Malala: The Revival of Nation, Mind, and Spirit
By Andrew Zhang, A&M Consolidated High School
Technologically sophisticated and modern schools, with running water, plumbing, and electricity to boot, are unfathomable for those living in the developing country of Pakistan. Here, education is plainly and simply a privilege. Learning seldom takes place in an ideal environment — classrooms take the form of any sort of object that can shield students from the elements, oftentimes objects like trees. Schooling and education in remote villages are oftentimes limited to individuals who have the resources needed to fund and education and believe that such intellectual education is integral to an individual’s development — two attributes that are seldom juxtaposed.
To make education more of a privilege in Pakistan is the Taliban, banning the education and schooling of young girls across the lands under which they have control. One woman, in particular, is famous for living in the midst of this education-depreciative culture — Malala Yousafzai.
While the murder attempt on her brought in the worldwide spotlight on her actions, Malala’s storied development as an activist began long before the treacherous act. She was born in a home in Northern Pakistan, her family unable to afford the hospital fees that came with having a baby. While she grew up, her parents continually stressed the importance of her having an education — her father oftentimes taught her himself.
Malala’s beginnings in educational activism were unknown to those around her; her activism stemmed from her role of anonymous blogging on BBC Urdu, where she explained in detail the suppressive conditions of under the reign of the Taliban. More specifically, she described the experiences she — a young girl — had while attempting to gain an education. During her early days of blogging, the Taliban issued an edict that banned the education of young girls in Swat — the region of Pakistan that the Taliban controlled in which Malala lived. In entry after entry, she painstakingly explained her oppression — documenting repeated nightmares of the Taliban attempting to kidnap her and powerlessly watching as the Taliban destroyed and shut down school after school. One of the most harrowing entries came on February 8, 2009, where she described wistfully staring at the tools of education that have been left unused:
I am sad watching my uniform, school bag and geometry box. I felt hurt on opening my wardrobe and seeing my uniform, school bag and geometry box. Boys’ schools are opening tomorrow. But the Taliban have banned girls’ education. (Yousafzai, Malala. “Moving”)
Eventually, the Taliban militants and the local government reached a peace deal, and accompanying the peace deal was the lifting of the educational edict, which allowed girls like Malala to go back to school. Malala accentuates that spirits appeared to be looking up, as “helicopters [didn’t] appear frequently” anymore and her and her classmates “played a lot in class and enjoyed” themselves as they did before the edict (Yousafzai, Malala. “Malala Yousafzai Full). While she soon stopped blogging, her social activism had only just begun.
Unfortunately, the social climate took a downward turn as the Taliban eventually retook Swat, forcing Malala and her family out of the region while violence ensued. During this period of turmoil, Malala was approached by New York Times journalist Adam B. Ellick, who produced alongside Irfan Ashraf a half-hour documentary on the perils of women under the reign of the Taliban. The film, “Class Dismissed,” contains cuts of videos filmed during the time, as well as the portrayal of Malala. This documentary, coupled with the Taliban’s oppressive control during the time, thrust Malala into unfortunate limelight. She received a multitude of threats against her life as a result of her newfound recognition. In her book, Malala details the grim atmosphere she lived in as a result of these looming threats.
We had been getting threats all year. Some were in the newspapers, some were notes or messages passed on by people. My mother was worried about me, but the Taliban had never come for a girl and I was more concerned they would target my father as he was always speaking out against them. (Yousafzai, Malala. I)
Her increasing recognition as an education activist women drew attention — she won the inaugural Pakistan Youth Peace Prize among many other recognitions. However, the attention was not all positive; as she became increasingly recognized, her risks of an encounter with the Taliban subsequently increased as well. The next major event in Malala’s life drastically changed her life, pushing her into the international spotlight.
On October 9, 2012, Malala had finished an exam over the formation of Pakistan and was pondering over her answers while she rode a van home with some of her friends. As they were en route home, the van passed through a road over a short hill, an area that usually teems with activity. While passing through, Malala noted the eerie emptiness and quietness of the scene. The short moment of serenity was broken when two men stepped onto the road and stopped the van and boarded it. “Who is Malala?” — the last words Malala heard before nothingness.
While in a coma from being shot, she underwent several surgeries and was flown from Pakistan to the United Kingdom. When she eventually woke from her coma, she had already become a household name as her story was talked about all over the globe. People took to Twitter and other social media platforms to disseminate their anger over the situation, which in turn brought much-needed international attention to the issue that Malala sought to bring change towards in the first place.
