Malala Has Critics at Home

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

Read it on NYT

 

What is her contribution?” asked Khursheed Dada, a worker with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which governs Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, including Swat.

 

That cynicism was echoed this week across Pakistan, where conspiracy-minded citizens loudly branded Ms. Yousafzai a C.I.A. agent, part of a nebulous Western plot to humiliate their country and pressure their government.

 

Muhammad Asim, a student standing outside the gates of Punjab University in the eastern city of Lahore, dismissed the Taliban attack on Ms. Yousafzai as a made-for-TV drama. “How can a girl survive after being shot in the head?” he asked. “It doesn’t make sense.”

 

The reaction seemed to stem from different places: sensitivity at Western hectoring, a confused narrative about the Taliban and a sense of resentment or downright jealousy.

 

In Swat, some critics accused Ms. Yousafzai’s father, Ziauddin, of using his precocious daughter to drum up publicity and of maligning Pashtun culture. Others said the intense publicity had cast their district in a negative light, overshadowing the good work of other Pakistanis in education.

 

Dilshad Begum, the district education officer for Swat, said that 14,000 girls and 17,000 boys had recently started school after an intensive door-to-door enrollment campaign led by local teachers. The threat from the Taliban was exaggerated, she added.

 

“I have been working for female education for 25 years, and never received a threat,” she said.

 

Even fellow students seemed to resent the recognition Ms. Yousafzai has received. At another school, a group of female students, assembled by their headmaster, agreed that Ms. Yousafzai did not deserve a Nobel Prize.

 

“Malala is not the only role model for Pakistani girls,” said Kainat Ali, 16, who wore a black burqa.

[GaraadMon]

Libaax-Sankataabte;981656 wrote:

Muhammad Asim, a student standing outside the gates of Punjab University in the eastern city of Lahore, dismissed the Taliban attack on Ms. Yousafzai as a made-for-TV drama. “How can a girl survive after being shot in the head?” he asked. “It doesn’t make sense.”

How did this guy, in a country of 170+ million people, get accepted in to Pakistan's top university?

[nuune]

^^ He worked hard to get the required points to get into the said university, something you have failed to achieve while sitting in your higher school exam back 2009 in Prague!

[Alpha Blondy]

MALALA YOUSAFZAI AND THE WHITE SAVIOUR COMPLEX

 

October 8, 2013

by Assed Baig

 

An edit of this article was first published on the Huffington Post website

 

When Malala Yusufzai was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen simply because she wanted to gain an education it sent shockwaves around the world.

 

The Western media took up the issue, Western politicians and the public spoke out and soon she found herself in the UK. The way in which the West reacted made me question the reasons and motives behind why Malala’s case was taken up and not so many others.

 

There is no justifying the brutal actions of the Taliban or the denial of the universal right to education, however there is a deeper more historic narrative that is taking place here.

 

This is a story of a native girl being saved by the white man. Flown to the UK, the Western world can feel good about itself as they save the native woman from the savage men of her home nation. It is a historic racist narrative that has been institutionalised. Journalists and politicians were falling over themselves to report and comment on the case. The story of an innocent brown child that was shot by savages for demanding an education and along comes the knight in shining armour to save her.

 

The actions of the West, the bombings, the occupations the wars all seem justified now, “see, we told you, this is why we intervene to save the natives.”

 

The truth is that there are hundreds and thousands of other Malalas. They come from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other places in the world. Many are victims of the West, but we conveniently forget about those as Western journalists and politicians fall over themselves to appease their white-middle class guilt also known as the white man’s burden.

 

Gordon Brown stood at the UN and spoke words in support for Malala, yet he is the very same Gordon Brown that voted for the war in Iraq that not only robbed people of their education but of their lives. The same journalists that failed to question or report on the Western wars in an intelligible manner now sing the praises of the West as they back Malala and her campaign without putting it in context of the war in Afghanistan and the destabalisation of the region thanks in large part to the Western occupation of Afghanistan.

 

 

Malala’s message is true, it is profound, it is something the world needs to take note of; education is a right of every child, but Malala has been used as a tool by the West. It allows countries like Britain to hide their sins in Afghanistan and Iraq. It allows journalists to report a feel good story whilst they neglect so many others, like the American drone strikes that terrorise men, women and children in Pakistan’s border regions. US drones ‘causing mental trauma’ in Pakistan (Aljazeera)

 

The current narrative continues the demonization of the non-white Muslim man. Painting him as a savage, someone beyond negotiating with, beyond engaging with, the only way to deal with this kind of savage is to wage war, occupy and use drones against them. NATO is bombing to save girls like Malala is the message here.

 

You have to understand the Arab mind,” Capt. Todd Brown, a company commander with the Fourth Infantry Division, said as he stood outside the gates of Abu Hishma. “The only thing they understand is force — force, pride and saving face.

 

New York Times, December 7, 2003.

 

This racist, dehumanizing and imperialist understanding of the Eastern world is more than rampant in the West and its armed forces: It’s ingrained. This type of thinking has been applied to Central and South Asia as well. ~ Mehreen Kasana

 

Historically the West has always used women to justify the actions of war mongering men. It is in the imagery, it is in art, in education, it is even prevalent in Western human rights organisations, Amnesty International’s poster campaign coinciding with the NATO summit in New York encouraged NATO to ‘keep the progress going!’ in Afghanistan.

