Autopsy of an ideological drift (43)

 The militants living in the camps of that organization were deprived of books, had no right to listen to music or the radio and were naturally cut off from television programmes”.

As in a sect, it is forbidden to think

Itself obedient to Marxism, fighting overtly to install in Iran a “popular democracy”, the Fedais Guerrilla Fighters Organization of Iran sees much to criticise in Rajavi’s Mojahedin:

“Some would criticize us for considering this organization as a ‘sect’. We have to tell them that a force that neither respects nor believes in any principles and whose goals and thoughts are based only on the tastes and desires of one person, when those goals resemble nothing like those of a political organization, then, in our culture, what shall we call them? Especially when its leader has a religious character.

When this organization has no shame in the 20th Century in declaring officially, over and over again, through its own radio and television that ‘thanks to the marriage of Massoud Rajavi and Maryam’ its members who suffered from epilepsy and migraines were all cured. Also, given that they go on to state that medical doctors confirm this claim of the leadership, isn’t it possible that these dishonorable doctors are capable of injecting an air-filled hypodermic needle into the veins of any of Massoud’s and Maryam’s opponents? In an organization in which a single man can put himself at the tip of the pyramid, isn’t it possible to see a beehive with only one queen bee?” (184)

These accusations are borne out by those who know the PMOI from the inside, its dissidents:

“Moreover, the Mojahedin’ ‘cultural revolution’ included completely bizarre facets...

There was the reinforcement of Rajavi’s spiritual role and its dimension in the movement... From the Nineties on, he succeeded in isolating the membership completely from reality... Haqqe Mani and Mohamed Reza Eskandari agree in saying that intellectuals and culture were Rajavi’s prime targets. According to Haqqeh Mani ‘the worst insult for a militant was to denounce his cultural interests’.

The militants living in the camps of that organization were deprived of books, had no right to listen to music or the radio and were naturally cut off from television programmes”. (185)

Any discussion within the PMOI was for a single purpose:

convince doubters and establish a unanimity of thought:

“It is a tradition of the Mojahedin to hold open discussions on sensitive current issues, lasting hours, days or weeks, depending on the subject. At the end, a common point of view was created”. (186)

Rajavi the Guru

Mitra Yusufi, today a refugee in Sweden, lived for many years in the movement’s midst. She bears witness in a very informative way to how the system worked:

“We were moved to Paris. Not speaking French, I ‘stayed inside the community. It was like a sect. We spoke with special words, since the MKO had created its own vocabulary which had no relationship with the outside.

They gave us leadership lessons, or lessons about Rajavi. All that was positive came from him and all negative things that happened were results of a poor relationship of the individual to the leadership. Here are some of the slogans: ‘Negative: try to resolve problems with your own capacities, with your own strength; positive: use the ability of the leadership to resolve the problem: accept the leadership’s power. In connection with the leadership you become whole. Alone you cannot find God, but you can do it through good relations with the leadership. If you are alone, far from God, then you are a masochist. But, if you choose the leadership as your guide, you are free immediately and all your problems are solved’.

These are the formulae drawn from the courses we had to take inside the movement. Decoded, they mean that there was no salvation without Rajavi.

In our religion, Shi’ia Islam, we celebrate the hidden Imam. We are supposed to sing the praises of our great, historic leaders of the faith. And we added Massoud and Maryarn to the list we worshipped”. (187)

After his failure as a war Chief, Massoud Rajavi took on his new role as Chief of a “Church”. By creating it, he became its natural guru.

The “Master” of the PMOI, to almost all Moslems, found himself in a clear position of blasphemy:

“Mani and Eskanari add that traditional Islamic culture was barred from this closed world. In the movement, which was Moslem in principle, the instructions of Rajavi made it obligatory for his name and that of his wife to be praised during religious festivals. It was, therefore, his name and Maryam’s that were cried out after the act of faith, the Prayer for the Prophet and for the 12 lmams. It was as if their two names had joined the list of infallible guides”. (188)

There was no question of going beyond the imposed guidelines.

As Rajavi had said, “The end justifies the means".

The farce had no limits and the dissidents cited above are still blinded to the extremes in which they participated. Because, now we were to find that Massoud Rajavi would claim direct contact with God:

“Everybody says that Rajavi often presented himself as directly inspired by God. They insist the he would take the floor at political meetings in claiming: ‘He whom you know has come to me in dreams. He has shown me your intimate beds and this is what He revealed...”. Sometimes Maryam Rajavi would follow, adding in a tone of utter conviction: “There are many things he cannot speak of.. . He cannot reveal everything...”. (190)

All these methods were very effective to subjugate the unhappy men and women who had fallen in the web of the Rajavi couple.

 

184.- “A propos de l’OMPI et des cercles proches au régime de Ia Rib> — Article in Kar, official organ of the Organisation of the Fedais Guerilla Fughters of the Iranian Peopla (OFGFI P) Summer, 1996.

185.- “Les Moudjahidin du peuple, une opposition devenue secté"- by IsmaIl Zayer. Al Hayat London, Reprinted in Courrier International(N° 468) week of2l-27 October 1999.

186.- “Democracy Betrayed”, op. cit.

187.- "Mitra Yousufi — Les Moudjahidin du peuple ont des methodes qui en font un groupuscule sectaire" — interview by the author in Le Nouvelliste, 14 April 1999.

188.- Ismail Zayer, op. cit.

189.- Mao Tsé-toung, op. cit.

190.- ismail Zayer, op. cit.

 

Autopsy of an ideological drift (42)