Media and learning democracy: The face of emerging political activism in Egypt

Abstract

Abstract Popular protests erupted in Egypt at the start of the second decade of the twentyfirst century, inspired by similar uprisings in the Arab world. The formation of political parties following the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak allowed a variety of Islamist actors to enter the political field with relative ease. Youth activists and groups employed bottom-up activism in a process that Larbi Sadiki has described to be ‘democratic learning’. In this article, I will explore the process through which Egyptian political actors, from an Islamist background, learnt democracy in a local context. Democracy is understood here in a decentred fashion: it is not necessarily tied to the institutional structures of the modern state. I shall examine Hizb al-Tayyar al-Masry (Egyptian Current Party) between 2011 and 2013 supplemented by other displays of democratic collective agency in the examples of Hizb Misr al-Qawiyya (Strong Egyptian Party) and al-Thawra Mustamirra (The Revolution Continues) alliance. I will explore how the forms of media practices deployed by activists were a key component of a broader revolutionary strategy of civic mobilization. An emerging generation of political activism based on inclusiveness and participation was evident in media practices at the grassroots and party-political levels.