“Being a girl is a heavy crime and tonight I want to curse my creator for creating me so
that I can be so miserable and humiliated No words can express my anger after tonight Goodbye
life.”- Sakina Sama, an afghan student after the Taliban has reportedly banned girls from
attending primary school in Afghanistan.(guardian). The Taliban's opposition to the education of
girls is one of the most tragic issues that the victims of the Taliban face. It's pertinent that people
speak on these tragedies, and bring to the attention of the public and the powerful. People like
Malala Yousafzai understand this call for change, like when she talked about her purpose in her
Nobel Acceptance speech, when the attention of the world was on her. In her Nobel acceptance
speech, Malala Yousafzai’s purpose to persuade people in power to help powerless people who
don't have education is informed by the Taliban eradicating education in south Asia and the
distorted message hardline Islamist groups are preaching in the name of Islam.
Malala's speech was heavily influenced by the events happening in the world, particularly
the situation happening in her home country of pakistan where access to education was limited,
usually exclusively to girls and children. She mentions this point in her speech when she says; “It
is time to take action so it becomes the last time, the last time, so it becomes the last time that we
see a child deprived of education.”(Malala 2014). In this quote, Malala states that her purpose is
to ‘take action’ and reinforce education for all children. She wants to persuade the politicians,
governments, and people who can make a difference to stop the injustice that's happening in
places like her home country Pakistan. She talks about injustices like this because she has
witnessed them firsthand, and understands what it's like to be deprived of something that should
be a right.
Furthermore, Malala highlights the impact and conflict on terrorism on the education of
children around the world. She spoke about the misinformation these islamic extremists were
spreading; “We could not just stand by and see those injustices of the terrorists denying our
rights, ruthlessly killing people and misusing the name of Islam.” (Malala 2014). Malala says
‘we’ as in her and her peers from Pakistan, Africa, places where Islamic extremist have
terrorized countries and deprived women and children to the right of education. Malala is a
devoted muslim woman who sees the corruption that terrorist groups such as Boko Haram and
the Taliban are spreading in the name of Islam, and she disproves their deceptive claims by
accentuating her purpose to prove them wrong.
Malala's speech was strongly influenced by the situation happening in Pakistan, however,
her message was broader than just the situation in Pakistan and spoke to the universal right to
education and the importance of education for all children, regardless of their gender or
circumstances.