Photos and videos of Gigi Ibrahim, Egypt's revolutionary journalist

"Nobody can hijack our revolution"

Gigi Ibrahim (Arabic: جيجي ابراهيم‎) is an Egyptian journalist, blogger and socialist activist. She has been credited as being a part of a new generation of "citizen journalists" who document news events using social media. For this she was featured on a cover of Time magazine as "one of the leaders" of Tahrir Square during the Egyptian Revolution in 2011. Ibrahim however states, that while the internet was important for coordinating people in the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak, "it was the battles on the streets that were crucial... It was their power that made the revolution." She is a member of the Revolutionary Socialists and a graduate from the American University in Cairo[3] where she earned a political science degree.




Gigi Ibrahim - American University of Cairo student journalist



One of the most crucial citizen reporters in Cairo was 24-year-old Gigi Ibrahim, a major supporter of Egypt's Jasmine Revolution. Armed with little more than her Blackberry and a webcam, Ibrahim - who spent her high school years in California and recently earned a political science degree from the American University in Cairo - is on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Vimeo. She tweets and posts, shoots stills and video, all in an effort to chronicle the unrest.



In a Skype interview with The New York Times, Ibrahim said her role "is to be part of this wave of change. I tweet a lot while at the protests; I tell everybody the security situation, how many people are at protests. I'm trying to spread accurate information and paint a picture at the ground for people who aren't here, via Twitter and Facebook."



Ibrahim's smartphone lacks an Arabic keybord, but she said "a lot of my followers are from outside of Egypt. I want to try to use a language most everyone would understand. It's important for me to be a citizen journalist, because with our press here... not everything gets broadcast."







Videos of PBS Frontline interview with Gigi Ibrahim

Her family is part of the Egyptian elite, but 24-year-old Gigi Ibrahim says she's fighting for her country's future. With thousands following her Twitter feed, Gigi has become something of a celebrity in Cairo's Tahrir Square. In this video, we see her attempts to convince her family of the righteousness of her cause. But will they come around?