Cults’ Methodology
The terrorist disaster of the 11th of September 2001 with no doubt severely shocked the world. This catastrophe certainly became the globe’s deep sorrow at the time. Almost every country and every organisation in the world, regardless of the state of their relationship with the USA, strongly condemned the act. But wouldn’t be astonishing to learn that there was a group which actually celebrated the most brutal terrorist operation in the contemporary history?
“Bagherzadeh”was one the bases of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organisation (MKO) in Iraq before the fall of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. This base was normally used for the group gatherings of the MKO members in Iraq – otherwise knows as the National Liberation Army (NLA). The time to time sessions which always had ideological themes were usually held with the presence of the co-leaders of the organisation Mas’ud and Maryam Rajavi. The members used to get together from different bases in Iraq for one week or more to listen to the teachings of the leaders.
When the 11th of September 2001 catastrophe occurred, about 2000 people were assembled in Bagherzadeh Base to attend the general meeting of the NLA and to receive the speeches delivered by the Rajavis. At the very day the loudspeakers throughout the base called everyone to meet in the main hall to become aware of very important and crucial news. After a good number of people were gathered, a video clip containing the news was shown from the widescreens. The news was about how the twin towers were blown up by some fanatic extremist so called Moslems. The video clip was shown over and over for several times and each time it received jubilations from the members and officials of the MKO. The officials were encouraging the others to dance and be cheerful.
The following day a meeting was arranged for Mas’ud and Maryam Rajavi to deliver their speeches to the members and officials. The same clips were shown several times again and each time it received the same jubilations. Mas’ud started speaking about the terrorist incident. He did not condemn the act at all and even virtually accepted that it was an anti-imperialistic move. He claimed that his group is far more superior to the Al-Qaeda and”if they could do such a sophisticated military operation we must be able to do so in a much better manner”. He called the operation the consequence of the US policy and also the exhibition of the power of the ideology of Islam! He declared that”wait and see the fruits of our revolutionary Islam!”
Maryam started her speech next. She clearly stated that the terrorist disaster is to the advantage of the MKO since it draws the attention of the US administration to Afghanistan and at least for a while they would forget about Iraq and Saddam Hussein. She then related the suicide bombing to the Islamic theology and claimed that only this sort of ideology could carry out that sort of complicated task.
Many MKO members who were present in that meeting have bared witness about that day and about that meeting after they left the group. When the US Forces occupied the Ashraf base “ the main base of the MKO in Iraq “ they interviewed many former members and they all explained the same story which was mentioned above. Although the US State Department has called the organisation a foreign terrorist group as well as a personality cult in its annual report, but unfortunately the report has deliberately failed to mention this mere fact that they practically hailed the 11th of September terrorist occurrence.
Some of ex-members emphasised that just before the US Forced occupied the Ashraf Camp, the MKO authorities destroyed a lot of tapes, discs and documents including the shots taken from the meeting mentioned above.
It should also be noted that since the incident of 11th of September up to now, the MKO has not by any means officially condemned this terrorist act and other military operations done by the Al-Qaeda in Europe. This in fact is despite the reality that the organisation continuously emphasises on the necessity of countering terrorism and in this manner even calls the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) the godfather of terrorism. The fact that the MKO has totally focused its antiterrorism propaganda on IRI and stays completely silent about the 11th of September terrorist act as the obvious symbol of international terrorism proves that the issue of countering terrorism is only considered by the leaders of the MKO as a useful tool and they do not basically reject it.
The Mujahedin Cult
The Always VICTORIOUS Cult
The translated text of an article presented at the Symposium of the Link between Cults and Terrorism held in Isfahan.
MKO defined as a cult
The original meaning of the term cult, derived from the French word "culte", comes from Latin noun "cultus" which is related to the Latin verb "colere" meaning "to worship or give reverence to a deity". The term has originally a positive, religious connotation but in recent years, it has turned to be a widely used popular term, usually connoting some group that is at least unfamiliar and perhaps even disliked or feared. This latter use of the term has gained such credence and momentum that it has virtually swallowed up the more neutral historical meaning. The term can be defined either sociologically, concerned with behavior, or theologically, concerned with doctrine. “Sociological definition Include consideration of such factors as authoritarian leadership patterns, loyalty and commitment mechanisms, lifestyle characteristics, [and] conformity patterns (including the use of various sanctions in connection with those members who deviate)”. [3]
Authoritarian leadership is the most domineering characteristics of a cult leader and most ex-members of a cult enumerate the hallmarks of a cult leader as follow:
– single authority
– questionable credentials
– requirement for unconditional trust
– they always claim to be in unique direct contact with God
– sexual misconduct
– grandiose promises
– they demand major ongoing financial contributions from members
– they claim that evil sinister forces attempt to subvert them [4]
Besides these characteristics of a cult leader, a cult, regarded destructive, has its own characteristics. Dr. Robert Jay Lifton’s criteria for a destructive cult run as follow:
1. Authoritarian pyramid structure with authority at the top
2. Charismatic or messianic leader(s) (Messianic meaning they either say they are God or that they alone can interpret the scriptures the way God intended.
