Malala Yousafzia... YOU ROCK!

 

Two days ago as I was watching the news, I came across CNN where I began watching about a young women and education activist named Malala Yousafzia, What was really so dangerous about this young teen girl, I wondered? What was all the controversy for? As I continued to watch, Malala was shot in the head and neck in an assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen while returning home on a school bus on October 9, 2012. Why this assassination was attempted? Because she is known for her activism for rights to education and for women, especially in the Swat Valley, where the Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school. Malala demonstrated undiminished bravery and defiance of the Taliban; have made the comparison yet more popular, even in parts of the media that do not normally encourage child warriors which was a shock to them.

And this is Malala, at the UN: "The terrorists thought they would change my aims and stop my ambitions, but nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage were born."

  

At age 12 Malala wrote a blog that was later on published for BBC News, her thoughts and expression about how she felt about Taliban’s banning girls from getting their education or them thinking only men should be educated lead to her assassination attempt to keep her silenced. Malala continued to fight for young women and their education after her recovery from the gunshot wound to her head and neck. Malala became a high profile activist which led to a lot of campaigns for the right for young women to access education facilities.

Since her October 9, 2012 attempted assassination Malala has gained global fame around the world and have written an autobiography which private schools banned in Pakistan because, they say, it disparages Islam.

There is of course the worry, though that all this fame and fawning might place too heavy a burden on Malala. She is, after all, a 16-year-old girl who, while remarkable, is still young. What’s more, with fresh threats issued by the Taliban, Malala’s promising life is still in danger and if she stays in the spotlight might remain so.

What is so dangerous about Malala Yousafzai, then? It is precisely what made her the subject of global attention. The Taliban shot a teenage girl for daring to defy their edicts on women and education but because she survived, the Taliban had provided her with the keys to the world stage. Now, Malala is a woman who will not be silenced, and to some that is very dangerous.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/10361054/Malala-Yousafzai-brings-fear-and-loathing-to-her-home-town.html

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/13/malala-protect-her-from-cult-status