Much has been written about 17-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, and hopefully much will be for as long as people are writing. But her greatness is summarized in one seemingly small story, from a year ago:
The teenager who became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize Friday told President Barack Obama at a White House meeting last year that she worried about the effect of U.S. drone strikes.
The Taliban tried to blow her brains out. If anyone in the world has a seeming right to want such theocratic extremists to be bombed into oblivion, it is Malala Yousafzai. But she is above that. She soars.
“I thanked President Obama for the United States’ work in supporting education in Pakistan and Afghanistan and for Syrian refugees,” she said in the statement. “I also expressed my concerns that drone attacks are fueling terrorism. Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people. If we refocus efforts on education it will make a big impact.”
Her work on education and women’s rights was cited by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which also emphasized the peaceful nature of the protests led by her co-winner, Kailash Satyarthi:
Showing great personal courage, Kailash Satyarthi, maintaining Gandhi’s tradition, has headed various forms of protests and demonstrations, all peaceful, focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain. He has also contributed to the development of important international conventions on children’s rights.
Despite her youth, Malala Yousafzai has already fought for several years for the right of girls to education, and has shown by example that children and young people, too, can contribute to improving their own situations. This she has done under the most dangerous circumstances. Through her heroic struggle she has become a leading spokesperson for girls’ rights to education.
The Nobel Committee regards it as an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism. Many other individuals and institutions in the international community have also contributed. It has been calculated that there are 168 million child labourers around the world today. In 2000 the figure was 78 million higher. The world has come closer to the goal of eliminating child labour.
At great personal risk in the face of the most violent extremism, both Yousafzai and Satyarthi lead by example.
It isn’t only the specifics of the cause, it is just as much how that cause is pursued. Extremism cannot be stopped by killing people. It can be stopped by ensuring that all people everywhere are able to enjoy their fundamental rights as human beings. It can be stopped by ensuring that all people everywhere have full access to education and opportunity.
