Best Of: Malala Yousafzai / Oscar Isaac
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
When Congress eliminated funding for public media last year, we saw a groundswell of support for NPR. I'm Erica Barris from Planet Money, and it is not too late to be part of this movement. If you missed making a donation during public media giving days, do it right now. Show your support for public radio that is by the people, for the people at donate.npr.org. And thanks.
From WHYY in Philadelphia, I'm Terry Gross with Fresh Air Weekend. Today, Malala Yousafzai. She was only 11 when she started to demand the right of girls to go to school after the Taliban invaded her town and banned girls' education. She was 15 when she was shot by a Taliban gunman. Looking back now, does she think she understood the risk that she would become a Taliban target?
I had pictured it many times that this could happen. I had pictured it at school. I had pictured it in my school bus. I had pictured it on the street. I knew that the Taliban could do anything.
Also, we hear from actor Oscar Isaac. He's currently starring in the Netflix series Beef and recently played Dr. Victor Frankenstein in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein. And Maureen Corrigan recommends three books for spring reading. This is Fresh Air Weekend. I'm Terry Gross. As remarkable as it is that my guest Malala Yousafzai won the Nobel Peace Prize when she was 17, there are remarkable ways she's been living her life since then. Let's start with a famous part of her story. She was born in 1997 and grew up in a remote region of Pakistan's Swat Valley near the Afghanistan border. In 2008, after the Taliban invaded her town, terrorizing the people, they banned girls' education. She publicly spoke out for her right and the right of all girls to go to school.
As payback in 2012 when she was 15, she was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman. She was flown to a hospital in England where she continues to live. Her recovery was miraculous. It's when I read her recent memoir, Finding My Way, that I learned how the bullet changed the course of her life, thrusting her into a new culture and changing her in ways that didn't quite fit her public image as an inspirational hero and top student, and sometimes even challenged her own self-image. When she was admitted to Oxford University, a dream come true.
What motivated Malala Yousafzai to advocate for girls' education?
She wanted to live the life of a teenager and find time to make friends, have fun, have adventures, including jumping from her dorm roof to the campus bell tower. She defied some of her culture's traditions and her parents' expectations, from how she dressed to who she married. At the same time, she was experiencing PTSD and panic attacks for the first time, recovering from her multiple surgeries and continuing to to raise money for the foundation she co-founded with her father, to advocate and raise money for girls' education in places where that is banned. All this took time from her college studies, and she felt like a fraud, a symbol of female education who was barely passing some of her classes.
Another thing I learned from her book and from hearing her speak is that she's very self-aware, introspective, and funny. I spoke with her in front of an audience at WHYY, where she was given this year's Lifelong Learning Award. Malala, it is such an honor to have you here tonight. I'm so excited to have the opportunity to talk with you.
It's so nice to be here. Thank you so much. Thank you for the honor and good evening, everyone. It's always so nice to be in this beautiful, warm, welcoming city.
So, you know, your father, as I mentioned, founded a school. It was a school you went to. So he was passionate about education and passionate about it for girls. And when the Taliban came and took over your area, they had a deadline for when they were going to close down the schools.
It was the 15th of January, 2009.
And you attended school until the last day, even though I think you're only allowed to go up to fourth grade and you were in fifth grade?
Yes. And we were, you know, we would wear just our home clothes. We could no longer wear our school uniform.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:28
2
What motivated Malala Yousafzai to advocate for girls' education?
2:28–6:14
3
How did Malala's childhood experiences shape her activism?
6:14–8:35
4
What was the impact of the Taliban attack on Malala's life?
8:35–9:31
5
How did Malala navigate her recovery and new identity after the attack?
9:31–10:50
6
What challenges did Malala face while attending Oxford University?
10:50–12:17
7
How did Malala balance her activism with her education?
12:17–12:28
8
What insights does Oscar Isaac share about his acting career?
12:28–48:08
Speakers
7 identifiedMore from Fresh Air
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