“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 was born.”
The young pakistani Malala Yousafzai used these words to open the speech she gave to a delegation of 500 students at the United Nations General Assembly on 12 July 2013. This is how she celebrated her sixteenth birthday, describing the most terrible and crucial experience of her life: a group of Taliban gunmen shot her in the face as she rode home on a bus after school on 9 October 2012.
The scars of this violence, that can still be seen in her crooked smile and in her left drooping eyelid, became completely invisible thanks to the strength of words, pronounced slowly, as if they were being carved in stone by those who spoke.
The story of this humble and extraordinary girl is described in the autobiographical book “I am Malala“, written in collaboration with the British journalist Christina Lamb. The sequence of events of the Yousafzai family and the sociopolitical context in Pakistan between 1947 and 2013 repeatedly blend in the narrative: this conflicting relation is the reason that made Sir Ziauddin and her daughter Malala fight for the right to education against the cruelty perpetuated by Taliban in the swat valley starting from 2007.
The most disturbing thing in Malala’s story is the devious procedure the terrorists used to take office not only in the government, but also in the heart, mind (and wallet!) of many compatriots that identified them as guardians of religious traditions, promoters of a new social order, right just because of Allah’s will. An order where men are obligated to have long beard and wear trousers short enough to bare their ankles; an order where women must cover themselves entirely, including face and palms, an order where they can’t go out unless accompanied by a male family member and must take care of their home and children exclusively; an order where little girls can’t go to school to not sully their families; an order where art, music, dance, games and any kind of entertainment are forbidden. All in all, an order that punishes someone’s mistakes with torture, threat and death.
Nothing could be further from the real truth of God written in the Qur’an and preached by the prophet Muhammad. Yet, Taliban religious manipulation brainwashed the weakest minds, taking advantage of their ignorance and fear.
In a similar context, where the government and the army seem to not notice these dangerous attacks on democracy, something happens and it has got the characteristics of a revolutionary act: the willpower of a teacher that leads the construction and management of new school and who knocks with his daughter at every house of the country so that the families allow their children to study. Something even more disturbing is a cheeky girl that goes on tv or takes an active part in an assembly without covering her face and writes a diary online under a pseudonym to let the world know her commitment to education and to the fight against the vilenesses committed by the Taliban.
“Our founding father, Jinnah, used to say: “No struggle can ever succeed without women participating side by side with men. There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a great competition and rivalry between the two. There is a third power stronger than both, that of the women.”
Malala’s life personifies the power of women, she has the ability to establish a profitable dialogue between the new and the grounding values of an ancient culture she feels guardian of and proud supporter. She has been accused of “westernization” of mindset and islamic values by the extremists, but it actually is an attempt to bring up all the problems that have been underestimated or ignored by the international community. The education issue is indeed one of the most urgent and it requires a collective commitment.
“Let us pick up our books and our pens, they are the most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.”
Thanks to the many tv appearances and her speeches in important demonstrations after the assassination attempt, Malala’s cause received support from politicians, show business and ordinary people reunited in “Malala Fund”, a NPO that promotes the right to education for every girl.
Though, the reality that this story forces us to face, has revived discussion – unfortunately bitter – of our academic system , which is affected by a very deep crisis. It doesn’t even seem true that there are people in some areas of the world who are denied to get to know it, explore nature, know history, express themselves through art. We take all this things for granted and maybe we don’t even appreciate them enough.
In our country we dismissed in bureaucracy the heritage of Beauty that the school is supposed to show the students, making them generating it just as much. Unenthusiastic students, unmotivated teachers, universities with limited enrollment, axed subjects, unstable buildings: rather than clichés, these are different aspects of an educational system that struggles to function because its matters are not considered urgent.
In Pakistan schools are being destroyed and blown-up, students and teachers are getting killed, while families that pull their daughters from school are being rewarded.
We can’t afford to understand the value of what we have just when we lose it or when we have it denied. It would be too late.
This is why we should keep repeating the words Malala used to end her speech at the United Nations:
“Education is the only solution. Education, first.”