3. Deception in recruitment and/or fund raising
4. Isolation from society — not necessarily physical isolation, but this can be psychological isolation.
5. Use of mind control (Mileu Control, Mystical Manipulation, Demand for Purity, Confession, Sacred Science, Loading the Language, Doctrine Over Person, Dispensing of Existence) [5]
MKO portraits two completely different images; its relation with the world outside and its internal structure. Duped by its heavy propaganda blitz, most people in Western countries, unaware of its terrorist nature, take it for a revolutionary, freedom-seeker, and pro-democratic organization. The group ‘s internal structure, totally concealed from the eyes of the outsiders, nearly shares all of the characteristics of a destructive cult with added emphasis on the authoritarian pyramid structure and mind control techniques. Massoud Rajavi, the long self-appointed leader, is known to be the mastermind of MKO. Released from Shah’s prison after revolution, Rajavi took up the responsibility of acting as the organization’s spokesman that awarded him an opportunity to develop authority both within the organisation and in the public’s perception.
How did the Mujahideen become a cult? The principal lever for the transformation of the organization from a mass movement to a cult was Rajavi’s “ideological revolution” in January 1985. The first phase of this revolution basically involved Masoud Rajavi marrying Maryam Qajar Azdanlou, the wife of Mehdi Abrishamchi, Rajavi’s most trusted lieutenant. The marriage was an overt violation of Islamic marriage rituals and a majority of ranking members saw the whole affair as an ugly and bizarre form of cuckoldry. The event, more regarded as an internal coup d’ata, promoted the husband to the rank of a guru and the wife to the rank of the joint leader of the organization. Massoud Rajavi indoctrinated the ideological revolution as a purging process saying “Those Mojahedin members who pass through this furnace, are more steadfastness, more steel like person, and have more future in the resisting’ [6]
Masoud Rajavi was exalted as a charisma and some subservient considered the historic achievement as an outcome of an ideological genius in Massoud Rajavi. Bijan Nyabati, a devoted a partisan, in adoring Massoud Rajavi’s personal charisma states:
In the front of revolution and progressiveness, you would not find two people with the same political and organizational potentialities of Massoud Rajavi among all the opposition. [7]
Nyabati abruptly changes the position of Rajavi from a leader to that of a religious, Shi’it imam:
The main core of Mojahedin’s ideological revolution was to solve the issue of leadership. It could put an end to a problem known to be the Achilles’ heel in most contemporary revolutions and movements; only a stabilized theory of imamate inside the organization could lead the new revolution. [8]
Many of his messages imply that he has a close relationship with Imam Zaman (the last and still awaited Imam in Shiite Islam) and therefore he has direct contact with God. Under Rajavi’s instructions as an ideological leader, members began to give up Islamic practices and rituals because, as stated by their chosen ideological leader, they were no longer individually responsible; they were only responsible to Rajavi and he was responsible to God. Later on, especial prayer texts were devised to praise him and his wife, Maryam.
The ideological metamorphosis opened a new gate onto a path where, in the first place, the rationality and even the social-political understanding of individuals were targeted. In other words, individuals would be transmuted into obedient and subjugated creatures serving the wills of the ideological leader. The whole idea can be concluded as:
That is clear that such process could pursue in no rational route. The dominant element in the process is “love” and “emotion” that bypass logic and reason. The means are not those of polemics and persuasions but self-devotion. That is the point where Massoud claims Mojahedin’s heart. [9]
A wave of advertising total devotion to the ideological leader began to be imposed on the minds of the insiders to indoctrinate that the ideological leader had an ideological vision which was broader and more universal than understanding and vision of an ordinary follower. He could see things and think in a way that seemed illogical and irrational at the time but proved to be correct at the end. Hence the followers had to follow the leader not on the basis of understanding, but on the base of total trust.
The second phase of the full transition to the status of a cult started after the Iran-Iraq cease-fire in 1988. Rajavi launched thousands of his warriors on ”Operation Eternal Light” across the border to capture Iranian territory. It was a total military failure. The operation before anything was a resolution of Rajavi’s own volition, a proven suicide operation excluding the leader himself. The failure proved to be a victory for Rajavi; the made amendments to the ideological revolution after the operation guaranteed his position as a hallowed figure with the sole authority to question anybody while the members were not in the least permitted to violate the leader’s sacramental sphere. To create a compelling control atop, all the individual attachments and values had to be detached. The detachment did not include physical spectrum, but above that, psychological scopes.
