Pakistanis Can’t Decide: Is Malala Yousafzai a Heroine or Western Stooge?

[amosharvey]

Pakistani Girl, a Global Heroine After an Attack, Has Critics at Home

Comments

[nadejda]

I 'd like to add that award she got named after Andrei Saharov, though i doubt someone here now who he was.

Also how do you think should I be offended and name this omission a racism?

[sunhawk]

So you're now childishly pouting instead of taking a good long look at yourself and acknowledging that your understanding of racism is limited and filled with unchecked racist rhetoric? You don't even know how you reveal your ignorance with this sad little attempt at snark.

[dissident]

You are a clown

[yeats]

Actually, Andrei Sakharov is quite well-known in the West....as evidenced by the fact that, you know, there's a prize named after him.

[yeats]

and i think that malala has been very vocal about not having her image coopted -- i know that she spoke out against drone strikes on the daily show.

[tabaqui]

She apparently did when speaking to the President, as well. And i agree 100 percent - fucking drone strikes are a travesty.

[mycenaes]

Yes, she seems to really want to have her own voice, and not have it manipulated or distorted. I think that's awesome, and I'm glad Yousafzai is speaking out against drone strikes.

But I also hate this weird fetishistic, quasi-Orientalist thing going on with the far left where somehow Western feminists are to blame for this war-mongering (not saying white feminists living in the West aren't racist or imperialist, though--but it's certainly telling that generally speaking, women are the first to be blamed, instead of like, the rich white dudes who got us into this awful wars) and the Taliban isn't as bad as drone strikes. Like, I'm pretty certain it's okay to not like the Taliban without falling into racist beliefs.

I feel like there definitely needs to be a nuanced middle ground with this situation.

[ladypolitik]

She's not a willing participant and it's not so much from the same angle that her detractors in Pakistan are trying to spin it. But in fact, her voice and narrative HAS basically been co-opted by the West

[maynardsong]

From whom? I definitely didn't see either of those sentiments from Jon Stewart.

[ladypolitik]

In general (laymen) I meant, not the established media. (Think Facebook posts, newspaper comment sections, discussion forums, or water-cooler discussions at work.)

[bellichka]

I think the West likes Malala and has latched itself onto her because it fits our narrative of what that region of the world is like - violent barbarians who treat women as second-class citizens to the point of not even allowing them an education. Is it accurate? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. But she can definitely be used as a prop of "see? This is what we're fighting against. This is why we're justified in our involvement in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And she agrees with us!"

[maynardsong]

Didn't she herself make it clear that using drones was bad though? Obviously she doesn't "agree" with us.

[mimblexwimble]

The media's managed a fair amount of suppression though. She's talked about socialism, drones, all sorts of things the West doesn't like, quite a bit, and this is one of the first times it's been publicized. People think Malala loves the West, instead of realizing she is absolutely against Western Imperialism. Just yesterday I saw a comment stating that they thought Malala was born a Muslim to inject spirit into the "oppressive religion." That's basically what the public is getting from media coverage, even when they mention that she is against drone attacks - that Malala is anti-Islam, that she is anti-Pakistan. And that all apparently means she's pro-West...

[synekdokee]

West doesn't like socialism? As a European, I am shocked by this information.

[ginger_maya]

Malala is 16, a child still, and if she's a stooge, that's not her fault. That said, I don't know whether I'd call her a stooge to begin with, although I do find the way the media treated her to be more than a little disturbing and manipulative. There have been an awful lot carefully orchestrated appearances, with her obviously being coached how to behave. There was an especially disturbing one a few months ago, as she was recovering in the hospital, where a hospital worker paraded her in front of the cameras, with her being clearly awkward, and had her wave, then took her inside again. Creepy, creepy, creepy. That girl's being used for to fill the weekly quota of feel good stories.

[mycenaes]

Malala is 16, a child still, and if she's a stooge, that's not her fault.

I agree. I'm really frustrated with how people (some of whom are leftists, some of whom are right-wing) are blaming a teenage girl for not being more ~radical~ or whatever.