Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai ・ 120cm x 90cm ・ Acrylic on Canvas
“Education is the only solution. Education first.”
„Bildung ist die einzige Lösung. Bildung steht an erster Stelle.“
The Pakistani child rights activist is the youngest Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and UN Ambassador for Peace of all time. In 2009, at the age of eleven, Malala Yousafzai began campaigning for the educational rights of girls in her homeland. Since 2007, the Taliban had seized power over the Swat Valley in the north-west of the country. During this time, they had refused girls rights to go to school, forbade them from listening to music and from entering public spaces without concealing their appearance with a veil.In search of an affected student for a blog diary, the BBC turned to headmaster Ziauddin Yousafzai, who suggested his daughter Malala. From then on she reported under the pseudonym “Gul Makai” (Inspired by the heroine of a Pakhtun folktale) about her everyday life under the terror regime and achieved worldwide renown. When her pseudonym was revealed two years later, the young activist was targeted by the Taliban. On October 9, 2012, she was victim of an assassination attempt. Whilst riding the bus home after taking an exam in Swat Valley, supporters of the radical Islamists stormed the bus and shot the then 15-year-old in the neck and head at close range. Malala Yousafzai survived but was seriously injured. She became an international symbol for freedom and education. Now Malala lives in Great Britain with her family.