In a general meeting, Rajavi announced that as the ideological leader, he had issued the divorce of all the members from their spouses and asked all to hand over their marriage rings. The physically divorce of spouses and, consequently, children was the first taken steps; the world outside with all its attractions and emotional attachments had to be cleaned of the mind and devalued. One had to replace them with an alternative that was no one but Massoud and Maryam Rajavi.
Anne Singleton, a separated member of MKO in her book so describes manipulation of the members within the cult:
The psychological manipulation of members springs from Rajavi’s avid interest in using psychology as a means of controlling people. He has read voraciously from the time that he left prison, books on politics, psychology and history etc. His ideology is a mishmash of all these books, and not a single part of it derives from original thinking. Rajavi uses psychological manipulation to control people. The massuls [responsible ranks] are instructed to behave in particular ways towards individuals according to what is required of them or in response to a problem they might have. On a simple level, the warmth and affection shown to newcomers is a basic method of attracting them, fulfilling a basic need, which they lack. The person is told – and this is the ideological element – that if they look for love and affection outside Maryam they will become corrupt and ‘nothing’, they will be condemned to a life of obscurity, drudgery and meaninglessness. A picture of ordinary married life is portrayed as a hellish prison for both sexes. Children are the ultimate burden, removing the person further and further from the glorious joy and happiness that could be theirs if they give all their love to Maryam. She will return their love a hundred fold, and only inside the Mojahedin will they be able to fulfil their true potential as a human being. [10]
During the first Gulf War and the US attack to Iraq, MKO leaders enforced separation of the members’ children residing in Iraq-based camps. The children, about 800 including little babies, were sent to different Western countries for some purposes. First they could be abused as potential fundraising instruments to collect large amounts of charity money on pretext of Iranian homeless children. On the other hand, the children could be trained as the next generation of MKO soldiers. Nadereh Afshari, an ex-member of MKO and who was posted in Germany and was responsible for receiving children during the gulf war, has revealed that when the German government tried to absorb Mojahedin children into their education system, the organization refused. Many of these children were sent to Mojahedin-run schools, particularly in France. She has elaborated that Rajavi ”saw these kids as the next generation’s soldiers. They wanted to brainwash them and control them. Every morning and night, the kids, beginning as young as 1 and 2, had to stand before a poster of Massoud and Maryam, salute them and shout praises to them “. [11]
In June 2003, people in some Western cities were shocked to witness one of the most appalling cult potentialities of MKO. On 17 June 2003 more than 1.200 France police and gendarmerie forces raided 13 MKO-run offices in Paris districts and arrested 164 suspected Mojahedin cadres as well as Maryam Rajavi on charges of terrorist activities. In the next few days, to carry out premeditated missions, a number of the group’s members immolated themselves in public to protest Maryam Rajavi’s arrest. According to reports issued by the group itself, ‘œ16 people attempted to set themselves alight in three days in Paris, Berne, Rome, London, Ottawa, Athens and Nicosia’. The human tragedy ended with two deaths; two women, Sediqeh Mojaveri, 44-year-old, and Neda Hassani, 19-year-old, died because of the self-immolation injuries. [12]
Besides old members joining the organization for political causes, a large number of the members are the young Iranian people who have been deceived to join the group. These young, unaware recruits fall into the trap of the middlemen who by false promises of good job, high salary and residence in Western countries paralyze their rational minds and send them to MKO’s camps in Iraq. Undergoing brainwashing methods in the camps, they rarely dream to return to Iran because they are unnerved and intimidated by the threats of being tried and even executed for having connection and cooperating with a counter-revolutionary group.
The members who try to leave the MKO or criticize it in any form have to pay a very heavy price. In a 28-page report released by Human Rights Watch in May 2005 entitled ‘œNo Exit: Human Rights Abuses Inside the MKO Camps,’ shocking details about inhuman behaviors and control of the insiders of MKO was published for the world. The facts revealed how dissident members were tortured, beaten and held in solitary confinement for years at military camps in Iraq after they criticized the group’s policies and undemocratic practices, or indicated that they planned to leave the organization. The report is based on the direct testimonies of a dozen former MKO members, including five who were turned over to Iraqi security forces and held in notorious Abu Ghoraib prison under Saddam’s rule.
A common, routine procedure in MKO is self criticizing and confession sessions. The members have to write detailed daily reports of activities, their previous night’s dreams, their thoughts, and even love and emotional daydreams. In some cases, they are forced to read their reports before other members and suffer humiliation. Ali Qachqaoui, a separated member, reveals: ‘œThey remote controlled us, like robots. They told us, ‘If you have sexual fantasies, even a dream, you must report it in writing in order to exorcise it’. In a speech repeatedly broadcast in video, Maryam Rajavi told the Mojahedin: ‘80% of your energy should be used in the fight against your sexual instincts’. Many of the organization’s officers, who protested against this sudden authoritarian and sectarian change of course, paid a heavy price for their insubordination. They were humiliated, tortured and imprisoned. [13]
As a closed cult, the members receive any information through a biased channel. No form of news and information, movies and even the group’s own TV productions is presented unless reviewed and censured beforehand. Even the members active in Western countries are severely prohibited to have direct access to the media and have to attend periodical controlling meetings, write reports, and listen to direct or televised addresses of the high ranking members and leaders.
