General Discussion

pampango

(24,692 posts) Thu Feb 28, 2013, 10:36 AM Feb 2013

Harlem Shake as Protest in Tunisia

Hard line Salafi fundamentalists (who are small fringe in Tunis) showed up at a language school in Tunisia’s capital on Wednesday to attempt to stop the filming of a video clip of the Harlem Shake, electronic-music performer Baauer’s internet sensation in the Trap genre. One of the Salafis had on military khakis and carried a molotov cocktail, which he did not use. They shouted at the students that their brothers in Palestine were suffering and they were dancing. The students at the language school drove off the Salafis and went on with their filming.

The Minister of Education, however, appears to agree that the filming of the dance at the school was inappropriate, and is making noises about expelling the students involved. In turn, that threat has provoked calls for a public demonstration against the government in downtown Tunis that will involve mass performance of the Harlem Shake.

This is the kind of thing the Salafis were trying to stop (filmed at the Superior Institute of Languages in Tunis):

A section of the Tunisian Salafis have adopted essentially al-Qaeda tactics. Since they are small and fanatical and powerless, terrorizing people appeals to them as a form of social control.

A conflict between religious-right puritanism and Tunisia’s secular youth culture is an on-going feature of the post-revolutionary process. While a crackdown on the Harlem Shake is not earthshaking in itself, it is significant if it is part of the same yearning for social control and imposed conservatism that animated the Salafis to attack an embassy and assassinate a secular politician. In essence, unless the Harlem Shake wins, Tunisia loses.

http://www.juancole.com/2013/02/harlem-shake-protest.html

13 replies

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Highlight:

Harlem Shake as Protest in Tunisia (Original Post) pampango Feb 2013 OP

Good lord! Those folks cannot dance at all. Buzz Clik Feb 2013 #1

Ya gotta get with it, Buzzy. Out of synch is totally out of synch. Berlum Feb 2013 #2

You're correct, of course. Buzz Clik Feb 2013 #3

Try this Berlum Feb 2013 #5

k for this too! stuntcat Feb 2013 #7

Let's cut them a break. They've only been exposed to such international crazes as this pampango Feb 2013 #4

k! stuntcat Feb 2013 #6

Someone needs to teach them Gungnam style! AsahinaKimi Feb 2013 #8

* In_The_Wind Mar 2013 #12

Uh-oh, it's spreading to Egypt. "How the Harlem Shake is being used to push for change in Egypt." pampango Mar 2013 #9

Reply to the original post Aaronquah Mar 2013 #10

Hello ~ Aaronquah In_The_Wind Mar 2013 #11

Gangnam is so over. HappyMe Mar 2013 #13

Buzz Clik

(38,437 posts)

1. Good lord! Those folks cannot dance at all.

Reply to pampango (Original post)

Thu Feb 28, 2013, 10:49 AM

Feb 2013

Perhaps the Salafis were simply trying to get them to stop for the sake of all humanity. Or at least practice.

Berlum

(7,044 posts)

2. Ya gotta get with it, Buzzy. Out of synch is totally out of synch.

Reply to Buzz Clik (Reply #1)

Thu Feb 28, 2013, 11:08 AM

Feb 2013

Buzz Clik

(38,437 posts)

3. You're correct, of course.

Reply to Berlum (Reply #2)

Thu Feb 28, 2013, 11:42 AM

Feb 2013

Apparently the Harlem Shake is nothing but spazzing out.

Geez. And I found the Macarena to be annoying.

Berlum

(7,044 posts)

5. Try this

Reply to Buzz Clik (Reply #3)

Thu Feb 28, 2013, 12:41 PM

Feb 2013

stuntcat

(12,022 posts)

7. k for this too!

Reply to Berlum (Reply #5)

Thu Feb 28, 2013, 01:19 PM

Feb 2013

fantastic

pampango

(24,692 posts)

4. Let's cut them a break. They've only been exposed to such international crazes as this

Reply to Buzz Clik (Reply #1)

Thu Feb 28, 2013, 12:28 PM

Feb 2013

for a couple of years. 'Flash mobs', 'gangnam style' and now the 'Harlem Shake' is a lot for them to absorb and practice.

stuntcat

(12,022 posts)

6. k!

Reply to pampango (Original post)

Thu Feb 28, 2013, 01:12 PM

Feb 2013

AsahinaKimi

(20,776 posts)

8. Someone needs to teach them Gungnam style!

Reply to pampango (Original post)

Thu Feb 28, 2013, 01:22 PM

Feb 2013

In_The_Wind

(72,300 posts)

12. *

Reply to AsahinaKimi (Reply #8)

Fri Mar 1, 2013, 12:09 PM

Mar 2013

stealin' that

pampango

(24,692 posts)

9. Uh-oh, it's spreading to Egypt. "How the Harlem Shake is being used to push for change in Egypt."

Reply to pampango (Original post)

Fri Mar 1, 2013, 08:59 AM

Mar 2013

It is the latest Internet phenomenon that has the world laughing, but in Egypt the Harlem Shake has caught the imagination of revolutionaries who are using it as a new way to challenge the country's new Islamist rulers.

"It’s a funny way to protest how [the Muslim Brotherhood] have taken control of the country,” said law student Tarek Badr, 22, who was one of more than 100 thrusting their hips in front of the political movement’s Cairo headquarters on Thursday. "People won’t be silent. They will protest in all ways and this is a peaceful way."

The unusual protest captured the attention of Egypt’s protest-weary press corps -- who almost outnumbered the gyrating protesters -– as well as a dozen stern-faced members of the Muslim Brotherhood. The movement's figurehead Mohammed Morsi was named president in June after the country's first democratic election in decades.

"People are very supportive,” Mahalaawi said. “It’s a change from violence to sarcasm and it’s peaceful. There has been enough blood, enough arrests, enough trials.” He said the message to the party was that many Egyptians “do not like their way of rule… with human-rights violations every day."

The video is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=4Zfi_ZFSqT0

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/01/17144225-how-the-harlem-shake-is-being-used-to-push-for-change-in-egypt