Tag Archives: Malala

Malala – Reception

16 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Pakistan, Regions

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“I Am Malala (Official Music Video)”

Fasten your seat belt!

Politics has found its way back to music and the Information Flyway has just brought you the kick-off of “The Malala Generation”.

Bourgeoisie in a great way, brave, concerned, inclusive, intellectual, liberal, progressive . . . .

Of course, not everyone likes that.

Ignoring the text of her speech, which spoke out for the rights of girls and women and implored world leaders to choose peace instead of war, the naysayers tore down the young woman, her father, and Western nations for supporting her in her quest for education.

Shah, Bina.  “The Malala backlash.”  Dawn, July 16, 2013.

Nonetheless, to reach back for the drift, last October, the BBC ran the header, “Malala Yousafzai will ‘inspire a new generation,” and you wish it could set you right on the ponies too.

As a young Canadian, I admire her. Only 19-years-old myself, I’ve been lucky to have seen some amazing and eloquent speakers in the past, including both Bill and Hilary Clinton and the former Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. Nonetheless, speaking just after the UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon, Malala resolutely took the stand. Not a single of those mentioned could even touch the inspiration coming from this girl from Pakistan.

Khan, Jaxson.  “What a young Canadian heard when Malala spoke.”  The Nation, July 16, 2013.

Additional Reference

Arnoldy, Ben.  “The Malala moment: 6 Pakistani views on the girl shot by the Taliban.”  The Christian Science Monitor, October 15, 2012.

Gulf Times.  “Malala effect sparks courage in villagers.”  July 13, 2013.

Khan, Sara.  “Malala’s struggle for equality resonates with British Muslim women in the UK.”  Inspire, October 19, 2012:

Malala’s refusal to climb down in the face of death threats from the Taliban not only challenged their gender based discrimination, but broke the ancient code of silence (the ‘shut up and put up’ code) enforced upon girls. Despite the danger, she refused to be unvoiced. Malala demonstrated that nothing is more powerful and influential against the misogynistic and extremist narrative of the Taliban than the voice of a young girl.

Khan, Sarah.  “Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif spearheads hate campaign against Malala Yousafzai.”  Let Us Build Pakistan, July 13, 2013.

Kay, Marylou.  “Malala: The uplifting brand of a young world leader (Video). Examiner, July 15, 2013.

NPR.  “Malala: How a Young Girl Became a World Symbol.”  Interview with Celeste Headlee hosting, Vanity Fair writer-at-large Marie Brenner, and Malala and Ziauddin Yousafzai, April 18, 2013.

Siddiqui, Fazeela.  “10 Muslim Women Every Person Should Know.”  The Huffington Post, March 24, 2012.  While Malala is not (yet) a part of Siddizui’s listings, the notables mentioned may be illuminating along similar lines.

Spiegel Online Staff.  “Girl Rising: Malala Fires Up a New Generation.”  Spiegel Online, July 12, 2013.

Strochlic, Nina.  “Malala’s Pakistan By The Numbers.” Women in the World, The Daily Beast, July 14, 2013:

7: how many times more that Pakistan invests in military spending than in primary schooling. This coming fiscal year, Pakistan has increased its defense budget by 15 percent, to $6.4 billion, while education spending has decreased from 2.6-to 2.3-percent of GNP over the past decade. Only seven other developing countries in the world spend less than Pakistan does on education.

Walker, Rusty.  “Why is There Increasing Criticism for Malala Yousafzai, and so Little Support for her Cause in Pakistan?”  Let Us Build Pakistan, July 15, 2013.

Zaman, Qurratulain.  “Teen Activist Malala Yousafzai Impresses UN, Polarizes Pakistan.”  Global Voices, English, July 14, 2013.

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Posted to YouTube March 19, 2013:

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Make of the juxtaposition what you will!

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Ziauddin Yousafzai, Malala’s Father, Speaks to the Press

26 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Fast News Share, Islamic Small Wars, Pakistan

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” . . . and I’ll say that, of course, an attacker, who could be called the agent of Satan, he attacked, but after that I found angels on all my side, everywhere, all around me to this time and this place.”

