Drawing on both qualitative ethnographic fieldwork and experimental evidence from a survey using Facebook social networks, this paper examines collective action among first movers and their networks during the ArabSpring protests in Morocco. It finds that the regime’s efforts to police, suppress, and arrest political dissidents encouraged participation in or support for new protests. Specifically, the paper makes two arguments. First, it shows that activism is passed down from one generation to the next: the first movers in 2011 often came from families that suffered past human rights violations at the hands of the regime. A family history of repression increases a person’s willingness to engage in risky collective action. Second, it finds that repression during the Arab Spring was also counterproductive; information about the regime’s efforts to brutally police protests increased support for protest among first movers and their social networks. A regime that abuses its citizens’ human rights by jailing and attacking protestors creates incentives for its citizens to oppose it; these abuses can come back to haunt the regime long after repression occurs.