Courtesy of the YouTube site:
Malala Yousafzai speaks for the first time since was targeted and shot in October 2012 for her advocacy on behalf of girls' education. Malala announced the creation of the Malala Fund, which supports the right to education for children across the world. Vital Voices established the Fund on behalf of Malala and her family, working together with supporters of the cause including the United Nations Foundation and Girl Up, and within a community of supportive organizations and individuals, to realize Malala's vision of education for all girls. MalalaFund.org
Malala was also recently nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Her life as an activist is really only just beginning, and I cannot help but imagine great things to come from this incredibly brave young woman.
Someday historians will write about the end of the Taliban. I would not be surprised if little credit was given to American bullets and bombs, and that in the end the credit for their demise was identified by one simple name....Malala.
Poll: Guns Could Drive Women from GOP in 2014
ReplyDeleteGOP’s Obsession With Guns Stands To Drive Women Vote In The 2014 Election: Poll
Women who don’t usually vote in midterm elections — the same women who generally drive Democratic victories — will turn out in 2014 over the issue of guns, according to a recent poll.
The survey released by Women Donors Network, a self-described progressive “community of women philanthropists,” found that a subset of women voters who usually don’t vote in midterm elections are more likely to vote in 2014 on the issue of gun violence.
That echoes what former Rep. Steve LaTourette (OH), now a militant moderate leader in the Republican Party, said on Tuesday when he cautioned his party against sticking too close to the National Rifle Association in the post-Newtown legislative push to reduce gun violence. If the GOP is seen as being in the pocket of the NRA, he said, it could cost the party big with women in future elections.
The survey, which was conducted by Democratic pollster Diane Feldman and Republican pollster Bob Carpenter using live phone calls to 1,500 women, found that “women who may not ordinarily vote in a non-presidential year are among those most engaged with issues of gun violence.” The group also posted a PDF slide deck presenting the poll’s findings.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/women-guns-2014-poll.php?ref=fpa
I’m brave, but that girl puts me in the shade.
ReplyDeleteBear with me Gryphen; God bless Malala Yousafzai.
Yes, I think the Scandinavians will do it (Nobel Peace Prize). Scandinavians have faults, but they recognize soaring (?) nobility; I’m stumped for a better word.
what a sweet girl. I hope that she gets the prize and I hope that her life and the lives of the girls she is advocating for surpass their wildest dreams.
ReplyDeleteI can't help but compare the Taliban to the Christian Fundamentalists -- both way off in the fringe. What really shocks me is that grown men in the Taliban are so frightened of a 14 year-old girl, they will murder her if they can. Are they so very insecure in their beliefs and masculinity that their have to murder young, teen-age girls to maintain the self-image and violent hold over the area? What an incredible bunch of wusses and wimps! I hope Malala kicks kicks their butts!
ReplyDelete"I want every girl, every child to be educated". And she took a bullet to the head for this simple wish. I'm so very proud of this young lady! Her family, her country, the world should be as well.
ReplyDeleteShe's doing remarkably well, this video was taken shortly after she went through cranial surgery, amazing!!!!
We take so much for granted. Education, indoor plumbing, central heating, air conditioning, electricity, plentiful quality food and clean water. Would we adults be as brave as this child?
When I heard that Malala was shot, but survived, I earnestly hoped that should would at least be able to regain conciousness.
ReplyDeleteThat she can now speak out (in a language not her native one) is nothing short of a miracle.
I'm so pleased she is able to continue on with her life and mission.
I did find it rather telling that not ONE PROMINENT CHRISTIAN LEADER IN THE USA made any statement publicly supporting her cause, wishing her well,
or even deploring what happened.
Even the more "moderate" evangelicals did not mention her, or offer up a prayer for this young, brave woman.
Why wouldn't they want to want to support a Muslim child who just wanted freedom and education?
Would speaking out in support somehow hurt their image as religious leader, or imply that they were less "Christian" if they mentioned this publicly because she was brought up as a Muslim?
To their eternal shame I still don't find any mention in the press in support of Malala from the "great" leaders of the evangelical community in American
This speaks LOUDLY about their selfish hypocrisy, utter blindness, and xenophobic inner life.
If Christians were true to their faith, they would see in this innocent face, someone who was beloved by their God, and cherished as an only daughter.
I guess if your daughter, or your friend's daughter gets shot in the face, she'd better be a Christian if she wants anyone to support her , help her out, or pray for her.
Words fail me in trying to express the sorrow, contempt, and bewilderment I have in thinking about the religious fanatics of this world OF ALL STRIPES who are so blind that they don't see in this story a person of true courage and vision.
As an atheist, I offer up a prayer to the cosmos that maybe in 1000 years, humans will have evolved to the point where religion is a thing of the past,
and it's viewed the same way we think of slavery or racial prejudice