Preface
Malala Yousfzai received the Noble Peace Prize this year with Kailash Satyarthi at the age of 17. I heard and had read about her in the news 2 years ago when she was shot in the head by a Taliban member. She is an epitome of education, women, child rights and every progressive ideas related to Women Empowerment. When she was shot, I was in the final year of Engineering. That incident moved the Whole world (including me), so I got ‘inspired by her and got carried away with her story’. I had some long and muliple conversations with my friends about how great she is at such a young age and everything related to her life. But gradually, the motivation vaporized and we got back to our normal lives, until today, when she is again in the news for being the youngest Noble Peace Prize winner. So, this time, I chose not to let the motivation fade away and to read everything about her and write a Blog on her expecting to know ‘What could be the reasons by which a 17 year old girl could win a Noble Prize’. I was curious because I know exactly what I did when I was a teen. Let’s just say that ‘I was exactly the opposite’. And here she was, getting the highest honour a person can get Internationally. I wondered what could be the driving force behind such a great journey. Generally, in India a 17 year old is supposed to choose between the 3 Universal Options for his career – Medicine, Engineering and ‘Ityadi’ (In English it means ‘The Rest’). Getting a Noble is not even in our Agenda.
As usual, I read many news and articles about her tryst with education, how she was shot, her UN speech etc. Every Article had the same things, essentially. But that information was insufficient for the questions I had in my mind. Then I came across her memoir ‘I Am Malala’. After reading the book, I got the answers to all my Questions.
I have tried to comprehend some Untold and Unnoticed things which I did not find in news or reviews, but are the aspects of Malala’s life that everyone should know (irrespective of the fact the you may or may not have read the book).
The essence of ‘Who Malala is’ lies not in her life after people started knowing her when she started her tryst with education, but the constant struggle she and her family fought years before nobody even knew ‘Who she was’.
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Social, Economic, Political, and Cultural Factors
Before reading them, think about their relevance in your lives. You will find that most of the aspects of the following is the conditions in which we all were brought up.
Cultural
- India and Pakistan share the same cultural background.
- Presence of Islam, Buddhism, Extremism, Radical ideas, Idea of God etc. were the offshoots of the long history of Indian Civilization right from the Indus Valley Civilization upto the Freedom Struggle from British and Indo-Pak wars.
- There was misinterpretation of Holy books which is the social reality in most of the regions because of which some section of the society tend to get influenced by the psuedo-intellectual thoughts and resort to regressive ways of Terrorism, violence etc.
Socio – Economic
- She was born and brought up in a patriarchal society which lacked or had rare propagation of radical ideas.
- Albeit the society (in general) had the dominance of regressive ideas of inequality, class conflicts, gender supremacy, she belonged to a progressive lower middle class family who believed in equality, significance of education of a girl and were open to radical change.
- The global events of 9/11 led to the formation of Taliban in Afghanistan and consequently Pakistan and had the consequences in Pakistan and Afghanistan as well. The gradual impact was that people were exposed to the ideological band ranging from the progressive ideas of Secularism, Socialism, Non Violence to regressive ideas of Feudalism, Extremism, Violence etc.
Political
- I think the Political scenario of the world has many cliched aspects.
- A responsible Government which the goals of bringing Equality, Fraternity, Secularism, Fundamental Rights.
- The anti-government elements were Militant Nationalists who wanted to bring anarchy and implement their social laws.
- This ideological battle was turned into political battle between the Army and the Militant Nationalists.
- The similar situation is faced by Indian government i.e. Terrorism in J&K, Naxalism in Chota Nagpur Plateau, Regionalism, Liguism, Religious Conflicts.
- The government (like every other political scenario) was unstable, inefficient , lacked Employment Opportunities, No Skill Development.
You would realize that most of the things mentioned here are in some form or the other similar to conditions in which most of us have grown up. There can be many things that can be added in the above factors, I’ll add them gradually.
Evolution of Taliban in the Swat Valley (Can be read as a generalized concept)
- Taliban has it’s roots in the word ‘Talib’ which literally means ‘A Religious Student’. But their discourse in the history led to an infamous group now known as ‘Taliban’.
- Society (in general) legitimizes a regime only when they feel that the interests of the people is being addressed by the respective regime. And once the evil regime is legitimized, it initially has a pro-reform agenda. And gradually, in the name of reform, it imposes all the interpretation that the regime thinks is in the interest of the people. They would interpret the issues in their way and expect the same from their people or would impose on them (irrespective of what people think). That is what Taliban initially did.
- There was an Earthquake in the Swat Valley some years ago. This ‘Earthquake’ according to me, was the turning point in the history of the World. Many lives have been claimed by the Earthquake. The people in their bad times would naturally resort to their Government. But the government was not able to effectively address their issues due to lack of governance, co-ordination, inefficiency, leakages in the implementation of relief measures. These disadvantages of the government was converted into the golden opportunity for the Taliban. Now, one of the welfare measures provided by local NGOs, SHGs etc. was the Welfare wing of Taliban. They set up relief camps, provided food, money etc. Now, naturally people will legitimize and will trust the people who were with them at their bad times. And this was the masterstroke played by them.
- Similar situation can be experienced in India as well. Let’s not go deep into that otherwise I’ll have to write the whole night then 😉 .
- They set up their own Radio Station. This was an another masterstroke strategy by Taliban. Radio Station have the largest coverage in the remote areas. Plus nobody can see who they are talking to – this will conceal the identity of the accused.
- Such ideas (for them) would be easy to propagate in the regions where the society (in general) are illiterate, ignorant, backward, lack of technology, has many regressive elements of inequality, gender supremacy etc. Thus, they were able to propagate their ideas to the masses. The society considered them as the right interpreters of Quran and thus accepted their ideas.
