Yesterday Mahmoud Ahmadinejad restaged his “Mr Smith Goes to Washington” (or rather, New York) show again, this time using new insane conspiracy theories to dominate the headlines. I’ll do here as we all should — ignore his provocations — as the real issue to follow is the desperate game he’s playing to retain his power in Iran, as well as his populist internationalist savvy of speaking out on what are commonly held (if irrational) views shared by many outside the West. Behind the scenes in Iran he has suffered a number of humiliating knocks to his status, from the do-si-do involved in his attempt to stage the release of Sarah Shroud as an act of personal grace (his conservative opponents refused to allow him to put on a show along the line of his giving of gift-bags to the British sailors released in 2008, Shroud left Iran with no ceremony and kiss from Mahmoud), and he has been undermined in other ways as well. Coming to NY and making a stink is one of his tried and true gambits to consolidate support and quell his domestic conservative opposition.
Unsurprisingly, yesterday a number of Green Movement groups, such as the good folks in Where Is My Vote NY and United 4 Iran, organized on a grassroots level to bring together a demonstration against Ahmadinejad. This video summarizes the decent demands of this movement: We will not remain silent, We are here, No sanctions, Free political prisoners, Free speech, New diplomacy, No war.
What those of us who support the the green opposition didn’t expect was that the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (PMOI, also known as MEK or MKO) would be showing up in NY as well. A sign of the utter disconnection of the PMOI from the legitimate opposition to the present regime is the secrecy and lack of coalition or coordination with other groups that characterizes their activities. So out of the clear blue sky an elaborate stage materialized in Dag Hammerskjold Plaza, and several hundreds of unfamiliar people gathered — wearing not green but purple? But we knew them from their ensign: the hoisted pictures of their adored leaders, Masoud and Maryam Rajavi.
The rally was clearly a further attempt to mainstream the North Korea-like face of the PMOI, although I can’t say it seemed a convincing spectacle. This event was a much smaller affair than their coming-out rally in France over summer. The speakers included a range of soft spoken types, such as Reverend Doctor David B Lowery, Dean of the Mercer School of Theology. It also included mainstay advocates of the PMOI such as Raymond Tanter, a long-standing Israel lobby professional, formerly an “expert” at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and a cofounder of the neocon Iran Policy Committee.
But the surprise of the day was yet to come. Striding the steps of the elaborate staging, while appropriate music was cued, none other than Rudy Giuliani took the podium to extol the virtues of the PMOI, while also making the case for war on Iran. He included appropriate references to Israel as well, in idealizing an PMOI-led Iran that “does not threaten its neighbors with annihilation.” The audience, nearly all seemed to be PMOI drones sapped of individual will, waved and applauded in disturbing symmetry. After a peculiar nostalgic digression theorizing how Reagan would have dealt with Iran (and eliding the fact that Reagan did deal with Iran — it was called the Iran-Contra affair). He climaxed with a bit of saber rattling: “They must be confronted with America’s strength…” “It is not negotiable [for Iran] to have nuclear weapons!” Giuliani’s speech came to close with a call for a removal of the PMOI from the State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. As he left the stage the MCs whipped up the crowd with an awkward chant: “Ahmadinejad no no, Rajavi yes yes!”
Giuliani was followed by British Tory MP David Amess, who wikipedia terms “a leading member” of the Conservative Friends of Israel. He followed the formula, if blandly. But his was a prime spot on the lineup, as he had the honor of introducing PMOI leader Maryam Rajavi to a soundtrack of bugles and a storm of confetti. But of course the leader was not actually there – she was only a video image on the screen, waving to her self-sacrificing compatriots from a video-stage in what appeared to be a French garden. Wearing her standard uniform, a matching light blue-green suit and scarf, she did her earnest best to mainstream the message of the organization, focusing on human rights and democracy as themes. But again the overproduction of the event gave a slip to the cult-of-personality centered around Rajavi, and the absolutely non-democratic heart of the PMOI. Her speech ended to another unnecessary flurry of streamers and confetti.
Then Raymond Tanter returned to the stage, to introduce MKO mainstay John Bolton, who also spoke on behalf of the group in their rally in France. His place on the speaking list — directly after Rajavi — seemed to confirm that the PMOI is moving more and more to take on the mantle of being the neoconservatives’ acceptable opposition. As always, the center of neocon concerns is Israel, and the PMOI, which once was anti-Zionist, are now playing lapdog to the Israel Lobby. Bolton as usual could hardly contain himself, gave a speech full of snide innuendo about the UN and Obama’s lilly-livered approach on Iran, and ended by threatening war on Iran (“the only long-term solution […] is to overthrow this regime in Tehran, and sooner rather than later”). He was followed by Susan Kone, a staunchly pro-Israeli GOP candidate for a NY congressional seat, who cited “anti-semitism cloaked as anti-Zionism” as one of the worldly ills that the PMOI would help to defeat.
The PMOI stage show at the UN seems to be part of a mounting campaign to give legitimacy to the group as the case for war is amplified — as with Iraq and Chalabi’s group’s role in providing a cover of a “leadership in exile”, the PMOI is maneuvering to be given the scepter and crown before the “liberation” of Tehran. As before, the strange thing is how poorly the PMOI discern the fascistic quality of their messaging. We’ll see what the next months bring, but it seems the neocons and the Israel lobby have found their acceptable Iranian allies as they try to drive the US to an attack on Iran.
