKO members may be the destruction of intra-organizational controlling systems. Although lifestyle of members located in Ashraf is similar to that of Auvers-Sur-Oise and early headquarters of the organization in Iran, it is better to review the history of the formation of Ashraf in order to gain a better understanding of its strategic significance.

Before the formation of Ashraf, MKO members lived separately in Iran, Europe, Kurdistan and other countries and cities; therefore, it was impossible for the leadership to develop a collective life. It is not clear whether Ashraf was formed due to predefined ideological objectives or its formation was the inevitable consequence of some events like the disintegration of resistance cells of Mojahedin within Iran, and Europe’s disagreement for the collective settlement of Mojahedin. However, it can be claimed that Rajavi made an informed decision to keep the integrity of his organizational running for many years.

strategic failures of Mojahedin, their expulsion from France, Rajavi’s meeting with Tariq Aziz were some main factors that lead to the true prediction that Rajavi was planning to form a camp consisting of Mojahedin’s military and organizational members in order to prevent members’ passivity and disintegration of the organization. Considering Ashraf as the symbol of Mojahedin and a utopia proves the above claims. Ashraf, as the location of the development of the ideological revolution, may be regarded as the controlling lever against dissidents too. Taking a brief look at the labels defined for Ashraf may lead to a better understanding of its strategic role. In this regard, it is said:

Mojahedin’s Heart (Camp Ashraf) is called by a woman’s name, a woman who is to have a major role in the internal ideological revolution of Mojahedin. (1)

There is a kind of dialectic relationship between camp Ashraf and the ideological revolution of Mojahedin:

There is no doubt that the considerable resistance of Ashraf under the hegemony of Mojahed women had its roots in the internal ideological revolution within MKO. (2)

Although Rajavi justified his decision to move to Iraq under the pretext of changing strategy and being close to Iranian soil, his main objective was keeping full control over members. The consequences of the development of the ideological revolution such as the increase of dissidence among members were another factor to make such a decision. The dispersion of members would result in their opposition to leaders’ policies and decisions; however, living in Ashraf would reduce this probability.

It has to be pointed out that Camp Ashraf prepared the grounds for application of brainwashing mechanisms as well as physical control of members by means of the prisons formed within it. The statements made by the MKO ex-members imply the fact that resorting to mental and physical pressures against dissident members were common activities in Ashraf. Taking a look at the security considerations in Ashraf and calling it as Mojahedin’s symbol, laboratory, heart, utopia, etc may clarify this point. An MKO former member describes collective life in Ashraf and says:

Camp Ashraf turned to a laboratory for testing Rajavi’s theories and members turned to guinea pigs. (3)

He also refers to Ashraf as the Mojahedin utopia in which collective life paves the way for winning full control over the members:

Camp Ashraf is a model of Mojahedin’s utopia promised by Rajavi. Organizational hierarchy is developed based on ranking officials and inferior rank-and-files. There is no separation or collection among members; every one is connected to the ideology. Every one has to obey his superior who is more ideological. Every one needs a leader. Masoul is a person connecting members to leader. The relationship between Masoul and members inferior to him/her is like that of water and a thirsty person in which the latter can not live without the former. In MKO each Masoul is subordinate to his/her Masoul too up to Rajavi at the peak of the organizational pyramid. (4)

The running lifestyle in Ashraf is under full control. Internal as well as external relations of Mojahedin are monitored and controlled using various controlling levers:

Camp Ashraf is located out of the city and is surrounded by barbed wire. Members never leave it except for visiting doctors and accompanied by another Masoul. It resembles military camps in which members are imprisoned voluntarily. Most members have been there for an average of ten years except for military maneuvers. No one visits it but some Iraqi officials. (5)

In a nutshell, according to the supporters and sympathizers of the ideological revolution, Camp Ashraf is a must, a model focusing on collective life due to the ideological considerations. As a result, the significance of such a social life is based on an all-out control over the members and their full submission. In other words, in MKO collective life grants a chance for further monitoring and control of members. Camp Ashraf has been described as follows:

After the strategic settlement of Mojahedin in Iraq, their leader had the chance to test his revolutionary theories in a small society under his own control and free from the outside value systems. Such a society had to be a micro model of a real society consisting of government, president, the parliament in exile, armed forces, police forces, prison, court, mass media, diplomatic relations, economical and logistic systems. (6)

Collective life is common in almost all historical cults and a number of American cults. The place where these cults are located is so significant that sometimes the name of the cult is derived from the name of their location like Alamout castle and the cult called Alamout led by Hasan Sabbah. Likewise Ashraf and Mojahedin have the same connotation today. What is of importance is the fact that all such considerations are taken aiming to control members and to give cultist identity to them.