Just over two years later, Malala found herself in a very different situation: accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. In her acceptance speech, she illustrated her fundamental beliefs as a human and her dreams for the future of the world:
I really believe in peace. I really believe in tolerance and patience and it is very important for the progress of both countries that they have peace and they have good relationships. This is how they are going to achieve success and this is how they’re going to — they are going to progress. (Yousafzai, Malala. “Malala Yousafzai — Nobel”)
While she noted various failings of the world that she believes have the potential to change in her illustrious speech, her words, though shrouded in modesty, also bring to light many of her desirable characteristics — her uncompromising view on education and equality for all and her drive to accomplish that goal as well as her persistence in both aspects. Furthermore, her characteristics fulfill the generalized requirements of many glorified titles, that of a leader, revolutionary, and genius.
Even though she exhibits an unwavering persistence towards her core beliefs, she does so unyieldingly in her personal grace and humanity. This is exemplified in an interview she had with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show:
But then I said, ‘If he comes, what would you do Malala?’ then I would reply to myself, ‘Malala, just take a shoe and hit him.’ But then I said, ‘If you hit a Talib with your shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib. You must not treat others with cruelty and that much harshly, you must fight others but through peace and through dialogue and through education.’ (Yousafzai, Malala. Interview)
Malala recounts a moment in which she realized that she would not even attack the Talib, as doing so would make her no more justified than he is. She philosophizes peace and that true change can occur through productive dialogue and education. Malala’s ability to advocate for change while doing so in a manner of grace differentiates herself from many others who are at the helm of social change — she thinks critically and introspectively about all her actions, and how they could affect the message she attempts to spread.
Even under the threat of warfare and violence, she made an effort to go to school and learn every day, even as the number of her classmates attending dwindled. Today, her goal of education for all is emulated through the Malala Fund, an education foundation dedicated to making sure over 100 million girls around the world have access to 12 years of education. The foundation’s core philosophy lies in the story of Malala — “If one girl with an education can change the world, what can 130 million do?”
In an address she made to the United Nations nine months after the murder attempt on her, Malala gives a bit of insight to her view on the power of education and why she is so passionate about making sure everyone has this opportunity. She talks at length about the endless list of terrible happenings in the world — the attempts of the Taliban to oppress education by killing teachers and bombing schools, but also the war-torn environments of countries like Nigeria and Afghanistan — and calls upon world leaders to dedicate themselves to help solve these problems. To conclude her speech, she reiterates the only solution, the thing that she has fought for her entire life as an activist — education.
Malala’s insistence on the fundamental need of education and her perseverance in instilling and spreading education in young boys and girls across the world reveal the talents and abilities in her that can easily classify her as a genius. Beyond this classification, we can view Malala as a strong and empathetic leader, unwavering and true to her principles and beliefs of world peace and education, driving attention towards the lack of education where it — and change — is most needed.
Throughout her life and to this day, Malala asserts the life-changing nature and necessity of education. It has the ability to change the way you see the world, and how you perceive yourself. It allows Malala and her classmates to realize the truly harrowing nature of the Taliban, and anyone who acts to put barriers to education. It allows all humans to realize the change we have the ability to make when we use our voice. And it allows all humans to possess and develop this voice.
Without education, the world — the world fraught with violence and hate — will never have the ability to change. And without Malala, we would be multiple steps behind a goal of spreading this education to all.
Bibliography
Ellick, Adam B. “Documenting a Pakistani Girl’s Transformation.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Oct. 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/world/asia/the-making-of-Malala.html?pagewanted=all.
“Genius.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2011. Web. 7 March 2018.
Yousafzai, Malala. I AM MALALA: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2014.
— -. Interview by Jon Stewart. The Daily Show. Comedy Central. 10 Oct. 2013. Television.
— -. “Learning for 12 Years. Leading without Fear.” The Malala Fund, www.malala.org/.
— -. “Malala Yousafzai Full Diary For BBC (Gul Makai).” Malala Yousafzai Blog, 27 Oct. 2012, www.malala-yousafzai.com/2012/10/Malala-Diary-for-BBC.html.
— -. “Malala Yousafzai — Nobel Lecture.” Nobel Prize, 10 Dec. 2014, www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2014/yousafzai-lecture_en.html.
— -. “Moving Moments from Malala’s BBC Diary.” BBC News, BBC, 10 Oct. 2014, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-29565738.
