Malala Yousafzai: From Pakistan to the World

Pakistani activist was the youngest person who won Novel Peace Prize, in 2014, only 17 years old

February, 2016

“If your intention is to stop terrorism, do not blame the entire Muslim population, it is not what will stop the terrorists." That was the message sent by the young Malala Yousafzai to the Republican candidate for the presidency of the United States Donald Trump, after he declared in a press conference on the attack that killed 14 people and wounded 17 in San Bernardino, California, that “Muslims should be banned from the country until the authorities investigate other possible terrorist acts”. Only 18 years old, Malala already has a lot of authority when it comes to advocacy and combating religious and political extremism, having herself been the victim of an attack that almost took his life. She argues that "what religious extremists terrorized as the Taliban are no tanks or bombs or bullets American, is a girl with a book.”

Pakistani activist, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 – and the youngest person to receive it – Malala Yousafza is a symbol for her country and the world on fight for the right of all children to education. Since young, she accompanies her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai educator, events and interviews to defend the cause. Because of this, Malala was the target of an assassination attempt by members of the extremist group Taliban in his homeland, in the Swat Valley, on October 9, 2012. She and two friends were hit within the transport that took them to other colleagues and school teachers to their homes. “A Taliban fired three shots at point blank range in three girls and did not kill any of them. It seems an unlikely story, and say that my recovery was miraculous. (...) God prevented me to go to the grave. I have a feeling that this is a second life”, Malala says in her autobiographical book “I Am Malala” (2013), written in co-authorship with the British journalist Christina Lamb and published in Brazil by Companhia das Letras.

Malala Yousafzai is also the protagonist of the documentary “He Named Me Malala” (2015), which focus on her daily routine with her family, their origins and their work through the Malala Fund, non-profit organization co-founded by activist and his father to build schools in many poor regions of the world, beginning with Swat and Shangla, Pakistan, where Malala was born and raised. "My father is an example to all fathers and men in general. If we want equality, men must fight and support those who seek this equality. We need to walk together”, said Malala in a recent interview.

Her name is a tribute to Malalai of Maiwand (19th century), the “Joan ofArc” of the Pashtun ethnic group, which Malala belongs to, and also the major heroin from neighboring country, Afghanistan. Although his paternal grandfather find very sad name with meaning of “grief, suffering”, Malala is proud of her name. “I loved [Malalai] and loved listening to the songs he [her father, Ziauddin] sang to me and the way my name floated to the wind when someone called him”, he tells Malala in another section of his book.

Currently, the Yousafzai family – Ziauddin, his wife Toor Pekai, Malala and her younger siblings, Kushal and Atal – live in Birmingham, England, where Malala was taken to recover from the shot that nearly took his life. The documentary, directed by award-winning Davis Guggenheim (“An Inconvenient Truth”, 2006), shows the new routine in foreign territory of a girl who dreams of returning to their land, but can not because of threats to their life. It shows the love of a father for his daughter, and his struggle to that she had the right to education. And above all, the film tells the story of a girl who dreams of a better future for all children.

Meeting of two mutual admirers

As part of the publicity of the documentary, Malala was interviewed by the British actress Emma Watson, official spokeswoman of the campaign for gender equality HeForShe (“ElesPorElas” as it is called in Brazil), the United Nations (UN) during the opening into Film Festival in London on November, 2015: “how do you feel about having their story told in the film and displayed to thousands of young people today as part of the festival?”, asked Watson. “It is somewhat interesting, I do not like to see me in TV, I can not even hear my voice”, said Yousafzai. “But once the film was ready and I watched, I inspired the way Davis Guggenheim led the story animation and read the message of education around the world, and the commitment it with that call.” Malala hopes this project's “message is spread and inspire more people to do something, not just watch the movie.”

The two young women also talked about Feminism, until then a touchy subject for Malala. “The word feminism is a bit difficult. When I first heard, I heard negative and few positive connotations. I had questions to define me or not as a feminist. But then I heard your speech, you say ‘if not now, when? If not me, who?’, I realized that there is no harm in defining myself as a feminist. So yes, I am a feminist and we all should be because the word feminism is another word for equality”, said Malala, referring to the speech made by Emma Watson as Goodwill Ambassador of UN Women invites all men and women to participate HeForShe the campaign in New York on September 20, 2014.

The actress posted the full video conversation on social networks with over 35,000 shares on Facebook and over 300,000 views on YouTube. “Today I met Malala. She was generous, absolutely gracious, friendly and intelligent. This may seem obvious, but I was even more impressed with it personally. (...) She has the strength of his convictions, along with the kind of determination that I rarely encounter... and that seems to have been diminished by the success she has had. And finally... She has a sense of zen / quiet / peace (please insert your word here) around him”, wrote Emma Watson admiringly in your post.

Education for everyone

Offscreen and inside her home Malala Yousafzai is also an inspiration. In August 2015, her mother Toor Pekai spoke publicly for the first time that she went back to school to learn to read and write - and who is tormented incessantly for Malala to do the homework. “I love it so much I like reading, writing and learning, but when I get home and they [the teachers] gave me homework, I put my bag in the corner -. I say I can not be bothered”, she laughed. “But then Malala comes home and asks ‘where is your bag, have you done your homework,’ and I say ‘Oh, it's a bit difficult’”, said Toor Pekai to the public at the event Women Into The World, in London.

In 2014, Malala won the Nobel Peace Prize, along with fellow Indian human rights and education activist Kailash Satyarthi. This was the second indication of the young international award. The first was in 2012, shortly after the Taliban attack. However, the award was given to the European Union. In his acceptance speech at the Nobel ceremony in Oslo, Norway, on October 10, 2014, Malala said that the award is not only her, but “the forgotten children who want education. It is of frightened children who want peace. It is the children without right to express who want change. I am here to affirm their rights, give them a voice.” Malala also said that this is no time to mourn for the children, but the “time to act, to be the last time we see a child without the right to education”. It also allocated to Malala Fund to his half of the prize 1 million dollars of the Nobel Foundation.

This is a small part of the work at the international level that has been done by Malala since 2013, mainly with the United Nations. On August 18, 2015, Malala Yousafzai joined 193 young people from around the world holding blue lanterns on Sustainable Development Summit of the UN General Assembly calling for world leaders to put universal education as a priority. This is the same request she made on 12 July 2013, his sixteenth birthday, date named Malala Day. Using veil and pink clothes (her favorite color), the activist called on all governments to ensure free compulsory education for all children of the world and to fight against terrorism and violence, protecting children from the brutality and danger. “A child, a teacher, a pen and a book can change the world. Education is the only solution. Education first of all is the message she left for all. What about the attack on his life”, Malala said: “I also do not hate the Taliban who shot me. Even if I had a gun and he was in front of me, do not shoot him. This is the compassion I learned from Muhammad, Jesus Christ and Buddha, changing inheritance I received from Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.”