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"ideological revolution"

Hysterectomy, latest MKO cult strategy

Of the most inhuman practices carried out within the MKO terrorist organization is the misuse of modern science to make women infertile.

Batoul Soltani, who was a Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) member for 20 years and was promoted to the rank of the leadership council of the terrorist organization, told Press TV that individuals in the Mojahedin-e Khalq cult should reach what the organization sees as a peak by cutting all their links with the outside world.

“The women members who have dedicated their family life, children and husbands to the cult leaders are totally separated from the outside world by the removal of their womb. In the organization, the hysterectomy surgery is considered as reaching the peak.”

The former authority of camp Ashraf in Iraq, noted that some of the women even didn’t have an idea of the operation done on their body since they were told that the operations are done for curing their sickness. Soltani also mentioned the leaders of the cult concluded that the removal of sexual parts of the body is even physically necessary.

Mojahedin-e Khalq which has undergone a so called ideological revolution has paved the way for a number of cultic practices within the organization. To name them, they are compulsory divorces, victimizing children, separating children from their families, trying to eliminate biological differences between men and women by forcing female members to carry out hard work, and now resorting to hysterectomy.

It appears that the ideological revolution of Mojahedin-e Khalq not only led the organization to transform into a notorious cult, but also brought about countless negative consequences, most of which have so far remained unknown to the outside world.

News about MKO’s recent scandal has leaked out while Maryam Rajavi, wife of MKO leader Masoud Rajavi, seeks to introduce herself a radical feminist and the true defender of women rights.

Furthermore, she refers to the achievements of the ideological revolution of Mojahedin-e Khalq as a solution for the challenges concerning women rights.

The group is responsible for bombings, killings, and attacks against Iranian government officials and civilians over the past 25 years, including the assassination of the late president Mohammad-Ali Rajaei, prime minister Bahonar and judiciary chief Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti.

The MKO is also known to have cooperated with Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein to suppress the Iraqi people.

October 22, 2008 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Female members of MKO are made barren

Hysterectomy, the latest cult approach in Mojahedin

The ideological revolution of Mojahedin not only led the organization to the precipice of transformation into a notorious cult of personality but also brought about countless negative consequences most of which have so far remained unknown to the world outside. Of the most inhuman, tragic cult practices carried out within the cult of Mojahedin (also known as MKO, MEK, PMOI) that might shock the modern world, among whom the group heavily propagates its pro-democratic policies, is misusing modern science to make women infertile. The disclosing speech of Nasrin Ebrahimi, the recently detached member of MKO, in the European Parliament in September 9, 2008, on the fact that female members of MKO are made barren revealed another cultic aspect of the organization. She has recently escaped from Camp Ashraf following the pressures to enforce her undergo hysterectomy. Her comments disclose another undeniable fact on the organization and which can face it with critical challenges.

For sure, even the western advocates of MKO and lobbying parliamentarians have been unaware of these inhuman and brutal actions that are only expected of ill-famed, destructive cults. As the elite of their own nations, at least they have to be concerned about the actions of the group they are lobbying for to unleash among their own people. In fact, they have to take a different look at the organization to develop a deeper understanding of the nature of MKO. Reported by Iran-Interlink quoting Ms. Ebrahimi making her speech at the European Parliament: “to kill the hope in women’s hearts the organization resorted to hysterectomy done under a variety of pretexts. At the present, more than 10 percent of MKO female members have undergone the operation”.

She further expounded that she was one of the elected victims who managed to escape before going through the surgery and urged the parliamentarians to send medical experts to do exact investigations.

Those familiar with the course of events within MKO and its cultic relations are never surprised at hearing such stated remarks since they are well aware of the fact that the ideological revolution of Mojahedin paved the way for a number of cultic practices within the organization. To name them, they are compulsory divorces, victimizing children, separating children from their families, trying to eliminate biological differences between men and women by forcing female members to carry out hard work, and now resorting to hysterectomy.

