Thursday, February 18, 2016

Weekly Report 2

What an amazing gift it is to have open access to education in your country without having to worry about the threat of violence in response to such a noble endeavor. I study philosophy and what some of the best-known philosophers are so known for is their willingness to speak against power. It is however rather easy to imagine an eloquent, well-educated person doing this that is of age. But imagine doing this as 15-year-old girl against a powerful extremist group, willing to resort to violence. This is the very heroic act that moved the Taliban to vote to kill Malala Yousafzai, a young girl from Pakistan with a fierce commitment to the education of all people; particularly women.
On October 9, 2012, masked men boarded a bus that contained Malala and several of her friends on the way home from school. The men asked for her by name and as she presented herself, they shot her in the head. She was transferred to a hospital in England that specialized in military injuries to recover, where her family would join her. This crime shocked her home country and the world and this led to two million people signing a “right to education” petition causing the government to ratify a right guaranteeing a right to education.  What violent extremists meant to silence a movement caused by a brave young woman ignited a global movement of support for women’s education.
In a world in which Arab culture has been wrongly portrayed as extremist across the board, Malala and those like her show the true heart of Arab culture; a culture that in history, led the world in education and intellectual advancement. This also displays the true nature of Islam in its dedication to the equality of people. Malala was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace on December 10, 2014. She now rightly sits among those individuals honored for the advancement of humanity through education and peace.





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