Extremism means the advocacy of extreme measures or views. In the world of politics, extremist parties include far-left politics or far-right politics as well as radicalism, reactionism, fundamentalism and fanaticism. The Mujahein Khalq Organization (the MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ the Cult of Rajavi, NCRI) can belong to all of the extremist agendas in the political spectrum.
The MEK can be considered far left because their ideology is basically founded on the classless society of Marxism. They are reactionary and radicalistic because they believe in the most old-fashioned version of Islam that separates males and females, forces women to cover up, permits the leader of the group to practice polygamy. They exercise cult-like practices so they are fanatics who worship their disappeared leader Massoud Rajavi.
There is no need to mention that, fundamentalism includes traits of all of the above-mentioned political agendas. Thus, the MEK is definitely an extremist movement.
Studying the group’s substance and function, one can find out that the MEK has some traits in common with every extremist ideology. Reviewing its history one can realize that the group`s beliefs and actions have been quite similar to an extremist group to a large extent. The most recent report on the MEK that was published in the Global Research a few weeks ago shows that violent extremism is inherent in this group.
Robert Fantina is an author and activist for peace and international human rights who writes on the MEK’s alliance with the far left American figures like Rudy Giuliani.”Another famous and infamous U.S. citizen, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, personal attorney to U.S. President Donald Trump, calls the MEK a ‘government in exile’.,”Fantina writes.”Apparently, Giuliani has lost the ability to discern truth from falsehood, fantasy from reality; this is not surprising, considering who employs him. [1]
As Fantina accurately clarifies the MEK extremist group”is responsible for the deaths of at least 12,000 Iranians”. He keeps on asking,”So is Giuliani saying that he would be ‘comfortable’ with a nation of 81,000,000 people run by terrorists? Perhaps so, since he himself works for the head of the largest terrorist organization in the world.”[2]
Fantina lists another radical ally of the MEK extremists. The first is normally Israel, a hostile state to Iranian government. Referring to the famous report of the NBC News on the group’s financial sources, he concludes that the US and Israel cooperate in their sponsorship for MEK.”That would make sense, since Israel, like the U.S., is a brutal, repressive regime, in violation of countless international laws, and forever violating the rights of the Palestinians in the most unspeakable ways,”he suggests. And since the U.S. supports Israel with $4 billion annually, one can be confident that some of that money is finding its way to the MEK.”He also asserts that Albania is a tool in the hands of the US to maintain the MEK for the rainy day. [3]
Nevertheless, there are also other extremist allies for the MEK out there.”Yet for a group that advocates gender equality and says it is the main pro-democracy Iranian faction, the MEK does little to hide its ties to the ultraconservative, autocratic government of Saudi Arabia”, according to the Middle East Eye.”MEK rallies often feature pro-Saudi speakers and sometimes even Saudi officials.”[4] In an interview with Jordan-based news outlet Albawaba News, former MEK head of security Massoud Khodabandeh detailed the covert means through which the Saudis helped fund the group, including regional smuggling networks and black market transactions. [5]
And finally the most recent revelations about the MEK’s connections with the other extremist groups was made by the Spanish newspaper El Pais. On January this year, the news outlet reported that two lawmakers for Spain’s far-right Vox, Santiago Abascal and Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, received party salaries for eight months that drew on funds from donations by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). The two lawmakers belong to a far right Spanish party, VOX.”Both leaders received around €65,000 in total.”[6]
Kathrine Shakdam of the citizen truth tries to answer how come that a far left Islamic extremist group (MEK) gets in bed with a far right anti-Islamic extremist party (VOX) – both ends of the political and social spectrum. She brings the arguments of Julia Ebner, a research fellow at the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Speaking in an interview Ebner notes:”Both the far right and Islamist extremists benefit when their professed enemies engage in a terror attack or do anything that confirms their narratives. They want to see more rifts and more chaos in society. When communities are scared, when they’re driven apart, they’re vulnerable to the extremist narratives.”[7]
Seemingly, there is no difference for the MEK that its allies range from anti Muslim Zionist parties to Saudi Wahhabis and far away to far right Spanish or American parties. They seek to squeeze through the rifts they make in societies.
Mazda Parsi
References:
[1] Fantina, Robert, The United States Supports the Mujahedeen-e Khalk (MEK) Terrorist Organization, Global Research, February 18th, 2020.
[2] ibid
[3] ibid
[4] The Middle East Eye, Described by critics as ‘a cult’, Iranian opposition group is now lauded by top US officials as alternative to Iran’s government, July 17th, 2019.
[5] Webb, Whitney, Former MEK Official Exposes Saudi Arabia’s Covert Funding of Iranian Terror Group, Talking Point Memo, September 20th, 2020.
[6] Irujo, José María, Gil, Joaquín, Donations from the National Council of Resistance of Iran also funded other party expenses such as rent and computer equipment in 2013 and 2014, El Pais, January 28th, 2020.
[7] Shakdam, Catherine, Convenient Bedfellows: Why The MEK Backs Spanish Far-Right In Tactical Relationship, Citizen Truth, February 12, 2020.