Being an identical feature shared by most cults, MKO is unpredictable. Who knows what might be the next ruthless cultic performance kept concealed from the eyes of its advocates who are deceived by the chanted democratic slogans of MKO to be removed from the terrorist list? They have to answer this question and bear all the consequences of their blind support of MKO. They may even justify cultic behaviors of the organization under many excuses as they did following the self-immolation of a number of members in France; however, those truly seeking to defend human rights cannot ignore this cases explicitly violating human rights and have to take necessary measures to look into different dimensions of the tragedy.

News about MKO’s recent scandal is leaked out while Maryam Rajavi seeks to introduce herself a radical feminist and the sole true defender of women rights all around the world. Furthermore, she refers to the achievements of the ideological revolution of Mojahedin as the sole solution for all the challenges met by global institutions and communities concerning women rights. Of paradoxical issues is the fact that in our modern age of communication and information the leader of a cult, under whose command women are victimized in the most barbaric and reactionary forms, makes claims to be an ardent advocate of women rights. Strangely enough, her Western protectors defend her critical role in these cultic, tragic deeds as pro-democratic practices and criticize the opponents.

Ms. Ebrahimi’s petition for more investigations on the state of victimized women in Camp Ashraf provides a chance for these advocates to reconsider their stance of unconventional support for Mojahedin. Meanwhile, it is an issue open to question that why the active ex-members and Sahar Family Foundation SFF have kept silent and been passive to cope with this unethical issue that can in itself work as an instigation to move women throughout the world.

October 20, 2008 0 comments

Human Rights Abuse in the MEK

How many women of PMOI have reached the summit?

New details on the Infertilization Plan of MKO to promote the ranks of women in the cult

A former member of MKO, in Iraq said:

The people‘s Mujahedin of Iran does hysterectomy surgeries on women ranks and file and promotes them to the Ideal Summit [total devotion to leader] .They have made 150 women barren so far.

The people‘s Mujahedin of Iran does hysterectomy surgeries on women ranks and file and promotes them to the Ideal Summit Mrs.Batoul Soltani (43) who has a 20-year experience of membership in MKO and worked professionally and actively in Iraq, Britain and France and mounted to the rank of the leadership council of PMOI, participated a press meeting among foreign journalists of Iraq answering the FNA’s correspondent’s questions.

At the beginning she explained the recruitment methods that the group uses to increase the number of members and said that she joined the organization due to her adolescence ideas that needed to be filled by political activities.

She noted that the criterion for the promotion in the cult is based on the dimensions of your devotion to the leaders.

This former member left her kids and divorced her husband after the Ideological Revolution in MKO. The reason she stated the FNA was:

” I was melted in the organization so seriously. If you want to find out the reason, you should search in the basis of the cults. “

She described the manipulation techniques including forced divorces, self-criticism meetings …, used by the cult. She believes that the MKO cult is an isolated laboratory in which the members are brainwashed and through a process are changed to get to a point when they are really eager to commit any act even to be barren.

the individual in the cult should reach a summit and this summit for women is to cut all their links with the outside world

She added that the individual in the cult should reach a summit and this summit for women is to cut all their links with the outside world. The women members who have dedicated their family life, children and husband to the cult leaders are totally separated from the outside world by the removal of their womb.

Remembering one of the meetings of the Leadership Council in MKO, she stated:

” In the meeting Nafiseh Badamchi (the only doctor who had a leadership rank) was ordered by Masud Rajavi to remove the womb of the women in the organization and she would be privileged by Masud Rajavi due to the rise of the number of women done the surgery.

In the organization the hysterectomy surgery is considered as reaching the summit. For Example in the meeting Masud Rajavi asked:

“How many women have reached the summit? How many are waiting for the surgery?”

The ex-member of the leadership council mentioned that the leaders of the cult concluded that the removal of sexual parts of the body is even physically necessary.

Some of the women even didn’t have any idea of the operation done on their body since they were told false justifications.

The former authority of camp Ashraf noted finally that Mrs. Nasrin Ebrahimi (nicknamed Batoul) who has recently been released from MKO has explained the Summit operation for the authorities of the EU in Europe to attire the attention of the human Right bodies to the inhuman acts of MKO.

