Dena Peace and Freedom Association interviewed a European intellectual on the Cult of Rajavi(MKO/MEK). Ms. Shemeltz who is an expert and scholar on psychotherapy, has personal and scientific experience about cults.
As the representative of Dena Peace and Freedom Association, Mr. Mohsen Abbasslou talked with the honorable expert, Ms. Shemeltz.
Abbaslou: Ms. Shemeltz! Thank you so much for your time. You are a psychotherapist and once you have lived in a cult in Western Africa so you get precious experience on living in cults. We are so pleased to have you here. You trusted Peace and Freedom Association and declared your readiness to share your ideas and experiences with us. This is an honor for our association.
Ms. Shemeltz! You are well informed about practices of cults. How do you define the MKO or in better words the Cult of Rajavi?
Ms. Shemeltz: I consider the system used in the MKO Cult the same as the system used in North Korean camps. In these camps everything is run by force and aggression. As I know and according to documents I studied on the MEK cult the impact of stalinistic approaches on the MEK is too significant.
For me, the story of the cult of Rajavi is like an unbelievable myth. During the 1970s there were various versions of such organizations but the MKO is very complicated. It does not comply with today world. The MKO members are sort of frozen people.
On the other hand, the leaders of the cult of Mujahedin present themselves as progressive and modern. Their inner reality does not go with the mask they wear outside.
Mr. Abbasslou: as an expert, how do you think the Cult of Rajavi could control and imprison individuals for so many years? How is this psychologically and scientifically feasible?
Ms. Shemeltz: in my opinion, before they enter the organization, people do not know how it works and what its functions are. They arrive in the cult while they know nothing about its internal relations, so they suddenly find themselves imprisoned. I think the MKO takes the members’ common sense.
Members of the cult even can’t go for a walk out of their camp. They have no individual freedom. The cult has taken their entire power for decision making or choosing. The members, held imprisoned in the cult have defined a strategy for themselves to stay alive:
“We obey the organization regulations to stay alive. We have no way out!”
Translated by Nejat Society
To be continued