MALALA FINALLY WINS!
The youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize winner is from the sixth-most populous country in the world i.e. our very own Pakistan! In a world fast bracing it's self for youngest-ever self-made millionaires and start-up tycoons (and some guy called Zuckerberg), we have done our bit by adding a spirited girl who will be the voice of global social change and access to education for time to come. And with one of the largest youth ‘bulges’ in the world - 35% of pop. is aged 15 or under according to UNICEF and 47% of the 84 million registered voters are aged between 18-35 and we lag behind on every education/ employment paradigm - it will be the right incentive to all young people to aim higher amidst adversity, scorn, suspicion, a few attacks by pissed-off terrorists and colorful zingers by fellow countrymen & women.
It could not have come at a better time either. Yes, last year media created this false sense of euphoria for a win that never materialized and this year, they were all a bit unusually quiet once she had, but make no mistake, Malala has made more than history. She has given a sense of accomplishment to an undeserving country that is hell-bent on making news for bad stuff and embarrassing itself on international stage than for anything constructive. After a year of blanket coverage to Taliban-apologists, political supporters and downright beheading experts from the militias, a land made holy by shaming it’s women than sending them to school, and a people more comforted by the antagonizing words of angry bearded soothsayers than say, a female human rights lawyer by the name of Asma Jehangir, this girl stands proud and it makes me proud as hell to be a Pakistani because of it!
Success in any field is a tricky thing. It involves personal effort, choices and experiences that lead one to succeed in any given profession. That line, ‘some are born great, some achieve greatness and others have greatness thrust upon them’ is true. Mozart was cool from the get-go (composing at age 5!). Imran Khan perfected his game (practice, practice) and Mandela chose the road less traveled by. With Malala, there has been a convergence of factors beyond her control with what she was destined to be all along. She was a bright confident girl from the most backward areas in Pakistan and the hawkishly conservative tribal KPK, who got shot by Enemy of the West and survived an injury that technically should have killed her on the spot if not for heavy loss of blood. She went abroad and was given a platform by countries used to giving platforms to ‘newsworthy’ people for furthering global developmental goals. Her rise to fame (and money) is phenomenal but it is based on character and luck. And she has used that privilege for something good - universal education for all and rights of children. And she has her whole life ahead of her to accomplish the symbol she’s come to represent.
It was this symbol that got Obamas to see her instead of our elected PM on his first visit to U.S. last year! In a capitalistic world where women are objectified, branded and sold on skewed perceptions, where anyone can make easy money off anything (Kardashian sex tape millions, Cyrus on a ball, marrying a Royal or Feudal, Big Brother, committing blasphemy / controversy) and a western sub-culture that gratifies 'famous for being famous' this girl has stayed focussed and dreamt big. Right after the announcement she thanked her father for ‘not clipping my wings’. Well, she needn’t worry. Millions of Pakistanis not used to praise of any sort will gladly do it for her!
Awards are always controversial and subjective. They are a strange mix of uniqueness of work, popularity of an individual and the awarding authority’s need to feel good about it’s self. Oscars became redundant a long time ago but the glamorous sizzle is still there - our own Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy won for documentary film on acid-attack survivors, ‘Saving Face’ in 2013. Ayesha Omar cannot sing to save her life but that has not stopped her from winning a Lux Style Award for Best Female Singer and getting the Cola advert simply on the strength of the hit comedy series she’s a vital part of! Even NPP has been accused of playing favorites, politics or downright racism in choosing winners. Ofcourse Obama did not deserve it nine months into his Presidency and Kissinger certainly absolutely irrevocably did not. But then many recipients of Pride of Performance by GoP did not either.
Five of the last 12 Nobel Peace Prize winners are Muslim. The important thing to gloat over is that one of our own has been felicitated. And she is only 17 which gives Pakistanis plenty of time to grow up to the idea!
Her entire Amanpour interview:
http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0...