References:

1. Niyabati, Bijan, Another look at the ideological revolution within MKO

2. ibid

3. Shams-e Haeri, Hadi, The Swamp

4. ibid

5. ibid

6. Niyabati, Bijan, Another look at the ideological revolution within MKO

September 30, 2008 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Cultic Collective life

Collective life constitutes one of the most significant stages of human development; however, nowadays some cultist groups misuse it as a favored Cultist joint life is based on a collective unity in which individuals are exposed to some uncommon factors resulting in their blind obedience and submission means through which a variety of controlling techniques such as brainwashing and mental exploitation of their members is accomplished. It has to be pointed out that communal life in a cult has a meaning much different from that we have in our mind.

Cultist joint life is based on a collective unity in which individuals are exposed to some uncommon factors resulting in their blind obedience and submission. A kind of discipline is exercised within cults much stronger than that of army, schools, political groups, etc. Such a discipline covers all aspects of cult members’ life such as their mentality, beliefs, sleep, food, leisure time, occupation, emotional relations, blood ties, etc. Eric Hoffer describes cultist collective life as follows:

Collective unity is not the result of the brotherly love of the faithful for each other. The loyalty of the true believer is to the whole-the church, party, nation-and not to his fellow true believer, True loyalty between individuals is possible only in a loose and relatively free society, As Abraham was ready to sacrifice his only son to prove his devotion to Jehovah, so must the fanatical Nazi or Communist be ready to sacrifice relatives and friends to demonstrate his total surrender to the holy cause. The active mass movement sees in the personal ties of blood and friendship a diminution of its own corporate cohesion. Thus mutual suspicion within the ranks is not only compatible with corporate strength, but, one might almost say, a precondition of it (1).

Cultist relations aim at cutting all individuals’ personal attachments on the one hand and then putting that individual within a collective unity. In other words, it is attempted to prevent member’s connections with the outside world and all his/her family, emotional, social, professional, mental, and ideological relations to make him/her wholly dependent on the cult. There is a paradox between the individuals’ separateness from the society and connection with cult members. According to Hoffer:

The effacement of individual separateness must be thorough. In every act, however trivial, the individual must by some ritual associate himself with the congregation, the tribe, the party, and etcetera. His joys and sorrows, his pride and confidence must spring from the fortunes and capacities of the group rather than from his individual prospects and abilities. Above all, he must never feel alone. Though stranded on a desert island, he must still feel that he is under the eyes of the group. To be cast out from the group should be equivalent to being cut off from life (2).

In fact the main motivation for conducting collective life in cults is taking members under full control. According to Hoffer, the mechanisms of cultist life change the value system of members in a way that it even puts value on aggression and aggressive behaviors:

There is also this: when we renounce the self and become part of a compact whole, we not only renounce personal advantage but are also rid of personal responsibility. There is no telling to what extremes of cruelty and ruthlessness a man will go when he is freed from the fears, hesitations, doubts and the vague stirrings of decency that go with individual judgment. When we lose our individual independence in the corporateness of a mass movement, we find a new freedom-freedom to hate, bully, lie, torture, murder and betray without shame and remorse (3).

It is a fact that communal life is the sole solution for keeping absolute control over a group of individuals. As a result it is a common strategy in all cults to resort to collective life.

Where new creeds vie with each other for the allegiance of the populace, the one which comes with the most perfected collective framework wins (4).

Such a collective framework has been referred to repeatedly by Mojahedin as the main factor resulting in winning their political and ideological achievements and legitimacy.

References:

1. Eric Hoffer; The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, New York: First Perennial Classics 2002, p. 115.

2. ibid, 61.

3. ibid, 93.

4. ibid, 44.

September 27, 2008 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

A matter of control and freedom

Majority of those who joined Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO/MEK/PMOI) and spent years and decades trapped in the leftist group could never dream that their quest for a socialist utopia would lead them to the abyss of a destructive cult of personality. Many of defectors that managed to break the embrace of the cult confess that what they gained in all those lost years was an understanding that they had been the sure victims of a man’s power abuse and ambitions who had not the least idea what democracy could be like.