I’m not editing videos (yet), but here I’m also not entertaining so much.

Malala’s story has had a profound impact on Pakistan’s perspective on itself and attitude toward its extremists.  If by itself the tragedy proves less than pivotal, it will nonetheless feed into the weighing of justice and choices in commitments to values in whatever happens next.

BCDN – BackChannels News Day

23 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by in BCND - BackChannels News Day

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I have shared a reading log through “delicious” for a while, but with this blog I’m inclined to try posting each day, or for every few days, a rolling list of articles, the kind of thing I had intended for the “Fast News Share (FNS) category.  This seems like it might be less disruptive to the blog as well as more pleasant for the reader stopping by in his own newsy meandering through the conflict arena and related subjects.  –jso

Possibly intended to assure or incite westerners in the MEMRI fashion, Quradhawi is telling a story about political and sectarian Islam without fully comprehending the post-WWII arrangements that today have Syria’s nuts — seriously as well as every possible pun intended — in a vice.

Posted by MEMRI, October 15, 2012.

In the post-WWII world, Syria has been Russia’s client and buffer for decades, and the mixed bag of a revolution in Syria has threatened to bring Russia and NATO into conflict.  Recognizing that, both have agreed to stand off while Russia fulfills its contractual obligations with the Assad regime (for economic and military support) and the United States, probably most unhappy with this state of affairs, fears Turkey tugging on its leash to drag into a war in which it has little interest.

Within Islam in the middle east, large rivalries defined as Shia vs.  Sunni and Arab vs. Turkish vs. Iranian (I’m not going to endorse the morally hideous regime there by linking it with “Persian”, even though that is what it wants) will keep blood flowing in Syria because there is no solution to the kinds of problems combatants (from the dictator to the shia to the sunni to the Turk, the Arab, and the Iranian) have in their heads.

War in Syria involves the power of language and promises expressed.

One — to be clear, everyone — would inherit their power by family or ethnic or sectarian assignation, not by building the same painstakingly on good business and good deeds all around.

Interfering with transformation: the locked down mind cultivated by multiple literary clerical bodies insulated from criticism through a haut posturing developed to reject  the same out of hand.

The video was sourced as a reblog via Counter-Jihad Report, then back to Creeping Sharia and forward to an AFP article in The Nation — “Russian Troops Kill 49 Militants in Massive Sweep”.

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The assassination of Malala’s character – By ROB L. WAGNER – Monday, 22 October 2012

Well, the Malala Yousufzai backlash took all of … five minutes. The outpouring of shock and outrage over the Taleban’s attempted assassination of the teenager who advocated for girls education has been replaced with a campaign of character assassination and conspiracy theories.

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Farewell to Afghanistan, with sadness and affection

A Times correspondent ending a three-year assignment reflects on the fears and horrors, but also on the beauty and people that will make her miss Afghanistan.

By Laura King, Los Angeles Times
October 22, 2012, 5:04 p.m.
KABUL, Afghanistan — After years of comings and goings, almost everything about leaving Kabul is familiar: the ride through dusty dawn streets, skirting past old men on bicycles and boys in horse-drawn carts, the long airport trudge through four luggage screenings and pat-downs, the way the plane’s wingtips seem to almost scrape the jagged peaks surrounding the city.

Everything is the same — but the knowledge that this is the last time.

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Dying for education in the Swat valley – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper

16 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by in Fast News Share

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“I first traveled to the Swat valley, home of Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, the victim of a Taliban assassination attempt, when I was a girl of seven, with my Pakistani father. I recently returned there this spring under the protection of Pakistan’s Rangers in the Northwest Frontier Corps. The valley was just as beautiful as my vivid childhood memories had remembered, reminiscent of the Scottish Highlands; I immediately understood the stories of Churchill’s entrancement by the area. Only later I discovered that my paternal grandmother had been born in a village three hours from here. These were my people. I was theirs.

But the Swat valley of today is known better for its violence and intimidation rather than its landscapes. . . .  (more) — Dying for education in the Swat valley – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.