![\"PMOI-founding\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/PMOI-founding.jpg\" "\\"PMOI-founding\\"")
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Earlier this month, Iran\u2019s leading pro-democracy opposition group<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the People\u2019s\u00a0<\/a><\/span>Mojahedin<\/span>\u00a0Organization of Iran<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(PMOI-MEK)<\/a>,<\/span>\u00a0celebrated the 55<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0anniversary of its founding<\/a>. It was a remarkable milestone for more than one reason.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the first place, it underscores the clerical regime\u2019s repeated failures to destroy the\u00a0<\/span>MEK since the beginning of the 1979 revolution<\/a><\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But it is not enough to say that the PMOI, or MEK, merely survived its\u00a0<\/span>13<\/span>\u00a0year<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0fight against the Shah and then\u00a0<\/span>over\u00a0<\/span>40 years of persecution by the mullahs\u2019 regime. The\u00a0<\/span>MEK<\/span><\/a>\u2019s anniversary celebration<\/a> sought to underscore the fact that its following has grown throughout that time, to the point at which\u00a0<\/span>it<\/span>\u00a0stood at the head of two extraordinary, nationwide\u00a0<\/span>uprisings that took place in the previous two years.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The\u00a0<\/span>MEK<\/span>\u2019s role in the protests<\/a> was acknowledged by none other than the Iranian regime\u2019s supreme leader. In a speech in early January 2018, at the height of the first uprising, Ali Khamenei said that the organization had \u201cplanned for months\u201d to popularize the staunch, anti-government message that was put on display with slogans such as \u201cdeath to the dictator.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n These remarks contradicted decades of propaganda<\/a> that portrayed the\u00a0<\/span>MEK<\/span>\u00a0as a \u201ccult\u201d or a \u201cgrouplet\u201d with little actual support inside\u00a0<\/span>Iran<\/span>. They also set the stage for many subsequent remarks to that effect, both from Khamenei and from other\u00a0<\/span>factions of the regime<\/span>. Last March, at the start of the current Iranian calendar year, the\u00a0<\/span>regime\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>supreme leader delivered a speech to student members of the\u00a0<\/span>Basij<\/span>\u00a0militia, urging them to help counter\u00a0<\/span>MEK<\/span>\u00a0messaging when it inevitably emerges against the backdrop of campus protests.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That speech arguably represented an even greater departure from established propaganda than Khamenei\u2019s January 2018 speech. That is to say, it acknowledged that the\u00a0<\/span>MEK<\/span>\u00a0is well-positioned to lead student demonstrations and to otherwise influence the youth of the nation as nationwide unrest continues and the public looks more and more closely at alternatives to the existing theocratic dictatorship.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Various speakers at a virtual conference<\/a> organized by the\u00a0<\/span>MEK<\/span>\u00a0on September 5 cited the 10-point plan\u00a0<\/span>created by Maryam\u00a0<\/span>Rajavi<\/span>, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>as a factor in their decision to support the\u00a0<\/span>MEK<\/span>\u00a0and participate in its fight for democracy in their homeland. The conference connected 300 Iranian communities from throughout the world, and prominently featured students and young adults from countries as disparate as Australia and the Netherlands.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Key among the regime\u2019s efforts is a narrative that the youth in Iran do not support the #MEK<\/a> and are content with the medieval tyranny that has been suppressing them for more than four decades.#Iran<\/a>https:\/\/t.co\/8dt4UizSxr<\/a><\/p>\n — People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) September 11, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n