Overview

Making state crime visible through acts of documentation, resistance and memory has become one of the defining struggles of the digital age. Focusing on Egypt’s Mosireen Collective, this book examines how citizens mobilised digital technologies to expose repression during and after the 2011 revolution. Mosireen’s videos spread rapidly, countering official propaganda while bearing witness to police brutality, torture, mass killings and the wider machinery of state violence, including judicial abuse. Their project, 858: An Archive of Resistance, launched in 2018, endures as one of the most extensive collections of revolutionary footage worldwide. Through Mosireen’s practice, this book shows how civil society responds when states commit crimes with impunity. It demonstrates how digital archives can function as counter-forensic tools: making violence visible, preserving memory and sustaining resistance even in the face of authoritarian resurgence. Drawing on theories of state crime, civil resistance and visual activism, it situates Mosireen within wider debates about power, accountability and the politics of evidence. Bringing together criminology, political analysis and media research, the study reveals how visual culture becomes a site of struggle when law and institutions fail to protect citizens. It offers a powerful contribution to understanding state crime in the digital age and the role of activist media in resisting authoritarian violence. This book will appeal to students and scholars of criminology, political science and media and cultural studies. It will also be of interest to human rights practitioners, NGOs, civil society organisations, archivists and activists documenting state violence and sustaining resistance.

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9781041005599

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Reviews

State Crime, Digital Technology and Civil Resistance is a powerful account of how the Mosireen Collective used media to expose repression and preserve revolutionary memory. Saeb Kasm weaves together theory and lived struggle to show how digital resistance challenges authoritarianism and sustains the fight for justice. Hossam el-Hamalawy, activist scholar of the Egyptian military and policing A wonderful tribute to the Egyptian Revolution and its many martyrs, and an astute analysis of the legacy of Mosireen, the most active, fearless, innovative and consequential collective to be born during that turbulent period of history. Mona Baker, Affiliate Professor, University of Oslo, Norway; Editor of Translating Dissent: Voices From and With the Egyptian Revolution This book takes the burgeoning field of state crime studies and blasts it into the stratosphere of publicly crucial scholarship. For those who witnessed Mosireen in action during the revolutionary period, it's impossible not to see it as a well-spring for today's creative activism around the Gaza genocide. Kasm's detailed, sensitive accounting of its courageous unmasking of the post-2011 Egyptian state is a signal addition to scholarship on the Arab Spring, and the present struggles against global authoritarianism. Mark LeVine, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, University of California, Irvine In State Crime, Digital Technology and Civil Resistance, Saeb Kasm carefully traces the strategies and impact of the Mosireen Collective in making visible authoritarian practices in post-2011 Egypt. Blending digital ethnography, visual analysis, and framing theory, the book offers powerful insights on digital activism and accountability. With the global rise of authoritarianism, this contribution is especially timely and significant. Anita Gohdes, Professor of International and Cyber Security, Hertie School, Berlin; Author of Repression in the Digital Age Saeb Kasm’s powerful work captures and confronts a critical moment in the development of citizen journalism. This book, focusing on the heart of the Arab Spring in Egypt, engages directly with those courageous young voices who reported and documented state violence, civil uprising and the repression it elicited. Beautifully written and meticulously researched, Kasm’s book is a testament to the spirit of truth and the power of civil society to deliver that truth. Penny Green, Professor of Law and Globalisation, Queen Mary University of London; Director, International State Crime Initiative

Author Information

Saeb Kasm is Lecturer in Criminology at Arden University. He holds a PhD from Queen Mary University of London, where he was a researcher at the International State Crime Initiative. His research focuses on state crime, digital resistance and the role of visual culture and archives in resisting authoritarian violence.

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