Harlem Shake gets bizarrely political in the Middle East

This is bizarre. Apparently the antagonism between Egyptian protesters and the Islamist regime has been taken to a new level with Harlem Shaking.

Yup, that’s right, an unfathomably odd meme which involves people doing crazy, nonsensical dance moves has become a political statement. Welcome to the internet folks.

According to The AFP, around 70 protesters pitched up outside the ruling Islamist Party’s headquarters and performed the dance after chanting anti-Islamist slogans.

Youths in Egypt and Tunisia, says the news agency, have taken up the dance as a form of protest against Islamists, two years after uprisings in both countries toppled veteran dictators but brought in divisive Islamist-led governments.

The fact that a number of social media sites run by Salafists and other Islamist groups have denounced the “Harlem Shake” as indecent, with participants smoking, dancing wildly and simulating sexual acts, will likely only propel its popularity among opposition protesters.

That said, members of the Muslim Brotherhood had reportedly done their own version of the dance. Leaders in the party have however subsequently tried to have it removed.

The video features members of the Brotherhood doing the dance while wearing masks of the main opposition, the National Salvation Front.