Translation: Nejat Society

October 19, 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

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

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

The cult of Rajavi

A Cult called NCRI

Most cultish groups in the world are active in recruiting, expanding their activities, and gaining money and power [62]. One cannot resolve the problems related to the cults through a philosophical debate or their denunciation through heated discussions on TV. The threat that the cults impose on our societies goes beyond that. The cults, in fact, threaten the physical condition, psychological health, political power and democratic freedoms in our societies. The cults may even threaten the lives of our people.

In a cult, the self appointed leader is the centre of power and is the one who determines the values and goals. There is no limit to the authority of the leader. He/She will not respond to any-one and preaches a sort of a religion that has been invented by the superficial extraction of elements from this or that religion. Some of the most common and important methods that the leadership of a given cult uses for preserving and expanding its dominating power are:

The physical elimination of its opponents

Discrediting and treating the opponents as traitors before and after the physical elimination,

Slandering, accusing and using abusive language against its opponents and critics

Impetuously inverting the ideological and political positions

Inculcation and making the others believe what the cult says as true and inciting its members to self-humiliation and destruction of their own character are among other main tactics used against who have doubts, questions, hesitations or opposition to the leadership of the cult. The individual by turning to be a devotee inculcates in himself that he has no power to distinguish and understand the issues. Thus it is the leader who builds up the ideas and interprets the meaning of life.

It is the leader who defines what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad and who are friends and enemies. He is not answerable to the followers and there is a huge distance between him and the rest.

He is a person considered beyond a normal human being and capable of doing impossible things; and therefore others should obey and follow him. Contrary to the authentic religions who invite followers to obey God, in cults, the leader of the cult itself takes the place of God and becomes sacred and divine. Most cults try to use a deviated language and culture of religions to gain legitimacy. It is for this reason that they claim that the leader of the cult inspired by divine teachings is aware about the secrets of the world creation and world view and the nature of the human being. That’s why telling lies, deception and temptation and having multiple personas are justifiable in the cult and having these characteristics would be permissible to protect the leader and members of the cult.

The leader of the cult forms the society under his/her control in a closed and confidential manner. In this way, secrecy and confidentiality of issues –even minor ones- are vital and irrefutable. Emphasis on protecting the cult secrets is aimed at creating a harsh discipline and security hierarchy based on total and blind obedience. [63]

MKO, taking Marxism as a model, as of its inception and during expansion of its organi-sational structure, administered itself based on democratic centralism or central rule based on majority of votes. According to the Organisation there was a transitional period between the years 1978 and 1979 and between 1979 and 1984 when Rajavi’s authoritarian rule was established and from 1984, the organisation transformed itself into a cult. According to Iran Interlink, 1985 saw the start of the internal ideological revolution:

“[It was] Introduced at the time of the marriage of Massoud Rajavi with Maryam Azdonlou in February 1985. Rajavi declared himself the self-appointed ideological leader of the Mojahedin, or spiritual leader – a role taken over in public by his wife Maryam Rajavi since his disappearance after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Along with this role he introduced ‘phases’ of the Internal Ideological Revolution which would in his terms lead the members to a full understanding of his ideological beliefs. The phases includ-ed daily reporting of thoughts and feelings; forced marriage followed by forced divorces; separation of children from parents; confession of sins including erotic dreams and fantasies. The aim of these phases is to connect the member to the leader with nothing between them in an exclusive relation-ship of total submission to the leader’s will.” [64]

Former member Anne Singleton, on the BBC’s Newsnight programme, also describes the effects of the cult upon her and confirms the many reports of MKO survivors (former members) of the brain washing activities of the group. The piece mentions that many former MKO members gave account of the ‘psychological manipulation’ that was designed by Massoud and Maryam Rajavi to control the minds of the MKO members. Ann Singlton and her husband Massoud former MKO activists who had served MKO for 20 years in “absolute loyalty” were amongst them. It was launched in the name of “permanent ideological revolution”. The project aimed the renunciation of all types of sexual feel-ings and family connections. MKO leaders decreed that every member of the organization should divorce their spouses in order to dedicate their entire effort, energy and thoughts for the sake the Rajavi Family. Ann Singleton states that MKO expected that its members devote their wholel being to the Rajavi family. This was enforced through a system of daily reporting. Any types of erotic thoughts and fantasies had to be reported to the organisation in “details” in the form of complete openness [65].

