The Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/ MEK/ the PMOI/the Cult of Rajavi) held its annual gathering in Paris on Saturday, June 30, as what it calls the “Grand Gathering for a free Iran”. The group’s well organized event in Villepinte that costs them it large sum of money each year is supposed to be the voice of the Iranian opposition but it is hardly ever followed by reactions from Iranians inside and outside Iran.
Regarding the speakers at the gathering one may see a large range of former western politicians among whom the most prominent figure is former New York mayor Ruddy Guiliani, but no Iranian except Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the group. The Guardian’s report on the recent gathering denounces the MKO as a fake unpopular group which does not embrace the criteria of an opposition group except that it has enough money to bring together foreigners from all over the world.
Giuliani spoke to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an umbrella coalition largely controlled by the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MeK), which was once listed as a terrorist organization in the US and Europe and is still widely viewed as a Marxist-Islamist cult built around the personality of its leader, Maryam Rajavi, reported the Guardian. [1]
“We are now realistically being able to see an end to the regime in Iran,” Giuliani told a crowd of about 4,000, many of them refugees and young eastern Europeans who had been bussed in to attend the rally in return for a weekend trip to Paris, according to the Guardian. [2]
Interviewing the bussed participants of the rally, the Guardian correspondents document the assertion of “Most observers of Iranian politics” who “say the MeK has minimal support in Iran and is widely hated for its use of violence and close links to Israeli intelligence.” [3]
Around half of the attendees were Iranian. The other half consisted of an assortment of bored-looking Poles, Czechs, Slovakians, Germans and Syrians who responded to a Facebook campaign promising travel, food and accommodation to Paris for a mere €25, based on the report. “Hundreds of Syrian refugees settled in Germany also attended. Many snoozed under trees during speeches.” [4]
“We saw the deal on Facebook and we agreed to come on a holiday,” told the Guardian, a young Syrian mother as she sat on the conference floor, fanning her two young children. “I have never seen Paris. I don’t know anything about the MeK.” [5]
The MKO’s longstanding critic, Daniel Larison of the American Conservative accurately asserts that “the MEK has no support in Iran or the Iranian diaspora, and no one wants anything to do with it except for paid Western shills and the government of Saudi Arabia”. Referring to Guilliani’s desire to have this convention in Iran next year, he writes, “No matter what happens in Iran, the MEK won’t be returning there next year or fora long time to come. They are understandably reviled in Iran for their crimes and treachery, and anyone embracing them reveals an intense hostility to Iran and an equally profound ignorance of the country and its people.” [6]
American scholar and political analyst Kevin Barrett told Press TV, “US leaders were clueless about the situation in Iran, calling the regime change plan for Iran a “joke”. Barrett acknowledged that Iranians hate the MKO more than Americans hate al-Qaeda terrorists. [7]
“They are actually trying to make the MKO terrorist group the next government in Iran, promising them to be in control of the country in less than a year. What a joke …This program for regime change in Iran which Bolton and Pompeo are leading is humorous, and it’s complete cluelessness,” he said. Barrett reiterated that the plan would never work. [8]
Maryam Rajavi seems to be alone in her own rally. Her speech is not reflected or analyzed in the media; the gathering was considered as a whole. No prominent expert view Maryam Rajavi and her cult-like group as a movement that might be involved in the Iranian political relations. This year’s gathering was just like the recurrence of a ceremony for the insiders of the group and its paid supporters.
Mazda Parsi
References:
[1]Merat, Arron & Borger, Julian, Rudy Giuliani calls for Iran regime change at rally linked to extreme group, The Guardian, June 30,2018.
[2] ibid
[3] ibid
[4] ibid
[5] ibid
[6] Larison, Daniel, The Despicable Hawkish Embrace of theMEK, The American Conservative, July 1, 2018.
[7]Press TV, US scholar describes US plot to topple Iraniangovt. as a joke, June 30, 2018.
[8] ibid