- Gradually, they started Talibanization. Talibanization essentially means imposing their ideology to people. They evolved their ideology at the cost of wrong interpretation of Quran to fulfill their personal interests. But Islam does not say anything that they propagated.
- Islam prohibits killing. It recognizes equal opportunities for everyone (irrespective of caste, sex, gender, class). It does not say that Women is an inferior gender and that she should sit at home, should not be educated. Infact, in ‘I am Malala’, she said that “The first wife of The Prophet was a businesswomen, 15 years older than him and she was remarried.” Taliban propagated the ideas that were against the basic tenets of Islam.
- They uninstalled TV, dance and the activities of technological development (only weapons were upgraded). They stopped education of girls. They literally blew up almost 400 schools. Malala says that ‘She understood the significance of education, the day when she was deprived of it’. They disoriented some sections of the youth to join them in fulfilling their interpretation of Jihad.
- According to Wikipedia, though, ‘Jihad’ has wider definitions. Many observers—both Muslim and non-Muslim—talk of jihad having two meanings: an inner spiritual struggle—the “greater jihad”; and an outer physical struggle against the enemies of Islam—the “lesser jihad”—which may take a violent or non-violent form.
But the anti-social elements of the society intentionally propagate the misinterpreted and distorted version of the Holy books. And We, the normal people without questioning accept the things said by them by thinking that they know better than us. But, the youth who are brainwashed and disoriented by them lack the basic virtue of ‘Rationality’.
This signifies the impact of Rationality, Ignorance, Illiteracy and Interpretation in our lives. And the basic solution to all these problems lies in
‘Education’.
She was aware of these aspects of the milieu from a very tender age. And this could not be possible without her Parents.
Ziauddin Yousafzai – Her Father
The essence of Malala lies not only in her struggle with Taliban or Education, but also in Ziauddin’s struggle in his life.
It was he (in the first place), a radical, enlightened and progressive person because of which Malala was exposed to his ideas and contemporary situations at such a young age. Being an education activist, he fought for education of girls, misinterpretation of Quran, gender equality, he gave importance to the power of reason. He stood up against all odds and created a strong base for her daughter to carry on the struggle what he was fighting from the last 20 years. Not many know, but there was a time when he wanted to be a jihadi (I wonder what could have been the course of history then), but he chose a progressive path, defying all the regressive ideas. It was his progressive attitude that was visible in Malala.
Just watch the video of Ziauddin Yousafzai speaking @ Ted. You will see the power behind Malala.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4mmeN8gv9o
The support behind both Malala and her Father is definitely her mother. She was essentially traditional, but realized the significance of education and the fight for it that her family was involved in. She was the most important pillar which kept everyone in her family integrated.
The Power of Writing (Or Blogging) accompanied with Social Media
Both are one of the most powerful weapon in this era of globalization. Malala used to write a blog in Urdu for BBC (Yes! The Doordarshan of London 😉 ). She used the pen name ‘Gul Makai’ to conceal her identity (BBC wanted a girl from the Swat valley to write the ground reality of the people of Swat Valley. She was inspired by ‘The Diary of A Young Girl’ by Anne Frank and was supposed to write in that direction). She wrote whatever happened in the valley. By doing this, she could consolidate her thoughts and opinion effectively. These things may have been a factor in moulding the moral character of her personality. Such is the power of writing.
The social media, helped her propagate what she wrote and gave her a medium to connect with the whole world. There is a documentary made by New York times on the backdrop of when the Taliban gave the ultimate deadline for Ziauddin to close his school – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbSO2akmKtM. Such is the power of social media. We can deduce that ‘Social Media’ does not necessarily mean that you have to be a journalist or in the media industry. Each and every person connected to the social world through Internet, FB, Google, Radio, Newspaper, etc. constitutes the Social Media. Naturally We, The People are ‘The Power of Media’ in disguise.
Conclusion
No or Improper Education leads to Ignorance and Illiteracy. This leads to an individual (or society) being dependent on some other person (A Religious Leader, A Politician, An administrator). The leader then interprets and guides the people to follow a path. Interpretation can go wrong, there is no issue in that. The real issue is accepting every single thing without providing any rationale to it. One should should have the ability to Question back. The negative elements of the society exploit this lack of rationality. The misinterpretation is thus, misused by them for their ‘so called’ personal gains. And thus starts the Loop of Terrorism, violence, inequality in our patriarchal society, honour/dowry killings, pre-natal deaths, killing of a new born girl, Rape, misinterpretation of Geeta, Quran or Bible, superstitions.
One of the basic solution to all these anti social activities which can be sorted out at the individual level is Education. This may be the most effective solution too. She knew it’s significance and she fought for it.
But then I wonder, that we all know the solution to our social problems. What may be the unique aspect of her personality that made her the Peace symbol of the world. According to me, It is ‘Her Will’.
The Will to Change and to be that Change
- She questioned about the plight of women and had the will to change it.
- She stood against the misinterpretation of Quran and read the Quran by herself interpreting and propagating the correct essence of Quran.
- She became the voice of all the Women out there who are struggling in some way or the other this regressive social norm of the society.
- She had the will to learn and not just to score.
- She had the will to change the convention.
By reading this Article many would have felt the relevance of one aspect or the other with their own lives. Most of the problems and their solutions in our society are intellectually and ideologically the same (with some material changes). We know it too. The point is ‘Do we have the Will to implement the solution’?
She had it.
She will continue to be an inspiration to the Whole world, irrespective of the gender, class, race, religion. She is an Idea Worth Spreading.
P. S. – Please suggest some improvements regarding my write up, if any.
Hi everyone. 