According to Bahar Irani, the drift towards a cult started before the internal ideological revolution:

“The most explicitly expressed views in this respect are stated in a book entitled Ravand-e Jodaee "the process of separation" edited by a number of MKO’s separated members. The book is in fact the formal declarations of a number of Iranian students in abroad who published it just after the start of the ideological revolution. It investigates the strategic deviations of MKO and Rajavi from the organizational principles that inevitably led the organization into a cult:

“It is highly probable that Mojahedin, if they fail in their identification with liberalism and assuming the political power and face an overall stalemate, will turn into a cult because of their separation and isolation from the masses; something which is not unprecedented in the history. [1]

“In this regard, another ex-member has nearly the same opinion:

“Before the initiation of the military phase in 1980, some eminent political figures imprisoned by Shah [Pahlavi’s regime] who were somehow familiar with MKO envisaged it would turn into a cult! It was predicted that if the organization failed to settle it with the liberals, it had to inevitably suffer isolation and turned into a closed religious cult. [2]

“In this regard, Ali Ferasati, an MKO member, states that in 1984 Rajavi ordered the infor-mation bureau of the affiliated associations to do some investigation about the structure of cults. He says:

“In 1984, the information bureau of associations was asked to investigate the western religious cults. The reason was said to be since the imperialists were pushing policies ahead through religious cults, the organization needed to find out what the cults were doing and under what mechanism. [3]

“As Ferasati points out, he had managed to realize the real intention of Rajavi:

“At the time I got to the bottom that Massoud [Rajavi] was aware of the fact that the organization was getting dissociated and thus, wanted to see how the western cults operated so he could model on them[4]” [66]

In this period, the tendency towards a single person’s rule increased and gradually dominated all over the organisation. From December 1979 Masoud Rajavi’s tyranny became more evident and he became the lead man in the organisation.

“After the death of Mussa Khiyabai in February 1991, Rajavi became the irrefutable ruler of the organisation. From this time, Masoud Rajavi soon engaged himself to downgrade this political/religious organisation into a semi-religious/Mafia cult. Masoud Rajavi sat in place of God and all members of the organisation were duty bound, openly and officially, to bow in front of this new idol.” [67]

Maryam Azadonlou [68] repeatedly in her speeches, talked about “Rajavism” or “Masoudism” school of thought. “Rajavi considers himself the sole rightly designated representative of God on earth and calls the organisation the arrowhead.” [69] The following reasons indicate that the organisation turned itself into a cult:

Adopting a mixed ideology

Sanctification of Rajavi leadership

Its position regarding the family

Organisational divorces

Ideological revolutions and secret inter-organisational relationships

September 7, 2008 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

The NCR, an alias for Mujahedin Khalq

It may seem hard to believe that the first seeds of MKO’s transition to a cult of personality were sown in the heart of the Western democratic and free soil following the initiation of the ideological revolution within MKO. In fact, before MKO relocation to Iraq to execute cultic relations in Camp Ashraf as its main cult bastion, the cult thought had passed its embryo stage at Auvers-Sur-Oise in Paris. The importance of Camp Ashraf lies in the fact that it was the best remote and controlled spot as needed for cult activities. It well reinforces the first of the eight main conditions that Lifton identified as indicating the presence of ideological totalism in an organization:

Milieu control. As Lifton postulated it, this is primarily the use of techniques to dominate the person’s contact with the outside world but also their communication with themselves. People are "deprived of the combination of external information and inner reflection which anyone requires to test the realities of his environment and to maintain a measure of identity separate from it. 1

Burt before establishing its main controlled base to practice its cult process, MKO first requisite was to expand its extraordinarily exalted view of its role in political scene as the main Iranian opposition. As a result, it needed a prestigious ancillary establishment with prominent, opponent figures to confer required political legitimacy. The formation of the National Council of Resistance (NCR/NCRI) in France worked as an important alias that could accomplish the cause. It has to be pointed that formation of aliases was in no way an overnight happening. A look at the history of MKO especially after the advent of Islamic Republic in Iran reveals that the group had taken on the strategy of forming a number of affiliated groups under different pseudonyms as a working tool to recruit from among the social ranks and classes and obtain the needed public support.

