After a recent string of short sighted awards (Obama, The EU, and last years UN Syrian Inspectors) today the Nobel Prize Committee awarded two brave people who have articulated strong principles about educating women in the sub continent and overcoming religious extremism.
The first is the well known activist Malala Yousafzai, the noted anti-Taliban activist promoting the education of young girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She was shot in the head by the Taliban, but survived her wounds and was apparently in a chem lab when she heard the news. At 17 she is the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner in history. I find her story incredibly heartening along wife her unfailing courage to stand up for what she believes in.
At a private reception in her honor at the White House, she had the courage to tell the President that his drone policy was wrong, created more terrorists, and that ‘war will never solve war’. In another interview when asked if she feared the Taliban she said she is afraid of tigers and ghosts, not the Taliban. If they attacked her, she said, it is her that they are afraid of-not the other way around.
Kailash Satyarthi is a 60 year old Indian children’s rights activist. Although India is the world’s largest democracy, patriarchy and vestiges of the caste have created massive inequality that has led to the sale and exploitation of children for slavery and sexual abuse. Kailash has fought against these efforts.
Also notable in praising two activists who have fought against warfare and violence against children, they selected an Indian and Pakistani to share the award at a time of increased hostility along their border. Many misses in prior years, but this year they choose well.