MKO has long been using a lexicon of its own. The terms they use inside the organization have their own connotations different with those used outside. The followings are examples of a more than 1200 terms lexicon volume:
– Alternative: meaning MKO as the sole alternative for Iran’s current ruling power
– To become ‘˜H’: used when demoting a rank
– Organizational marriage: forced inter-organizational marriages ordered by leaders
– Food echelon: a food menu that qualitatively and quantitatively is prepared according to hierarchical posts
– Ideological pride: Massoud and Maryam’s marriage known to be a glorious hallmark of the organization
– Active: a member who well accomplishes the issued orders
– Ring of connection: meaning Maryam Rajavi. Members are not capable to unite with Massoud unless through Maryam
– The host: meaning Iraq
– The guesthouse: the jail where protesting members and quitters were held
– ‘¦. And more
To determine how dangerous MKO cult might be, ‘œthe Advanced Bonewits’ Cult Danger Evaluation Frame’ can be a good help. As Bonewits explains, ‘œThe purpose of this evaluation tool is to help both amateur and professional observers, including current or would-be members, of various organizations (including religious, occult, psychological or political groups) to determine just how dangerous a given group is liable to be, in comparison with other groups, to the physical and mental health of its members and of other people subject to its influence’. [14]
The Advanced Bonewits’ Cult Danger Evaluation Frame
Factors: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Low High1. INTERNAL CONTROL: Amount ofinternal political power exercisedby leader(s) over members. 1. _________________________ 2. WISDOM CLAIMED by leader(s);amount of infallibility declaredor implied about decisions or doc-trinal/scriptural interpretations. 2. __________________________ 3. WISDOM CREDITED to leader(s)by members; amount of trust indecisions or doctrinal/scripturalinterpretations made by leader(s). 3. _________________________ 4. DOGMA: Rigidity of reality con-cepts taught; amount of doctrinalinflexibility or "fundamentalism." 4. __________________________ 5. RECRUITING: Emphasis put onattracting new members; amountof proselytizing. 5. __________________________ 6. FRONT GROUPS: Number of subsid-iary groups using different namesfrom that of main group. 6. _________________________ 7. WEALTH: Amount of money and/orproperty desired or obtained by group;emphasis on members’ donations;economic lifestyle of leader(s)compared to ordinary members. 7. ________________________ 8. POLITICAL POWER: Amount ofexternal political influencedesired or obtained; emphasis ondirecting members’ secular votes. 8. ________________________ 9. SEXUAL MANIPULATION: of membersby leader(s); amount of controlexercised over sexuality of members;advancement dependent upon sexualfavors or specific lifestyle. 9. _________________________ 10. CENSORSHIP: Amount of controlover members’ access to outsideopinions on group, its doctrinesor leader(s). 10. ________________________ 11. DROPOUT CONTROL: Intensity ofefforts directed at preventing orreturning dropouts. 11. _________________________ 12. VIOLENCE: amount of approval whenused by or for the group, itsdoctrines or leader(s). 12. _________________________ 13. PARANOIA: amount of fear con-cerning real or imagined enemies;perceived power of opponents;prevalence of conspiracy theories. 13. _________________________ 14. GRIMNESS: Amount of disapprovalconcerning jokes about the group,its doctrines or its leader(s). 14. _________________________ 15. SURRENDER OF WILL: Amount ofemphasis on members not having tobe responsible for personal deci-sions; degree of individual dis-empowerment created by the group,its doctrines or its leader(s). 15. __________________________ 16. HYPOCRISY: amount of approval forother actions (not included above) which the group officially considersimmoral or unethical, when done by or for the group, its doctrines or leader(s); willingness to violate group’s declared principles for political, psychological, economic,or other gain. 16. ___________________________ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Low High
A precise evaluation of MKO well crystallizes it as one of the most destructive and visible examples of a group intermingling the characteristics of a terrorist group and a cult to be nominated a terrorist cult. A terrorist cult poses a greater danger because of the growing use of mind control and cult control techniques. Most terrorist organizations actively study and use mind control and cult control techniques to indoctrinate members into committing the horrific acts of terrorism that shock our senses. The real cause of much of today’s terrorism is not what the terrorists themselves advertise and claim in their publicly stated agendas and rationalized causes. The real cause of acts of terrorism is how these agendas and ideas were implanted into the minds of the members with mind control and cult control techniques by their handlers. The responsibility lies on the shoulders of the responsible minds and elites of a society to illuminate the naïve minds and depict a clear-cut image of a destructive cult to stop any further jeopardizing the young generation’s career.