Compared with other many formed aliases, the NCR is known to be MKO’s most important political wing in the West. Because of the wide membership diversity, the NCR is an exception to MKO’s cult influence. However, it has been itself utilized to intensify and expand cult relation. Although the formation of the NCR soon after MKO’s settlement in France aimed on creating an exclusively united front against the Islamic Republic, it soon turned to function as another alias for MKO. The main goal was on the one hand to recruit members with no ideology or whose ideology somehow contradicted that of MKO, and on the other hand the NCR was intended to act as a catalyst between the West and MKO. Explaining on the goal, an ex-member has said:

The fundamental reason for this new development of the NCRI was that Rajavi desperately needed to rebuild his contact with the West. He couldn’t do this directly himself as none of the Western countries would accept him whilst he continued to maintain relations with Saddam. Nor would Saddam let him loose to leave Iraq and do what he wanted beyond his control. 2

However, Rajavi needed a second trustable chip to introduce. Presentation of Maryam Rajavi as his surrogate in the West at the head of the NCR is known to be one among many errors made by Rajavi; she is hardly qualified to administer some ordinary organizational affairs let alone be elected and accepted as the president elect:

Rajavi hoped that by presenting Maryam as a President and giving her over 150 devoted members to choose from, she could go to the West and start building a place for him again in the political scene. It became a costly mistake. Maryam, as good as she was at promoting Rajavi for the members of the Mojahedin, could not act as a good CEO and take advice. 3

Still, Rajavi is the one to lead the NCR and his hegemonic rule is the sole cult characteristic that dominates it. That was enough for a number of members to leave it as they did. Yet, MKO’s active members constitute a big part of its membership, that is to say, the insiders living in a cult milieu out of a cult’s bastion.

References:

1. Dennis Tourish & Tim Wohlforth: On the edge; political cults right and left, p. 12.

2. Anne Singleton; Saddam’s Private Army, Iran-Interlink, 2003.

3. Ibid.

August 30, 2008 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Implication of Change in MKO

As stated, a cult to form a totalitarian society needs to bring about a profound change in members for achieving oneness with cult. Depending on the cult’s sphere of activity, the change is programmed under a variety of identified values to create receptivity to a new ideology.

There are countless ways and different avenues, and usually no single motivation, that drives people with different predispositions into cults. Many go to cults through their heads and some other go through their heart and emotions. However, what is of worth notification is that when a person melts in a cult, his/her whole strategy of attribution undergoes a total change and comes to believe that the new adopted ideology is the truest one in the world. There are also those who pretend to be followers because of the fearsome atmosphere of the cult and the employed measures of castigation. As Hoffer describes the converts of a cult:

Both they who convert and they who are converted by coercion need the fervent conviction that the faith they impose or are forced to adopt is the only true one. With- Jut this conviction, the proselytizing terrorist, if he is not vicious to begin with, is likely to feel a criminal, and the coerced convert see himself as a coward who prostituted his soul to live. 1

It can well be argued that as the recruits are involved in a group over a longer period of time, through the structure of the group, through new disciplines, through new behaviors and so forth, they shape a new personhood. So, it has a lot to do with when they are evaluated, and how far they’ve come from where they were before. It is the value system of the cults that attracts people to choose the gate opening to the most desired and optimal option; being it an avenue to salvation or terrestrial utopia.

Being recognized a cult of personality after its recognition as a terrorist group, Mojahedin Khalq Organization, MKO/MEK/PMOI, has developed its own terminology of cult values to entrap new recruits and to subjugate the already activists. It borrows the characteristics of a leftist cult proselytizing under a variety of catchy mottos like revolution, social change, freedom, emancipation of women and much more. To achieve the goals, first the members have to undergo a change themselves and the change is enforced through a number of processes if they show signs of reluctance; only the leaders and high ranking cadres seem to have already been acclimated to the changes and the whole body of the rank and file had to suffer the crushing pressure of the changing processes.