Kept totally in ignorance of the true nature of the group, since the group severely controls the outlet and leak of information, even the sympathizers living in the free world of modern European countries as well as a handful of European parliamentarians, who seem to be after their own party and political interests rather than caring about Iranian people, have been led to a prejudice that the organization is a pro-democratic political group struggling for the institution of democracy in Iran. However, a merely show of sympathy does not seem to harm anybody. But when it comes to sympathize with a cult and terrorist group to further keep and enslave its members against their will it makes different.

Looking it from a humanitarian point of view, let’s support voluntarily return of MKO members to Iran or any other country they wish to move according to international regulations and through the organizations concerned. Let’s help those in Ashraf decide where to live rather than who controls them. They have had enough of any form of control and what at the present need is to be free.

September 27, 2008 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq 's Function

Where Mujahedin Khalq is destined to settle?

If the Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) is forced to weigh anchor from Iraq, since the Iraqi government is decisive to expel the group as once France did, it has to drop it in another country; it has already succeeded to drop it partly in France although not officially consented and announced neither by French government nor the organization. In fact, the organization needs to root in a country to survive, as it has already survived in Iraq for so long within its Ashraf cult-like enclave.

In spite of many current controversies and concerns that the group’s members would be sent to Iran to face trial for numerous terrorist atrocities if the Iraqi government holds the control of Camp Ashraf, a duty more on the shoulders of legal international tribunals investigating war and terrorist crimes, Iran seems to be unveiling to receive and tackle with so many ideologically potential terrorist forces that need thought reformation and have to go under a process of treatment for psychological or physical traumas before being sent into the society. No doubt, it would lead the organization to the precipice of absolute demise and that is why the organization is already protesting an improbable decision through a widespread international propaganda blitz.

Now at the service of world powers that walk on a war path with Iran, MKO will be probably granted a camp of refugees. Will it be a Western country? Of course not, since none of them is willing to risk its internal security. Despite given protections, the world has witnessed MKO’s acts of violence, meddling and espionage wherever it has been settled. Even the strictly imposed controls of French anti-terrorist forces could not cease potential terrorist and cult threats of the group settled in Auvers-sur-Oise when it came to display its real cult nature through setting member ablaze in Paris streets.

The courageous deed by the French government to handcuff terrorists who tried to turn Auvers-Sur-Oise into a bastion of terrorist plots worked as a blueprint for the Iraqi government to follow in order to have more control over Camp Ashraf. Being kept on terrorist lists or removed by some certain country does not necessarily mean that the countries where MKO members are officially, or under political refugees, residing have changed their views on the group; they are known to be terrorists and cultist above all and no country trust them to be freely moving here and there.

Restrictions imposed on the organization in France and Iraq, where it holds two bases, has actually checked group’s political and propaganda activities more or less. All these lead to a third supposition that the group would be relocated to the US as refugees. Although the US is supporting MKO to utilize it against Iran, however, it has never come to terms with the organization to recognize it an alternative for Iran’s current ruling order.

But MKO’s settlement in the US requires another decision: abandoning group’s designation as a terrorist organization. Of course, such a decision would cause the greatest controversy not only amongst the ruling administration but also amongst different political parties as well as national and social communities. It would be a logical and rational question to ask whoever delist MKO that how a group long occupying notorious rank of terrorists comes to be removed from the list and, above all, turns into a most favorite opposition group permitted to settle in the country. Then, where the terrorist cult is destined to settle?

September 25, 2008 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Fostered ambiance of distrust within Mujahedin

As was explained in previous articles, one of the controlling techniques practiced within MKO is espionage. Despite the fact that in almost all political systems and groups it is attempted to conceal the identity of the spies, within MKO spying is respected and valued so all members are involved in it openly and consider it to be an ideological and organizational duty. It seems that Mojahedin have redefined some terms. According to a former member:

Many reactionary features such as blind obedience and submission are considered to be positive ones. In fact, terms have lost their original meaning and the most shameful actions are introduced as revolutionary and valued characteristics and vice versa (1).