Sources:
[3]. A Guide to Cults and New Religions; ed. Ronald Enroth, Downers Grove, Ill, InterVarsity 1983, p14.
[4].www.phact.org
[5]. www.refocus.org
[6]. www.banisadr.infoideologicalChapter Five.htm
[7]. Bijan Nyabati interview with Zari Isfahani, Taliah-Sepidedaman.com
[8]. Nyabati Bijan; ‘œA distinct look at Mojahedin’s internal revolution, slightly from inside, slightly from outside’, 113.
[9]. Ibid.
[10]. Singleton Anne; Saddam’s Private Army, Iran-Interlink, 2003.
[11]. www.rickross.comThe Cult of Rajavi.htm
[12]. www.mojahedin.ws
[13]. www.mojahedin.wsbooksThe People’s Mojahedin of Iran: A struggle for what?
[14]. www.qed.net/bonewits/ABCDEF.HTML
Nejat Association – Translated by mojahedin.ws -August, 2007
Issue 14 – August, 2007
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
1. Exile Group Stays on EU terror List
2. East French Lines in Terror Alert
3. The presence of MKO in Iraq is against the law
4. Four more defectors of Rajavi’s Cult repatriated
5. Breaking the ties that bind
6. Rajavi name in Mojahedin propaganda sails a cult spiraling towards disaster
7. Elaheh, the singer of flowers passed away
8. Coordinator of MKO terrorists arrested
9. Status of MKO members held in Iraq prompts debate
10. Anne Singleton interview with BBC
11. Two postings from NIAC about MKO
12. NIAC Makes Progress in Defamation Case with VOA
13. NIAC rebuts MKO and Front Page Magazine
14. Iraq will spare no effort to help Iran
Download Nejat NewsLetter-ISSUE NO.14
Download Nejat NewsLetter-ISSUE NO.14
The Arranged Ideological Revolutions; the Passage of Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) from a Political Group to a Religious Cult
Based on Dr. Massoud Banisadr’s “Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel”
The translated text of Hojjat-ollah Aflaki’s speech made at the Symposium of the Link between Cults and Terrorism held in Isfahan. He is an expert and researcher on Iranian history.
Introduction
Structural Characteristics of Cults:
Considering proposed definitions of a cult, its purpose, nature and structure, it is revealed that all cults share certain characteristics which distinguish between them and nations, religions and religious sects. Cult formation is based on such shared characteristics, intentionally or unintentionally, which continuously develop even when the cult is declining.
Such characteristics consist of ideas, rituals, rules, doctrines and unique theories which distinguish a certain cult from other cults and the society. It has to be noted that this stage is determined intentionally by cult leaders, founders and ideologues.
There are some cases in which cult formation has not been predetermined and leaders were to bring about religious and social reforms. However, as a result of inferring new ideologies, they have separated themselves from others thus forming a cult faced with opposed ideologies on the part of the society.
Another characteristic of cult is the factor “devotion” and blind obedience of devotee toward mentor or leader. Such a characteristic is not present in the fundamental definitions of cult but the fact is that during history, cultists have not denied such a factor rather they are proud of it and consider their membership in a cult as a bliss and honour. They regard themselves as sheep protected by cult leader. For example, the factor of devotion in the cultist structure of Sufism, Isma’ilie Alamout (followers of Hasan Sabbah), Isma’ilie Mahallati (in Iran, Tajikistan, India, England, and Africa) is the main characteristic to the point that followers of Agha Khan Mahallati presented him equal in his weight gold and diamond. (Schpigel Journal, 1949, No.29, 33).
Cults have other characteristics which are either the result of above-mentioned features or complement them. First, from a cultist viewpoint, people are either insider or alien and the latter are misled. Second, cultists have to observe the factor “keeping secret” carefully so they never let others participate in their circles. For example, Sufis scarcely let others participate in their sessions of invocation or “Sama” Or leftist groups in Iran shook hand with each other in a special way and called it revolutionary as opposed to imperial one. They called each other “comrade” and “brother” and attired in contrast to common norms. As such, it may be necessary to study such cult characteristics in Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) in order to discover corresponding similarities within the group compaired wit other known cults.
B. Cult Conducts within MKO
MKO has internal and external aspects which are somehow contradictory referred to by its former members. The emphasis put by the organization on factors such as honesty and keeping secret confirms this fact since MKO is not merely a guerilla or political group rather its leaders consider it as a cultural, religious, and social group aimed at improving all aspects of human life. As such, keeping secrets in the organization involves security issues as well as instructional, ideology and inter-organizational conducts. Finally, as a result of ideological revolutions in the organization, this political group turned into a dogmatic cult.