Some may question that why MKO insists on compelling the members to adapt themselves to the required changes? It has to be pointed out that MKO’s theoreticians of the group’s internal ideological revolution believe that any system of value has to be tested in a miniature model of society, the organization itself, before being generalized for the actual, real society and overpowering the ruling political power. But the first organizational objectives can be numerated as:

1- To destabilize members’ power of thinking in the face of critical circumstances

2- To prepare for change in the exterior milieu

3- To block members’ contact with the outside world

4- To prevent internal antagonistic moves against the made decisions

5- To get members ready for committing whatever command

6- To grow in members the illusion of being on the right path

7- To detect suspected infiltrators

8- To enforce unquestionable submission and total devotion to the leadership

9- To detach members from all personal attachments

10- To instill into members that they are safe until they are consistent with collective organizational identity

The organization strongly believes that the authority of change is beyond questioning and it is the most urgent task to be accomplished because:

1. It is essential for any ideological alteration

2. It is to legitimize organizational identity

3. It is the criterion to determine ideological disobedience

4. Being passive against it equals to becoming passive and slanting to enemy

5. Any reluctance to undergo it means being overpowered by anti-revolutionary, bourgeois attributes

6. vAnd finally, submission to change means an everlasting attraction towards the pole of the ideological leadership

Once Massoud Rajavi said “the effect indicates the cause”. He meant to say that change sets up the base for the continuation and legitimacy of the organization and it has to be ascertained within the organization through a change in ideological principles and teachings. It eventually crystallized into a cult. The ideological revolution set the door open for the change and Rajavi insisted it was a rebirth that all members necessarily had to go through it:

All have to experience this rebirth. All the sins you have committed comes to an end. Either you leave or accent to change. Make sure nobody remains but revolutionized among the real Mojahedin. Except those who may have not be informed. 2

Rajavi would compare the ideological revolution to a forge wherein the members had to be melted and reshaped as he desired them:

This [ideological revolution] is to test you; we need iron men. We seek new versions of power and capacity. Those Mojahedin who pass through this forge will be more rough and resistant. 3

As stated earlier, it was not a change only intended for the organization but aimed to encompass a grater milieu out of the organization:

Because of the fundamental role of this value system [ideological revolution] in ideology in general, the extent of the consequent changes within it included all the reactions and the individual- organization relations with the widespread scene of social and political sphere. 4

Thus, the ideological revolution turns into a standard to measure the members’ fidelity and commitment to the organization and leadership:

It is the ideological gauge that decides how good you are, and you are bad to the extent of the criticism you receive, and your power of dynamism depends on the change you undergo. 5

The ideological revolution before being considered an extraordinary way of initiating change in Mojaheidn Organization can well be defined as an internal coup d’état to accomplish Rajavi’s own ambitions and promoting him to the highest and unbeatable status of a hegemonic leader and even above that. Explained by Anne Singleton:

It [ideological revolution] is now operating around a pseudo-religious ideology for which Rajavi is the deity. Was the change necessary? Did they have to change in order to survive? It is possible to argue that any organisation has a degree of organic and dynamic change built into it. Also, that it must be flexible enough to make pragmatic alterations to the way it operates as a consequence of both the world it exists in and the demands of the situation it is in direct relation to. But the Mojahedin has done almost the opposite of what could have been expected. Rather than change in response to external demands, the organisation has wilfully ignored these and instead, obeying its own internal dynamic, rendered itself more and more distant from any constituency it might possibly have previously had recourse to for support. This internal dynamic is controlled directly by Rajavi himself and it demands that the organisation, down to every last member, must be kept totally and unquestioningly obedient to him. 6

References:

1. Eric Hoffer; The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, New York: First Perennial Classics 2002, p. 99.

2. Massoud Rajavi’s speech in Paris, 1985.

3. Ibid.

4. Niyabati, Bijan; A different look at the internal ideological revolution within MKO, Khavaran publication.

5. Mahdi Abrishamchi’s speech on ideological revolution, 1985.

6. Anne Singleton; Saddam’s Private Army, Iran-Interlink, 2003.

August 11, 2008 0 comments

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