It is a fact that Mojahedin’s leadership resorts to appropriate approaches in accordance with the existing situation and conditions so that utmost security and control is achieved. According to some MKO ex-members, the strategy of spreading mistrust among members was taken after the ideological failure of Rajavi in the operation Eternal Light (Forugh-e Javidan). In other words, faced with a strategic impasse concerning the issue of the overthrow of the Iranian regime, Rajavi decided to put more strict control over the internal relations and MKO members.

It has to be noted that Rajavi had clear justifications for his decisions. For example, this strategy would control individual members one by one and consequently all the MKO members would be under control. What was of utmost importance for Rajavi in this critical phase was the danger of emotional relations of the family. Therefore, he decided to create mistrust among family members in order to prevent the negative consequences of their family ties. The leadership was well aware that after the failure in the operation Eternal Light, the family relations might intensify the challenges the organization was facing. As a result, the leadership tried to make family members pessimistic against each other by means of different approaches one of which was spying against each other.

Inter-organizational marriages that aimed at making the mind of members engaged in other issues rather than thinking of organizational challenges turned itself into a problem that threatened the organizational potentialities in next phases. One of the former Mojahedin members, Hadi Shams Haeri, refers to the main reasons behind obligatory organizational marriages in the first phase of the ideological revolution and the obligatory divorces in the second phase and writes:

Another trick played by Rajavi was creating much pessimism and hostility in women against men to create a resultant deep gap. Also the organization announced repeatedly that ‘men coveted women to satisfying their own sexual desires. For them, women are like properties and dolls. They are very selfish and aim to exploit women. Men are wild creatures and the ideological revolution is to solve the existing disparity’. Such comments affected the family relations negatively and made it full of distrust and disfavor (2).

He further explained that this controlling strategy was taken after the initiation of the first phase of the ideological revolution in 1985-6. He himself can be referred to as one of the victims of this strategy. As he says:

After the ideological revolution in 1985, I never felt secure at home. I talked to my wife cautiously since I felt that she controlled me like a spy. In fact she reported my words to the officials many times and they interrogated me for that. She was very different from the early years of our marriage turning to an obedient spy who did whatever she was ordered. She told me many times: ‘why are you such a subordinate member? I expected you to help me win promotion’ (3).

There are many reported instances in MKO in which the couples are made to belittle each other by spitting at their spouses’ face, using ideological swears and expressing hate to each other in order to pave the way for the leadership to put more control and hegemony over the members.

Anne Singleton, an MKO former member, elaborates on this controlling procedure and believes that Rajavi has generalized the absolute distrust exercised in the external policy of the organization to that of internal relations of the members in that the members felt pessimistic toward the outside world as well as other members and even their family members to the extent that all members tried to act in a cautious way not to be subject to the suspicion of others.

In such an atmosphere, any event resulting in others’ misunderstanding and doubt may lead to a lack of trust on the part of the leadership toward the members. According to Eric Hoffer, any individual’s reaction in such a milieu is the result of his adaptation with circumstances came across and the sole inlet into a system of values is renouncing individual wills to be dissolved in a collective whole:

Only the individual who has come to terms with his self can have a dispassionate attitude toward the world. Once the harmony with the self is upset, and a man is impelled to reject, renounce, distrust or forget his self, he turns into a highly reactive entity (4).

This mechanism may be interpreted as the best instrument for controlling members by their own family members after losing trust in each other to become reactive entities. According to Anne Singleton:

There is total trust between all the members of the Mojahedin, as a group of people facing an outside enemy (the rest of the corrupting world) they must trust one another completely. But, there is also a total absence of trust between all the members because no-one can ever be sure what anyone else is really thinking, or even what oneself is thinking and therefore it is easy to lose trust in oneself as a rational being. The only certainty that remains is to listen to and obey Rajavi (5).

References

1. Shams Haeri, Hadi, The Swamp, vol 1.

2. ibid.

3. ibid, p.131.

4. Hoffer, Eric, The true believer, p. 80.

5. Singleton, Anne; Saddam’s private army.

September 21, 2008 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

Ashraf, a camp for refugees or captives

Reportedly, in the conference "In Search of Justice, European Committee for De-listing the PMOI" held in Brussels and attended by dozens of parliamentarians form the European Parliament and delegations from national parliaments of Member States, Mr. Alejo Vidal-Quadras, president of the conference, announced the formation of a European Committee to challenge the Council of the European Union decision to maintain the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran on the EU terrorist list.

as stated by Mr. Struan Stevenson, the Vice-President of the EPP/ED, in the conference”if what the PMOI is doing constitutes terrorism then the EU Presidency should also include parliamentarians on the list because we support PMOI’s conduct”. The conference also discussed the recent developments regarding the situation of MKO members residing in Ashraf in Iraq and emphasized that those in Camp Ashraf are political refugees and protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention and as such they are protected by the principle of non-refoulement, International Humanitarian law, International Law and enjoy juridical security.