It seems that most ideological revolutions formed by Massoud Rajavi, MKO’s leader, against Islamic republic of Iran have been preplanned and then revealed as separate revolutions to justify the organization’s actions. Eventually, all such ideological revolutions turned MKO into an ideological and religious cult and enhanced Massoud Rajavi from the stance of a guerilla leader to an ideological one who appointed his wife as the ideological mother of MKO. Below, a number of the organization’s approaches are listed.
1. Ideological revolutions concerning the relation between men and women:
The process in which Maryam Azodanloo (Maryam Rajavi) turned into ideological mother of MKO is very interesting. Such a process is a clause of ideological revolution and reveals cult formation process clearly. It has to be pointed out that such a process includes various stages of ideological revolution and has happened over years. (Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel, 478).
Some of the clauses of the revolution which promoted Maryam Rajavi to the position of the ideological mother of the organization are as follows: only Maryam Rajavi can participate in female sessions since she is their mother. Massoud Rajavi is not only the ideological leader of MKO but occupies the position possessed by a Shiite Imam. The insiders’ heart had to be enamored with his love and submit to him in total obedience. (Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel, pp.242, 428,478).
Gender revolution aimed at making members far from sexual inclinations which make men consider women as subjects of trading who lure them and try to attract the attention of men by showing off. Therefore, such a revolution was brought about in order to overcome gender crisis intensified in recent years in the organization despite separation of men and women. One of the main approaches in this regard was absolute separation of men and women to the point that men were not allowed to participate in women sessions nor vice versa. Even a man could not sit on a chair on which a woman was sitting before. However, Maryam Rajavi was an exception to these rules. (Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel, 379).
Gender attachment is human grave from which Mojahedin have to flee. They can do so through above-mentioned ways and also professing their sinfulness before Maryam and Massoud. It means that all people are sinful, wives are witches and marrying them is forbidden. (Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel, pp.342-5). In many sessions, Massoud Rajavi and associate cadres acted offensively toward other highly educated members some of whom represented the National Council of Resistance in countries such as the U.S. For example, once Massoud Banisadr, the representative of the National Council of Resistance in the U.S., was about to speak and Massoud Rajavi introduced him as follows: “a dead man speaking deep from his grave”. Anyway, profess of sinfulness was one of the major characteristics of this clause of revolution, i.e. all members are sinful and it is only Maryam Rajavi who is innocent. Therefore, Maryam and he have to be relied upon in all matters. Since nobody deserves knowing Massoud except Maryam, he has to pass this way along with Maryam. Therefore, members have to follow Massoud Rajavi and Maryam Rajavi fighting against Islamic republic of Iran both politically and ideologically. As such, the presence of Maryam Rajavi as the single ideological member of the organization was vital to understand Massoud Rajavi, his love to God and members and his detestation of Khomeini, the Islamic revolution leader. (Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel, pp.347, 354).
In fact, the main objective of all ideological revolutions is winning absolute obedience of members, the most fundamental factor for running the cults. Therefore, Mojahedin have to be absolute devotees and stop doing common practices like jesting, free study, working out of the organization, unless it is an act of fundraising, non-organizational relations, attachment to personal property and sexual relations out of organization, keeping their personal books and the like. (Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel, pp.207, 214).
The process of divorce revolution was as follows: Massoud Rajavi was considered as imam of the time and nobody was worthy enough to see him since the members and their partners were themselves the veils. Therefore, women were told their husband and men were their barrier. So couples got divorced. Even single members underwent such a revolution promising not to get married in the future. All divorce papers were signed and delivered to Massoud Rajavi over one week. Any doubtful member was punished severely. For example, a member called Yaghubi who was a ranking member lost his status as a result of having relation with his wife. Or other members such as Karim Haqqi and his wife Maryam Babaee were subject to severe torture over years which ended with the wife’s suicide.
In fact, the main reasons behind such revolutions, and divorce revolution in particular, were not those acknowledged by the organization’s leaders, rather, they were as follows: winning complete obedience of members, solving marriage problem in the organization (in which men were 3 times more than women) (Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel, p.238) and also a terrible monopolism to the point that according to a foreign reporter, Massoud Rajavi could not endure members loving anybody except him. Consequently, children were sent to orphanages so as not to see their parents.
In fact, divorce and gender revolutions were complementary. It is worth noting that before divorce revolution, members were said to marry each other to compensate for emotional problems of those members losing their partner in Forugh operation. (Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel, 326). Moreover, in divorce revolution, couples were forced to perform three-fold divorce in which they could never possibly remarry. Such a divorce is against Islamic rules. Such actions by MKO turned it into a religious cult exceeding human rights.
Ideological revolution of MKO considered men as wild and passive creatures so that it was believed that men should be replaced by women in the organization. Moreover, they were ordered to criticize each other openly and even call their friends murderer. Otherwise, Massoud Rajavi and other officials got angry, offended them, and called them rubbish, dirty mouse, traitor, hypocrite since they did not criticize others. (Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel, pp.392, 426-7,).
