{"id":3883,"date":"2011-09-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/2011\/09\/07\/bused-into-mek-rally-attendees-dont-really-understand-what-the-mek-is\/"},"modified":"2021-01-22T01:09:48","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T21:39:48","slug":"bused-into-mek-rally-attendees-dont-really-understand-what-the-mek-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/posts\/3883","title":{"rendered":"Bused Into MEK Rally, Attendees Don\u2019t Really Understand What The MEK Is"},"content":{"rendered":"

A large crowd gathered outside the State Department to protest the designation of the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK) as a \u201cforeign terror organization.\u201d Police at the scene told Attendees Bused Into MEK Rally, Some Of Whom \u2018Don\u2019t Really Understand What The MEK Is\u2019ThinkProgress the groups organizing the demonstration said at least two thousand people were there, though the estimate seemed high.<\/span><\/p>\n

The MEK\u2019s profile has risen as stateside supporters \u2014 including former government officials \u2014 have launched a massive, coordinated, and multi-million dollar campaign to have them removed from the terror rolls. Critics argue that the group may still have designs on committing violent acts and that their public support in Iran is virtually non-existant.<\/p>\n

Among Iranians, who dominated the crowd, many said they rallied for the MEK because they supported democracy in Iran and opposed the post-revolutionary Islamic regime.<\/p>\n

But many apparent non-Iranians came out as well, most wearing flags, headbands, and even yellow vests with images of the group\u2019s leaders \u2014 Maryam and Massoud Rajavi \u2014 on the chest. Of this group, few seemed to have many details about the MEK, and instead pledged vague notions of support for human rights and democracy, often even getting the name of the MEK wrong.<\/p>\n

Some of the attendees had been bused and flown in at no personal cost, receiving transportation and in some cases lodging and meals.<\/p>\n

One attendee who spoke with ThinkProgress, Melvin Santiago, 23, a homeless man living in shelters in Staten Island, New York, said he\u2019d found out about the protest from a friend he\u2019d come with. They made the trip along with about 100 other people in four rented coach buses.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe saw [a flier] yesterday passing by the church,\u201d said Santiago of his friend. \u201cHe usually goes there for the food pantry.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a day\u2019s notice, Santiago said he hadn\u2019t had a chance to learn too much about the MEK \u2014 he thought the group was called \u201cAshraff,\u201d which is the name of the camp in Iraq where 3,400 members currently live.<\/p>\n

Some of the other attendees knew little about the MEK\u2019s history. The State Department designated the group in 1997 and made allegations of decades of terrorism, including against Americans when the U.S. had good relations with the Shah before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
\nTwo attendees from Arkansas, who\u2019d come up with an Iranian friend who lives nearby, said that they suspected collusion \u2014 \u201chanky panky\u201d \u2014 between the State Department and the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n

Others had an interest in Iran. One attendee said he lived in Iran and played professional basketball there. He said he supported human rights in Iran. He said the reverend at his church informed him about the rally, though he admitted that \u201cto be honest, I don\u2019t really understand what the MEK is.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Zaid Jilani<\/p>\n

Download Attendees Don\u2019t Really Understand What The MEK Is<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

many apparent non-Iranians came out as well, most wearing flags, headbands, and even yellow vests with images of the group\u2019s leaders \u2014 Maryam and Massoud Rajavi \u2014 on the chest. Of this group, few seemed to have many details about the MEK, and instead pledged vague notions of support for human rights and democracy, often even getting the name of the MEK wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":-1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[6],"module":[27],"ctype":[26],"blog":[646],"class_list":["post-3883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mujahedin-khalq-organizations-propaganda-system","tag-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-video","module-reports","ctype-videos","blog-think-progress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3883"},{"taxonomy":"module","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/module?post=3883"},{"taxonomy":"ctype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctype?post=3883"},{"taxonomy":"blog","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog?post=3883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}