Just on the day before the conference was held, a delegation from Nejat Society, formed by MKO ex-members in an attempt to unbind the comrades still held captivated in the terrorist cult, travelled to Geneva to participate the meeting of United Nations Human Rights Council and to visit the delegations from other international human rights organizations to stop political abuse of those in Camp Ashraf and guarantee their individual rights.

Nejat Society asks the whole international human rights community to demand justice for the remaining members who really deserve the right to visit their family, choose clothes other than military uniforms, the right to have access to public information resources like newspapers, radio or TV and the right to select their living-place.

It would be a good thing if the EU advocates of terrorist and cultist MKO made a thorough study of group’s atrocities or contacted the ex-members before making a fuss to be included on the list next to terrorists. If they believe that those in Ashraf have to be treated according to the International Law, the least they can do is to provide for the international humanitarian organizations to freely visit Camp Ashraf and the residents individually. Then it will be much easier to stay with the terrorists or avoid them.

September 20, 2008 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Enforced internal intelligence activities in MKO

Mojahedin-e Khalq organization (a cultist group also known as MKO, MEK, PMOI) resorts to brainwashing and controlling techniques as well as engaging in other blameful activities such as training spies in a way different from other political and security systems. Normally, espionage is considered to be a profession by itself. However, in most cases it emerges as a result of ignorance, unfounded demands, and an ever-increasing phobia on the part of those involved in it. Although it means gathering, transmitting, or losing, of information by those who pretend to be part of a system or group, Mojahedin relate it to ideological and religious issues as a valued activity.

Cultist groups make psychological use of such a phenomenon. Eric Hoffer refers to it as a marvelous slime to cement the embittered and disaffected into one compact whole, a unifying agent. He writes:

The awareness of their individual blemishes and shortcomings inclines the frustrated to detect ill will and meanness in their fellow men. Self-contempt, however vague, sharpens our eyes for the imperfections of others. We usually strive to reveal in others the blemishes we hide in ourselves. Thus when the frustrated congregate in a mass movement, the air is heavy-laden with suspicion. There is prying and spying, tense watching and a tense awareness of being watched. The surprising thing is that this pathological mistrust within the ranks leads not to dissension but to strict conformity. Knowing themselves continually watched, the faithful strive to escape suspicion by adhering zealously to prescribed behavior and opinion. Strict orthodoxy is as much the result of mutual suspicion as of ardent faith (1).

Then he refers to some examples in right Fascist parties and expounds on such an assumed sacred process as follows:

Mass movements make extensive use of suspicion in their machinery of domination. The rank-and-file within the Nazi party were made to feel that they were continually under observation and were kept in a permanent state of uneasy conscience and fear. Fear of one’s neighbors, one’s friends and even ones relatives seems to be the rule within all mass movements. Now and then innocent people are deliberately accused and sacrificed in order to keep suspicion alive. Suspicion is given a sharp edge by associating all opposition within the ranks with the enemy threatening the movement from without. This enemy-the indispensable devil of every mass movement-is omnipresent. He plots both outside and inside the ranks of the faithful. It is his voice that speaks through the mouth of the dissenter, and the deviationists are his stooges. If anything goes wrong within the movement, it is his doing. It is the sacred duty of the true believer to be suspicious. He must be constantly on the lookout for saboteurs, spies and traitors (2).

Such a deep theoretical consideration within the cultist relations of MKO constitutes what we call ideological sacredness which paves the way for the application of espionage activities. Subornation is used in order to convince members of being engaged in espionage in MKO, a common approach in the world of politics practiced by Mojahedin as well. One of the Mojahedin former members expands on such a controlling procedure and writes:

One of the undemocratic and even un-revolutionary relations is that of training spies. Spy is a person communicating with others in a friendly manner and then reporting his/her actions and speeches to the leader of the organization. This approach has penetrated within the families too. Wife spies against her husband, sister spies against her brother and vice versa giving the report to the officials which debilitates the marital relations resulting in suspicion and hatred in the families. Even in one or two hours allowed to be with each other, no one dares to talk to or consult with her/his spouse since it may end in giving secret information or criticizing the organization both of which are forbidden (3).

