This paper seeks to discuss Islamist micro-mobilization in Egypt since 2000. It seeks to increase our overall understanding of activism under repression by looking at low-level activists’ explanatory narratives. The activists’ discourse is analytically divided so that one can discern how emotions, identities and beliefs are affected by repressive state policies. In order to contrast activists’ explanatory framework, the hosting social movement organization’s (the Muslim Brotherhood - MB) proposed strategies are also presented as a background for discussion. The vast majority of Islamist movement organizations are non-violent, and some are even prepared to work within the political structures set up by the ruling regimes (as the MB). It is therefore necessary to revisit theories of state repression and social movements in order to increase our understanding of activism under extreme conditions. What explains the religious revival and emergence of religiously based social activism in these societies? What leads some of people to engage in high-risk social activism? How do activists explain their decision to “get from the balcony down to the barricades?” How are everyday practices transformed into socio-political activism in repressive states? Lastly, the paper argues that social movement researchers have given little attention to (Islamist) social movement organizations active in repressive states. The process of (continuous) repression of social movement mobilization therefore supposedly have different implications for the activists’ lives than in the democratic societies where policing of protest events and other types of contentious displays is limited in scope, time and space.
