Cold Open

It’s October 9th, 2012, in Mingora, a city in the Swat Valley of Pakistan.

Usman Bhai Jan turns his flatbed truck onto a side road. He weaves to avoid a pothole in the crumbling asphalt, not wanting to jolt his passengers in the back. Usman's small truck doubles as a school bus. And every morning and evening, he transports the students of a local girls’ school to their lessons and then back home. It’s only a short journey, but Usman is always surprised about how much gossip the girls exchange during the trip.

Usman checks his rear-view mirror. The girls are laughing with each other, oblivious to the bumpy ride. But as Usman's eyes return to the road, a man steps out in front of the truck with his arms raised.

Usman hits the brake and the truck jerks to a stop. He turns around to check that the girls are okay… just as another man steps onto the tailgate at the rear of the truck. Usman's stomach lurches as the man takes out a pistol and points it at the girls. He demands to know which of them is Malala.

Malala Yousafzai is one of the girls who rides on Usman's truck every day. But she’s not just a student, she also leads a vocal campaign to encourage other girls to attend school—and that has angered the Islamic militants who are active in this part of Pakistan.

Usman and the other girls don’t answer the gunman’s question, but one or two involuntarily flick their eyes in Malala’s direction. The gunman follows their gaze, swings his gun… and pulls the trigger three times.

15-year-old Malala Yousafzai will survive the attempt on her life. Although severely wounded by this brutal attack, she will be determined to continue her fight for equal education. Her dedication to the cause will inspire people all around the world. And thanks to her brave campaigning, Malala will be awarded many accolades, but she’ll become a true global icon when she becomes the youngest person to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize on October 10th, 2014.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is October 10th, 2014: Malala’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Act One

It’s late 2008 at a girls’ school in Mingora, four years before Malala Yousafzai is targeted by assassins.

Sitting behind his desk, 39-year-old teacher Ziauddin Yousafzai sighs as he looks over the day’s attendance record. Ziauddin's job is not just to deliver lessons—he’s also the school administrator. But today’s roll call has told an increasingly familiar story. Fewer girls have been attending school recently, and the number in lessons today has dropped below 50 percent. Ziauddin knows that the girls aren’t playing hooky. They’ve been pressured into dropping out by the area's radical Islamic rulers.

Pakistan became an independent nation more than 50 years ago. But the decades since have been racked with political upheaval as democratic governments have vied with military dictatorships for control of the country. In remote provinces like the Swat Valley, Islamic militants have taken advantage of the turmoil to impose their own radical beliefs by force. Over the past few years, these militants have banned television and music. They’ve restricted the rights of women, barring them from going shopping or leaving the house unaccompanied. And recently, the militants have turned their attention to girls who attend school. They claim that Islamic doctrine forbids girls from gaining an education, and they’re pressuring parents into keeping their daughters at home.

A bell rings, signaling that it’s time for Ziauddin to teach the few girls that have turned up today. He sets the attendance figures to one side—but as he rises from his seat, the phone on his desk rings. Ziauddin picks up the receiver and hears a familiar voice at the end of the line. It’s an old friend - but this isn’t a friendly call. He is a BBC journalist, and he’s called Ziauddin for a favor. He wants one of the teenage girls at the school to write an anonymous blog detailing their experiences growing up in Pakistan.

So over the next few days, Ziauddin considers his friend’s request. He thinks it’s important to let the world know what’s happening in this part of Pakistan. But anyone who dares to break the militants’ rules is often subjected to brutal punishments, even death. Standing up to them is a risk that few are willing to take, and even though the blog will be anonymous, Ziauddin struggles to find a student to write it. One 15-year-old girl agrees, but she backs out when her parents hear about the idea.

Despite these difficulties, Ziauddin doesn’t want to let his friend down. So, after the first girl drops out, Ziauddin offers an alternative option: his own daughter, 11-year-old Malala.

Although Malala is not yet a teenager, the journalist agrees to take her on—and Malala jumps at the opportunity. She has inherited her father’s belief that education is a right that should be enjoyed by all children. So, she sets to work writing about her experiences under the rule of Islamic militants in Mingora. And when she’s finished, she arranges for the article to be emailed to the journalist. A few days later, in January 2009, Malala's first blog about education in Pakistan is published on the BBC Urdu website.

But a few days after the post goes live, the Islamic militants in Swat announce that girls will no longer be allowed to go to school. This sends Malala’s blog post viral, but it also means Malala must stay at home with her mother, and her father Ziauddin must close down the school.

