A new form of protest against the government is rocking Iran: a viral dance craze set to an upbeat folk song where crowds clap and chant the rhythmic chorus, ‘oh, oh, oh, oh.’ Men and women of all ages are gyrating their hips, swirling their arms in the air, and chanting the song’s catchy lines, according to videos on social media. People are dancing on the streets, in shops, at sport stadiums, in classrooms, malls, restaurants, parties and everywhere else they congregate. In most countries, dancing and singing would not be considered taboo. But in Iran, dancing in public, especially by women and between men and women, is banned. Although the rule is regularly defied, enforcing it has been arbitrary. But seldom has a single song and dance turned into a collective act of civil disobedience. It all started with an old man at a fish market in Rasht in November. Sadegh Bana Motejaded, 70, who owns a small stall energetically swayed and bopped. He serenaded the crowd with a folk song and encouraged others to join in with joyous noise – helheleh kon, velveleh kon. The men clapped, shouting back the rhythmic chorus, ‘oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.’ ‘My reason for dancing is to make people happy,’ Bana Motejaded told a local TV reporter. ‘I only want people to be happy and to change their mood.’ The video of him went viral when Aghapour reposted a remix of the song with techno beats. Then came the crackdown. Local police in Rasht said on December 7 that they had arrested 12 men who appeared in the video and removed the video from several websites. On Bana Motejaded’s Instagram page, then with about 128,000 followers, an emblem of the judiciary appeared in the place of his profile photo. All his posts disappeared and instead a single post read, ‘this page has been shut down for creating criminal content’ and that the person who had engaged in the activity ‘has been dealt with.’ A person close to Bana Motejaded said the Revolutionary Guards interrogated the men for hours. He said they were blindfolded, beaten, threatened with legal action and forced to sign a pledge that they would never again sing and dance in public. He said Bana Motejaded was detained and accused of instigating against the government. News of the arrests spread like wildfire fueling outrage. People posted angry messages on social media accusing the government of being at war with happiness. People mobilised, filming themselves dancing to the song, mimicking Bana Motejaded’s moves. They called it the ‘happiness campaign.’ The government retreated. The police denied Bana Motejaded was ever even arrested. They resurrected his Instagram page with all its previous posts. He now has close to a million followers and is hailed by many Iranians as a national hero who inadvertently sparked a renewed call for change.