The Pakistani teenager and education activist Malala Yousafzai was famous for her ideas even before she came to international attention, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. Indeed her intelligent advocacy when her school in the Swat Valley was shut down by the Taliban is what the gunmen who shot Yousafzai in the head in 2012 were attempting to thwart.
Now the 17-year-old is the Nobel Peace Prize’s youngest recipient, and the whole world is listening to those ideas. Here’s a glimpse of how they have developed over the years:
This 2009 documentary on Yousafzai, three years before she was shot
“They cannot stop me. I will get my education, if it is in home, school or any place. This is request to the all world that save our school, save our world, save our Pakistan, save our Swat.”
An interview after the 2012 shooting
“Today you can see that I’m alive. I can speak, I can see you, I can see everyone. And today I can speak, and I’m getting better day by day.”
Her July 2013 speech to the UN
From the speech: ”Dear sisters and brothers, I am not against anyone. Neither am I here to speak in terms of personal revenge against the Taliban or any other terrorist group. I am here to speak for the right of education for every child. I want education for the sons and daughters of the Taliban and all the terrorists and extremists.”
Last year’s October interview with Jon Stewart
“Going to school is not only learning about different subjects. It teaches you communication. It teaches you how to live a life. It teaches you about history. It teaches you about how science is working. And other than that, you learn about equality, because students are provided the same benches. They sit equally—it shows us equality. It teaches students how to—how to live with others together, how to accept each other’s language, how to accept each other’s tradition and each other’s religion. It also teaches us justice. It also teaches us respect. It teaches us how to live together.”