This stage of revolution aimed at expelling opposed members and replacing them with women. In addition, they made members admit to guilts they have done before in the presence of Massoud Rajavi and Maryam Rajavi and Tahereh. Once a man complained of his wife being so thin was called by officials as obscene, cuckold, rubbish, fool, etc. it is evident that according to the organization’s ideology, women had superiority over men. (Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel, pp.230, 234).
Massoud Rajavi believed that ideological revolution may increase members” capabilities so they performed such offensive actions toward members. According to one clause, men could not achieve high ranks so 12 female members were selected as key members of leadership council and 12 females were selected as alternative members. All of them declared that Massoud Rajavi is their master and they are his maid. (Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel, pp.380, 421).
It is doubtful why 12 members were appointed. Such a selection seems ideological since 12 symbolizes the number of Shiite innocent Imams. Furthermore, appointing females instead of males confirmed the superiority of women over men. MKO believed that it was necessary to fight against Islamic Republic of Iran so women took responsibilities not based on meritocracy. Such considerations led to so called seat revolution (Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel, pp.285, 283, 414, 482,).
In fact, the issue of feminism in MKO aimed at expelling those male members who criticized the organization, accusing Islamic Republic of Iran of exploiting women, and abuse of women’s tender emotions to secure the leadership of Massoud Rajavi and his wife turned the organization into a cult. Although the organization tried to conceal the issue of divorce revolution which was to the advantage of Islamic Republic of Iran but the memoirs of separated members revealed it (Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel, 368).
It is worth noting that before the performance of forced divorces, all members got divorced in the presence of Abrishamchi, MKO’s number 2 in rank, who had already wedded them all in the name of Massoud Rajavi and Maryam Rajavi. (Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel, 25).
Translated by mojahedin.ws
The Cult of Rajavi
The translated text of Dr. Massoudinia’s speech made at the Symposium of the Link between Cults and Terrorism held in Isfahan.
5. Control of Relations within MKO: a Review of Banisader’s ‘Memories of an Iranian Rebel’
The book “memories of an Iranian Rebel” written by Mas’ud Banisadr, is one of the significant documents in inter-organizational relations of MKO. As it was pointed out, the third index of cults is brainwashing and mental control of cultists. This book is an amazing document in this regard. The final section of the present article is a review of this book in order to actualize professional indices of relations of MKO. Psychological strategies used for justifying people such as the length of organizational sessions, debriefing strategies and mental control, duality of extra and intra relations, humiliating members, cutting emotional relations with relatives, determining the relation of members with others, and their family in particular!
Internal controlling system of MKO in contrast with traditional cultist system focuses on some complex and unbelievable dimensions. Traditional system controlled members mentally using middle ages strategies. Classic cultist strategies exert security control directly toward the extent of inclination and submission of members. MKO make use of modern sciences for controlling members and even the slightest degree of members’ disobedience. Mas’ud Banisadr quotes an instance of behavior of MKO leader (Rajavi) with executive members, i.e. the highest inter-organizational assembly. This case reveals some points about the nature of such relations. He writes:
In an assembly of executive officials, Rajavi said: ‘Doctor told me that your urine is foamy, while it is not so in ordinary members’. We were shocked. He added: ‘Do not look at me as such. It seems that you do not understand what I say. It means that you cannot control your sexual tendencies yet and seminal fluid results in your urine be foamy while other members have not such a problem.’ Then a number of members started to confirm his comments and even one of them said: ‘We are not executive officials, we are heys (a word said to donkeys while carrying load). Then they all imitated him saying the word hey. (57)
Comparing sexual relations of ideological revolution of MKO with historical cases such as exoteric sect of Isma’ili under the leadership of Hassan Sabbah which emasculated members shows that the former results in more severe mental consequences. Emasculation of exoteric members has been physical while that of MKO id psychological and life-long and makes members subject to public scandal. In addition, such a process is a kind of mental emasculation. Those involved in such process, prefer methods used by Hassan Sabbah. Banisadr says:
I can not accept that physical emasculation is more difficult. It consists of a surgery with a period of convalescence while mental emasculation involves severe life-long pain. (58)
Debriefing strategies in MKO are a mixture of traditional, modern and even religious methods in middle ages and contemporary period. One of such controlling strategies of preventing any disobedience is the principle of confession. It forces members to confess to all their internal conflicts, whether mental, emotional, or sexual.
In this process, the member has to explain all his past and present events openly.
What follow is the comments of Banisadr of his memory in childhood. He has to explain it publicly to prove his capacity for transferring to the next stage of ideological revolution.
