In late November 2023 in the northern Iranian town of Rasht in Gilan province, a 70-year-old man at a fish market (Sadegh Bana Motejaded) was videoed dancing and singing to an Iranian folk song.[1] On 1 December, he posted a version of the video on his Instagram page which went viral, generating 80 million views by mid-December. Iranians sang and danced to the song "on the streets, in shops, at sport stadiums, in classrooms, malls, restaurants, gyms, parties and everywhere else they congregate". According to at least one source—the New York Times—the phenomenon is noteworthy because music, dancing and singing are "deeply rooted" in the culture of Iran, dancing, especially by women or mixed genders, is forbidden in the Islamic Republic of Iran which has been in power since 1979.[1][2]

Bana Motejaded told a local television reporter that he was dancing “to make people happy. I only want people to be happy and to change their mood,” but authorities cracked down. On December 7 local police in Rasht announced they had removed the video from several websites, arrested twelve men who had appeared in the video and shut down their Instagram pages. On Bana Motejaded's Instagram page, his profile was replaced by an emblem of the Islamic Republic's judiciary, and his posts were all replaced with one from the judiciary reading, “this page has been shut down for creating criminal content” and that the person who had engaged in the activity “has been dealt with.”[1] According to a person "familiar with the details of the arrests" interviewed by the New York Times, the local intelligence division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp detained Bana Motejaded for several hours and accused him "of instigating against the government", the men in the video were also summoned, interrogated for hours, blindfolded, beaten, threatened with legal action and forced to sign a pledge never to sing and dance in public again.[1]

News of the arrests and a backlash against them spread rapidly across Iran. Videos of people singing and dancing to the song were posted on social media and circulated on WhatsApp and other applications, in what came to be called the “happiness campaign.”[1] The official Farsi page of the Asian Football Confederation (which has nearly 4 million followers) posted a video compilation of some Iranian soccer stars and teams dancing and cheering to the song.[1]

In response the Gilan province police backed down, denied they had ever arrested Bana Motejaded, and restored the posts on his Instagram page. Local news channels interviewed him.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Fassihi, Farnaz; Nikounazar, Leily (December 16, 2023). "A Viral Dance and 'Happiness Campaign' Frustrates Iran's Clerics". New York Times. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
  2. ↑ "A viral dance and 'happiness campaign' frustrate Iran's clerics". The Strait Times. December 16, 2023. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
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