And my cover story from 2012, right after the attack on this braveheart’s life :)
http://pique.pk/a-girl-versus-a-militia/
It could not have come at a better time either. Yes, last year media created this false sense of euphoria for a win that never materialized and this year, they were all a bit unusually quiet once she had, but make no mistake, Malala has made more than history. She has given a sense of accomplishment to an undeserving country that is hell-bent on making news for bad stuff and embarrassing itself on international stage than for anything constructive. After a year of blanket coverage to Taliban-apologists, political supporters and downright beheading experts from the militias, a land made holy by shaming it’s women than sending them to school, and a people more comforted by the antagonizing words of angry bearded soothsayers than say, a female human rights lawyer by the name of Asma Jehangir, this girl stands proud and it makes me proud as hell to be a Pakistani because of it!
Success in any field is a tricky thing. It involves personal effort, choices and experiences that lead one to succeed in any given profession. That line, ‘some are born great, some achieve greatness and others have greatness thrust upon them’ is true. Mozart was cool from the get-go (composing at age 5!). Imran Khan perfected his game (practice, practice) and Mandela chose the road less traveled by. With Malala, there has been a convergence of factors beyond her control with what she was destined to be all along. She was a bright confident girl from the most backward areas in Pakistan and the hawkishly conservative tribal KPK, who got shot by Enemy of the West and survived an injury that technically should have killed her on the spot if not for heavy loss of blood. She went abroad and was given a platform by countries used to giving platforms to ‘newsworthy’ people for furthering global developmental goals. Her rise to fame (and money) is phenomenal but it is based on character and luck. And she has used that privilege for something good - universal education for all and rights of children. And she has her whole life ahead of her to accomplish the symbol she’s come to represent.
It was this symbol that got Obamas to see her instead of our elected PM on his first visit to U.S. last year! In a capitalistic world where women are objectified, branded and sold on skewed perceptions, where anyone can make easy money off anything (Kardashian sex tape millions, Cyrus on a ball, marrying a Royal or Feudal, Big Brother, committing blasphemy / controversy) and a western sub-culture that gratifies 'famous for being famous' this girl has stayed focussed and dreamt big. Right after the announcement she thanked her father for ‘not clipping my wings’. Well, she needn’t worry. Millions of Pakistanis not used to praise of any sort will gladly do it for her!
Awards are always controversial and subjective. They are a strange mix of uniqueness of work, popularity of an individual and the awarding authority’s need to feel good about it’s self. Oscars became redundant a long time ago but the glamorous sizzle is still there - our own Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy won for documentary film on acid-attack survivors, ‘Saving Face’ in 2013. Ayesha Omar cannot sing to save her life but that has not stopped her from winning a Lux Style Award for Best Female Singer and getting the Cola advert simply on the strength of the hit comedy series she’s a vital part of! Even NPP has been accused of playing favorites, politics or downright racism in choosing winners. Ofcourse Obama did not deserve it nine months into his Presidency and Kissinger certainly absolutely irrevocably did not. But then many recipients of Pride of Performance by GoP did not either.
Five of the last 12 Nobel Peace Prize winners are Muslim. The important thing to gloat over is that one of our own has been felicitated. And she is only 17 which gives Pakistanis plenty of time to grow up to the idea!
Her entire Amanpour interview:
http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0...
And my cover story from 2012, right after the attack on this braveheart’s life :)
http://pique.pk/a-girl-versus-a-militia/
date
newest »
newest »
Numbnuts: All Pakistan Private Schools Federation (APPSF), the association that represents 173,000 private schools, releases ‘I am not Malala, I am a Muslim, I am a Pakistani’:http://nation.com.pk/editors-picks/11...
http://tribune.com.pk/story/989876/i-...
The author of the book is APPSF president, Mirza Kashif Ali.
http://www.gwu.edu/i-am-malala-curric...
Interestingly, for a group read (in Bookworm Bitches: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...) when I bought my copy of the book (called 'Malala' Malala: The Girl Who Stood up for Education and Changed the World) from a local bookstore here in Islamabad, the co-author name was Patricia McCormick and the edition was the one published by Indigo in 2014 (division of Orion Publishing Group) and was being sold in Pakistan through hatchtte India (Indian books cost less in Pakistan than U.S./ British releases)
Christina Lamb version is not available (!)