 

Shazia Ramzan and Kainat Riaz were also shot along with Malala, the media and politicians seem to have forgotten about them. Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi - how many of the Western politicians and journalists know about this name? She was the 14-year-old girl gang raped by five US soldiers, then her and her family, including her six-year-old sister were murdered. There are no days named after her, no mentions of her at the UN, and we don’t see Gordon Brown pledging his name to her cause.

 

Family members describe Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi as tall for her age, skinny, but not eye-catchingly beautiful. As one of her uncles put it, “She was an ordinary girl.” So perhaps it was sheer proximity that made the 15-year-old so tantalizing. Her house was less than 1,000 ft. from a U.S. military checkpoint just outside the Iraqi town of Mahmudiyah, and soldiers manning the gate started stopping by just to look at her. A Soldier’s Shame

 

I support Malala, I support the right to education for all, I just cannot stand the hypocrisy of Western politicians and media as they pick and choose, congratulating themselves for something that they have caused. Malala is the good native, she does not criticise the West, she does not talk about the drone strikes, she is the perfect candidate for the white man to relieve his burden and save the native.

 

The Western savior complex has hijacked Malala’s message. The West has killed more girls than the Taliban have. The West has denied more girls an education via their missiles than the Taliban has by their bullets. The West has done more against education around the world than extremists could ever dream of. So, please, spare us the self-righteous and self-congratulatory message that is nothing more than propaganda that tells us that the West drops bombs to save girls like Malala

 

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http://mediadiversityuk.com/2013/10/08/malala-yousafzai-and-the-white-saviour-complex/

 

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interesting article worth reading.

[Hawdian]

malala what a nice name bless her heart shame on the bad people trying to

harm here. she got my vote for whatever shes running for

[Hawdian]

.

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

Great Job people of Pakistan, shot a little girl in the face for advocating for education tthen complain to the world that she is western spy

[Jacpher]

^Right all Pakistanis are in cohorts of shooting little girls in the face.

 

NOT.

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

don't it happen in Pakistan, it didn't happen on mar dude

[Jacpher]

^Right. A lots of stuff happens in the streets of Muqdisho and Nairobi that thousands of Somalis get asked about at the airports around the world. Now those things don't happened on Mars yet you don't hold yourself responsbile for them, you as a Somali? Why is that?

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

firstable I am not and are able hold anyone let a alone a country responsible for anything. Lets not assume things, my statement is one of disdain for a prevailing attitude in that country. lets be honest, a pin could drop in that place and it would be the fault of the west. As for Somalis, well i don't feel "responsible" but yes we do share an identity and what ever they do effects us all. I was shopping in supermarket one day 2008 in a quit suburb of Harrisburg PA when an elderly white lady asked me where I was from. I told her I was Somali and her firstresponse was where was her share of the booty. A none-Somali friend saw a review of captain phillips in the paper, the fool clipped it and brought it to me. So although I do not feel "responsible" for the actions of others, we do share national identity and if I was a Pakistani I would either shut the heck up or support the little girl that was shot in face in the name of not just my nationality but my religion. hope that helps

[ElPunto]

The article Alz posted have a lot of truth to them. But at the end of the day a mindset that thinks females can't be educated is something that should be fought in whatever way possible.

[Alpha Blondy]

Naxar Nugaaleed;981760 wrote:

firstable I am not and are able hold anyone let a alone a country responsible for anything. Lets not assume things, my statement is one of disdain for a prevailing attitude in that country. lets be honest, a pin could drop in that place and it would be the fault of the west. As for Somalis, well i don't feel "responsible" but yes we do share an identity and what ever they do effects us all. I was shopping in supermarket one day 2008 in a quit suburb of Harrisburg PA when an elderly white lady asked me where I was from. I told her I was Somali and her firstresponse was where was her share of the booty. A none-Somali friend saw a review of captain phillips in the paper, the fool clipped it and brought it to me. So although I do not feel "responsible" for the actions of others, we do share national identity and if I was a Pakistani I would either shut the heck up or support the little girl that was shot in face in the name of not just my nationality but my religion. hope that helps

this is not about one individual. it's not about what makes you "responsible" for the actions of others. there's a bigger issue here. today it's Malala, yesterday it was Waris Dirie and in 1945 it was about Anne Franks, abti. these tokenist females have been used time and again to convey particular messages. this sort of thing works.

[Jacpher]

Naxar Nugaaleed;981760 wrote:

firstable I am not and are able hold anyone let a alone a country responsible for anything. Lets not assume things, my statement is one of disdain for a prevailing attitude in that country. lets be honest, a pin could drop in that place and it would be the fault of the west. As for Somalis, well i don't feel "responsible" but yes we do share an identity and what ever they do effects us all. I was shopping in supermarket one day 2008 in a quit suburb of Harrisburg PA when an elderly white lady asked me where I was from. I told her I was Somali and her firstresponse was where was her share of the booty. A none-Somali friend saw a review of captain phillips in the paper, the fool clipped it and brought it to me. So although I do not feel "responsible" for the actions of others, we do share national identity and if I was a Pakistani I would either shut the heck up or support the little girl that was shot in face in the name of not just my nationality but my religion. hope that helps

The article didn't suggest the great people of Pakistan are in cohorts in shooting little girls in the face for going to schools. I thnk that was your suggestion. You can't have it your way man. If you gonna hold Pakistanis for the fck ups of the Taliban, may be you should hold the great people of Somalia including you for the evils of AS.

 

It seems the little girl in question understands the situation better than you. She said Taliban are very bad people but we should educate them too. She didn't say Taliban = Pakistan.

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

Sxb haygu mashquulin ee what's your opinion on the matter.

 

Alpha what is malala being used for and is that bad.