A 40 second video of 5 teenagers in oversized clothes without the mandatory headscarf dancing in Tehran’s Ekbatan neighborhood to the song “Calm Down” by Selena Gomez and Rema went viral on Instagram. Later on, the regime’s security forces started to hunt these girls. These victims were forced to take down the video and deactivate their page and were also forced to film an apology video on the same place saying they made a mistake!
This simple act of dancing on streets is constructed as “defiance” against the Islamic Republic. The Iranian human rights defender and currently a political prisoner, Narges Mohammadi republished the video of the dance on social media on Tuesday, saying women’s singing and dancing is a form of feminine presence in the streets. This is a right which should not be suppressed, she noted. Earlier in the week, actor-cum activist Golshifteh Farahani also published the video of the dance, with the caption, “Nothing can stop the freedom of Iranian women. Nothing can stop the freedom of all human beings.”
Women in Iran are currently dancing to this song as protest and solidarity under “Dance4Iran” to the girls that are under threat by the oppressive regime for doing exactly this. This song “Calm Down” by Selena Gomez and Rema is now an anthem of support!
