Veils and double veils. Cimbalini and tambourines. Corsages and anklets. If there is a secret that still hides in deep Egypt, and has always frightened the official one, it is not terrorism. From Napoleon to Mubarak, from the Muslim Brotherhood to Al Sisi, sooner or later every owner of Cairo has to deal with the beaded masquerades of the belly dance. With what it means in sexual allusion. With what frees in moments of repression. All to type in raqs al-sharqi, the keywords of the oriental dance, and go with the belly button in the wind. The latest case explodes on TikTok, the Chinese platform, and concerns one of the most famous and expert dancers: Samia Ahmed Attia Abdel Raman, aka Sama al-Masry, 44 years old, arrested on April 23 and sentenced yesterday to three years in prison, plus three more with the obligation to sign and a 16 thousand euro fine, for a video “that incites debauchery and immorality”. All jail that will be done: Al Sisi is on the line of the Trump administration and of Europe and has decided that this TikTok is a threat, a subtle form of penetration, and a punishment for the dancer will set an example.
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Dance I’ll post. At one time, there were 5,000 Egyptian belly professionals on the Nile. Today in the resorts and large hotels the Russian or Brazilian women are depopulated, who are not good alike, but have less problems with religion and tradition. Sama is one of the few true still on the square. And in addition to the navel, it can move the tongue and tongue well mouse: seven years ago, when Morsi’s Islamists ruled, he ended up in trouble for a video that mocked the Muslim veil. And the following year, he ended up in prison for another sketch on the president of Zamalek, the sacred cairota soccer team that no one can name in vain.
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This time, the matter is more serious and Sama defends herself by saying that someone has stolen her account and released those private videos. The charges range from obscene acts to incitement to prostitution, but it has to do with the tightening of lives that the regime is imposing on those who go too much on the Chinese social network: a few days before she ended up in a university student, Hanin Hossam, who always on TikTok would have paid her classmates to film themselves with some freedom. “There is a big difference between freedom and debauchery,” the denunciation of a traditionalist MP, John Talaat: “With the videos posted, the boys are destroying the values of the family and violating our Constitution”.
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Al Sisi’s war on TikTok has robust banks. Because its billion downloaded videos – wanted by the Chinese in 2018 to reach generation X from 13 years of age, used 60% by teenagers, now widespread in 150 countries and in 75 languages - more than Instagram and Whatsapp is becoming the medium ultra-fast to convey seemingly innocent dances & songs and, at the same time, to stir the censorship of regimes and the suspicions of democratic governments. China was the first to erase sensitive topics such as Tiananmen, Tibet or the Falun Gong religious sect. But only a few days ago in Georgia, USA, it was necessary to intervene on children who sent racist videos. And a network of pedophiles has been found in Germany. The issues of identity theft (the same that Sama denounces) or the expropriation of personal data are also now a sensitive issue. “Traditional societies such as the Egyptian one are struggling to accept changes in this technology,” says Enessar Al-Said, a historic human rights advocate in Cairo. Closed in the prison of the most feared opponents, Sama’s macabre dance has only just begun. And his TikTok account was immediately deactivated.
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June 29, 2020 (change June 29, 2020 | 12:36)
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