Hadi Shams Haeri describes such a process as follows:

Spying was another means for the mental reformation of members. The organization asked members to make daily reports of their family members and give it to their person in charge to control the affairs. Even talking in a specific dialect was forbidden not to disclose information in this way. As a result, distrust was spreading among the members and every one considered other members as security agents. Also the reporting person was affected negatively turning to a double-faced person (4).

Saeed Shahsavandi, former member of Mojahedin’s central democratic cadre, in his letter to Masoud Rajavi (MKO ideological leader) refers to one of the doctrines of the ideological revolution of Mojahedin, writing:

Members’ espionage and even that of couples is done as report writing. It was initiated after the development of the ideological revolution and nowadays is ever-increasingly practicing (5).

In a nutshell, espionage turned to be a kind of organizational advancement after the initiation of ideological revolution. In most ideological sessions of Mojahedin especially that of the so-called ‘article c’, members were told to be involved in espionage in order to get promotion. It is very interesting that this approach has no red line and all members were obligated ideologically to write reports. For example, European members returning to Camp Ashraf were accused of being secret agents too. In this regard, Masoud Banisadr writes:

By now not only we had to give reports about ourselves, and our thought, but as we were told that we have to be safeguard of each other, and report back misbehaviour of each other. God knows how many people gave such reports about us from abroad that didn’t know about this new situation. Some times I could not believe my ear when I could hear some facts people were giving about themselves or others. In a meeting, a brother was accusing another brother who sat on a seat occupied before be a sister. He was accused of wanting to touch a seat, already touched by a woman (6).

According to some detached members, sometimes even the common recollection of members they chat over turned to a means for their own indictment. However, although such exchange of information in no way aimed at giving reports, the internal relations of MKO made it inevitable to end the ordinary and day-to-day chitchats of members in giving reports against one another.

The most pitiful event was that of family members’ spy against each other done under the pretext of ideological and religious considerations. Making all members indebted to the leader is one of the most important phases of the ideological revolution without which organizational membership and advancement is impossible. This principle affected common emotional relations between relatives and made members mostly concerned about organizational upgrading and contentment of the leadership.

Some members had to divorce their spouse just because of losing their organizational status. The family turned into a place of mistrust and spying within MKO. Every one was obligated to report all events happened in his/her family to the organization. There was no freedom at home. Every one with a higher organizational status had hegemony over others and more facilities and welfare (7).

Taking members under control by means of spying is one of the appalling mechanisms practiced within MKO. According to some MKO ex-members, some members ignored all ethical principles accusing their fellow warriors falsely in order to satisfy the leadership. One of the most famous gatherings of Mojahedin in which a member was condemned harshly and sometimes beaten by others was called ‘pot’. It was like being put in a pot and boiled on fire as members were put under heavy, inescapable psychological pressures and reproach. Such sessions were formed based on the reports given to the officials about members.

The process of espionage in MKO is different from other systems and organizations; in the latter it is preferred to hide the identity of spies while in MKO it is respected because it is a duty to prove loyalty to the leadership. The value given to surveillance results from the fact that MKO leadership has theorized it ideologically. As Hoffer refers to psychological aspects of this issue, Mojahedin make use of the same aspect as well as ideological considerations thus making it an ordinary daily activity.

The study of such controlling mechanisms in MKO is of special significance since they make members do self-censorship due to the fact that no one can distinct spies from ordinary members. As a result, all members control each other automatically preventing the occurrence of any tension within the organization. There are many evidences provided by separated members proving this fact. The cases discussed above well illustrate the quality and quantity of such an unethical phenomenon in the internal relations of Mojahedin many of which are not mentioned here.

References:

1. Hoffer, Eric, The true believer, p.114

2. ibid, p.115

3. Shams Haeri, Hadi, The impasse of deviations, p.26

4. Shams Haeri, Hadi, The swamp

5. Shahsavandi, Saeed, Documents of my letters to Masoud Rajavi

6. Banisadr, Masoud, The memoirs of an Iranian rebel, p.376

7 Shams Haeri, Hadi, The swamp

September 18, 2008 0 comments

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