Gihan Ibrahim

Gihan "Gigi" Ibrahim
Gigi Ibrahim during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011
Born	Gihan Ibrahim (1986-12-02) 2 December 1986 Long Beach, California, USA
Residence	Cairo, Egypt
Alma mater	American University in Cairo
Known for	activism in the Egyptian Revolution of 2011
Political party	Revolutionary Socialists

Gihan Ibrahim (Egyptian Arabic: چيهان إبراهيم, IPA: [ʒiˈhæːn ebɾɑˈhiːm]), nicknamed Gigi (چيچى, [ˈʒiːʒi]), 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 of 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 ... [i]t was their power that made the revolution."

She is a graduate from the American University in Cairo where she earned a political science degree. Gigi also attended Orange Coast College in California. Prior to university, Gigi has had no direct links to the workers protests and opposition movements that had previously been occurring in Egypt. It was a lecture on "Social Mobilization under Authoritarian Regimes", where Hossam el-Hamalawy was a guest speaker, that provided her with insight about activism in Egypt. The contact with el-Hamalawy, a member of the Revolutionary Socialists, led her to decide to join the movement.

Aside from Time, she has also appeared in Frontline, BBC, Al Jazeera and The Daily Show.

Gigi was featured in a documentary by award-winning journalist Inigo Gilmore. This production, following her from the earliest days of the revolution, looks at her life not just in Tahrir Square, but also at home, commenting on the reserved view many upper middle class Egyptians initially took against the revolution. The documentary "Gigi's revolution" was aired on the PBS Network in the USA.

She is critical of other Egyptian youth activists such as Wael Ghonim, who called on protesters to go home after Mubarak had ceded some power but refused to step down as president.

See also

• Revolutionary Socialists
• Asmaa Mahfouz
• Israa Abdel Fattah
• George Ishak
• Ahmed Ghanem
• Wael Ghonim
• Mona Seif

External links

• Gigi's Revolution by Inigo Gilmore
• Gigi Ibrahim's blog
• Gihan Ibrahim on Flickr
• Gigi Ibrahim on Al Jazeera
• Gigi Ibrahim's interview on The Daily Show
• Gigi's Revolution by Inigo Gilmore on Public Broadcasting Service
• Fear No More: Power of the People interview by Phil England in New Internationalist