Malala Power
Sixteen-year-old Malala Yousafzai will be formally presented the 50,000 euro ($65,000) Sakharov Prize for free speech by the European Parliament in November.
Seldom does a teenager of this mettle come along, that too from a conservative society, who pockets Europe’s top human rights award, wins a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, has an audience with Queen Elizabeth II, rubs shoulders with US President Barrack Obama and first lady Michelle at the White House on the International Day of the Girl, addresses the United Nations and is slotted to be the guest of honour at the first public meeting of the Global Citizenship Commission in Edinburgh which discussed global developments since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was passed in 1948.
While awarding the prize, Members of the European Parliament described Malala as “incredibly brave’ to continue promoting the rights of children and President Martin Schulz said the prize “acknowledged the incredible strength of this young woman”.
In fact, her first public speech in September 2008, was titled “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to an education?” which was a shockingly brave title for a speech delivered by a young girl. When all girls’ schools in the Swat Valley were shut by the Taliban in January 2009, she dared to write a blog for BBC’s Urdu channel under the pseudonym ‘Gul Makai’, a folklore heroine. When her identity was revealed her family was threatened and finally she was shot in the head while in a school bus by a Taliban gunman.
Against the backdrop of an extremely conservative society, which is not too supportive of girls’ education due to return of ultra orthodoxy in Pakistan, in 2011 Malala told CNN, “I have the right of education. I have the right to play. I have the right to sing. I have the right to talk.”
Her bravery has put her in the league of distinguished list of Sakharov Prize winners ~South Africa’s Nelson Mandela and Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi. Malala received a standing ovation in July this year for a truly inspiring and unbelievably mature address to the United Nations General Assembly, in which she vowed she would never be silenced.
Being voted one of the world’s 100 most influential people, and enjoying celebrity status, Malala could have played a good guest to her distinguished hosts. But Malala has been outspoken both to the Queen and to Barack Obama. She told the Queen that she hears that not all children in Britian have access to education and they should work together to afford this opportunity to all. She even challenged Obama over American drone attacks on her homeland, saying that they risk “fueling terrorism” and that US efforts would be better focused on promoting education, according to a statement she released.
Malala has not only been a brave advocate for children’s education but a brave ambassador of the truth, of free speech, of telling those in power the urgency and primacy of human rights and human development over their own perceived interests of state. Her extreme bravery in facing up to terrorists, and nearly dying in the process, should inspire not only the youth, but everyone, to stand up to the moral police, to the thought police and those working overtime to change the plural fabric of society in Goa and in India with sectarian and divisive agendas, akin to the Taliban. Malala should be an example to administrators not to collude with the corrupt and stand by integrity.
Malala, who has expressed her firm resolve to one day become the Prime Minister of Pakistan despite having lived through one assassination attempt and having known the fate of Benazir Bhutto and the army-dominated politics of Pakistan, should be an inspiration to politicians to be fiercely committed to quality and value-based education, because this is the only way to usher in a just, safe, plural, minimal-crime society which respects the rights of all individuals.