My most annoying memory is a sexual rape which happened in my childhood. I had never spoken about it .In fact I had forgotten it. But there I had to explain it. It was very difficult for me to speak about it since in Iranian culture and even in the world it is a kind of disgrace and shame. (59)
Another principle of ideological revolution is called ‘cutting all past attachments’. In this phase, members have to cut all their emotional relations of the past and form new ones based on new criteria. So they have to sacrifice all their emotions and even kill their relatives. Banisadr describes this phase of ideological revolution as follows:
The session was titled ‘cutting all past attachments’. A man had to leave his girlfriend to pass this phase. He told me crying that he loved her so much but could not marry her because of his beliefs. Another member had to leave his brother who was a council employee and even had to promise that he would kill him if necessary. (60)
Passing this phase required the destruction of whatever belonged to the past. Maybe the most difficult phase of this process for me was burning all my family photos. The members had to not only forget their past but also deny all their relations. Banisadr this process as follows:
I cut all my family photos into pieces since I had to deny all my relatives and even my parents. Maybe my father is responsible for my bourgeois tendencies and I have inherited my calm nature from my mother. Ann (my wife) asked me crying not to do so because they were not just mine. But I had to do so. After that I was welcomed to the organization. (61)
The points of similarity between these comments and studies about cultist relations which cut members from their past is amazing. It is even more interesting that such an action is considered as a holy one. Such a strategy considers cutting emotional relations as a religious action. Singer refers to this point in his cultist studies:
As part of the process of inducing guilt, all the recruit’s former personal connections are deemed satanic or evil by the cult and are shown to be "against the chosen way. Since nonbelievers are bad, all relations with parents, friends, and other nonmembers are supposed to be halted. Any weakness in this area is considered bad. The consequent impact is that recruits feel deep guilt about their pasts. Besides having their families and personal relationships condemned, recruits are also led to believe that they themselves were "bad people" before joining the group. (62)
Singer refers to a case in which MKO prevented a woman to meet her brother. How can we justify such an action? And why such an ordinary meeting is considered so significant? Singer answers as follows:
In another example, a woman’s brother, who lived out of town, came to the cult house to visit her while she was working her shift in the cult-run factory. For this reason she missed seeing him, but cult officials told her, "See, the Divine Plan willed it that you must not see your brother. (63)
Singer describes psychological aspects of such a process as follows:
Brainwashing is not experienced as a fever or a pain might be; it is an invisible social adaptation. When you are the subject of it, you are unaware of the running procedures and, moreover, the changes that form inside you. (64)
Members are convinced that they can not live without cultist relations and without which they would be subject to banality, passivity, etc. Singer describes this aspect of cultist relations as follows:
The recruits are also imbrued that if they leave, they will be damned or they themselves will die a pitiful death or become losers or lost souls. In this way, anxiety is heaped upon the guilt. Just as the initial love bombing awakened feelings of warmth, acceptance, and worthiness, now group condemnation leaves recruits full of self-doubt, guilt, and anxiety. Through this kind of manipulation, they are convinced that they can be saved only if they stay within the group. (65)
The mechanisms of cults make members believe in leadership to the point that they even kneel down to the leader and pronounce the articles of faith. Hossein Abrishamchi writes to Rajavi:
I wish to come to you, who are the leader of this great revolution, and kneel down and profess my devotion …. (66)
Abu-al-Ghasem Rezaei, another member of MKO asks Rajavi to intercede on his behalf in the hereafter. (67)
Mas’ud Banisadr refers to the long time of sessions during the ideological revolution and points out its mental consequences. He says that some sessions lasted three days. He says:
This session (with Abrishamchi) took three days and nobody slept. (68)
Banisadr describes the reaction of one of members who wanted to resist against the revolution as follows:
Suddenly, one of officials called Behnam knocked his head to the wall so strongly that it bled. (69)
Terrorism is a threat against security and peace. It exploits people in organizational relations. The findings of recent studies show that as technology and science develop, the strategies used for the exploitation of members in terrorist groups and cults get more complex. MKO is one of such cases. The disaster caused by the group in contemporary world is unprecedented in terms of the extent of the aggression imposed on citizens. Global consensus and unbiased judgment is the best way of controlling such a phenomenon. Western countries should not repeat their mistakes concerning Al-Qaede in the case of MKO. Such organizations do not regard terror and aggression as an instrument but as a worldview. Rajavi says: “viper does not give birth to dove". This is his most truthful comment. As such, terrorism would never give birth to democracy and freedom. According to Oscar Wild, it is too difficult to shake hands with blood-stained hands even in exchange for freedom.
Endnotes
57. Banisadr, Mas’ud,. Memories of an Iranian Rebel, 2005, Khavaran Publication.
58. ibid.
59. ibid.
60. ibid.
61. ibid.
62. Singer, Margaret Thaler. Cults in our midst, 118.
63. ibid.
64. ibid, 61.
65. ibid, 119.
66. Mojahed journal. No.247. p.27.
67. ibid.
68. Banisadr, Mas’ud; Memories of an Iranian Rebel, 2005.
69. ibid
Nejat Association May 2007
Translated by mojahedin.ws
July, 2007
Salvation