But Malala and Ziauddin are not kept from their books for long. In February 2009, the Pakistani government launches an operation to regain control of the Swat Valley. With the Islamic militants soon on the retreat, the strict laws imposed during their rule are reversed—including the ban on girls attending school. Malala and her fellow students happily return to the classroom, and Ziauddin gets back to teaching. But now that the militants have left the city, Ziauddin feels more confident about speaking publicly against their draconian regime.

And Malala is inspired by her father’s stance. She soon joins his campaign, and her identity as the author of the BBC blog is revealed, and she’s interviewed in the Pakistani press and filmed for a New York Times documentary. This media attention increases her profile—but it also stokes anger among the Islamic militants who are hiding from the Pakistani Army in the Swat Valley countryside.

And three years after they’re pushed out of Mingora, the militants will strike back. A gunman will shoot Malala three times, leaving her for dead. This attempted assassination will make newspaper headlines all around the world. And when Malala makes a miraculous recovery, her life will never be the same again.

Act Two

It’s October 9th, 2012, in Mingora, a few minutes after Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head on her way home from school.

Usman Bhai Jan floors the accelerator of the flatbed truck he's used as a school bus. The vehicle lurches down the road toward the hospital but Usman is determined to get Malala as soon as possible. He careens down rugged alleyways, hoping to avoid being delayed at any army checkpoints. But Usman has no choice but to stop when an angry police officer flags him down.

The policeman starts yelling at Usman for his wild driving—but he soon backs down when a dozen hysterical girls scream at him for help. Usman is released, and a few minutes later, he arrives at the hospital.

But Malala doesn’t remain there for long. When doctors realize she’s critically injured, they transfer her by helicopter to a larger facility in the city of Peshawar. There, surgeons manage to remove a bullet that’s lodged in Malala's shoulder. But the bullet got there by entering Malala's left eye and passing through part of her brain. Doctors can’t guarantee that she’ll survive.

Soon after, news that a teenage schoolgirl has been targeted by Islamic militants spreads around the world. The Pakistani government offers its full support to Malala's family, promising to bring her attackers to justice and to pay for the best healthcare the country can offer. But Malala's parents also receive offers from other nations that are willing to take their daughter in for treatment. They choose to send Malala to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, which has a world-leading reputation for treating gunshot wounds.

So, seven days after the shooting, Malala opens her eyes and groggily looks around. Her vision is fuzzy, but she focuses on a masked man who’s looking down at her with a concerned expression. Electronic beeping catches her attention, and then she tries to focus on the rest of the room. As her eyes clear, with a start, Malala realizes she’s in a hospital. Then she sinks back into unconsciousness.

It takes several days for Malala to fully emerge from her coma. She’s confused about where she is and why. But when the medical staff think she’s strong enough, they tell Malala about the assassination attempt and the British government’s offer to airlift her thousands of miles for treatment. A few days later, Malala's parents are cleared to join her in Birmingham. And they board a flight to England and are reunited with their critically injured daughter.

Although Malala has survived the gun attack, she faces a long road to recovery. She’s released from hospital after three months, but she must undertake a grueling program of physical therapy to regain movement in her face. She returns to the hospital several times for additional surgeries, and she must have a cochlear implant fitted to fully restore her hearing.

But despite the physical and mental trauma she’s suffered, Malala returns to campaigning as soon as possible. Thanks to the attack, she has a far greater public profile now - and she’s determined to make use of it. She makes speeches at Harvard and Oxford Universities. She has an audience with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. And she meets with American President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington DC. In her conversation with President Obama, Malala confronts him on the subject of American military drone strikes in Pakistan. And although these drones target the same Islamic militants who shot Malala, she thinks the risk to innocent lives is too high. And she doesn’t change her mind, even when Malala finds out that the radical cleric who ordered her assassination has been killed in such a drone strike.

Then, in July 2013, six months after she’s released from hospital, Malala appears at the United Nations to talk about her activism. She addresses 400 delegates in the UN chamber, but she knows that her speech will be reported to millions more around the world. Malala uses this global platform to talk about her own situation, and how her education and learning have enabled her to overcome the militants’ terror and fear.

Malala: "The terrorists thought they would change my aims and stop my ambitions, but nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born."

Malala receives several standing ovations during her speech. But as she leaves the UN, she knows that she’ll have to make many more appearances if her campaign is to be a success—but what she doesn’t know yet is that one of these appearances will be at an annual event in Scandinavia, one that hands out the world’s most prestigious prizes.

Act Three

It’s the morning of October 10th, 2014, in Birmingham, England, two years after Malala Yousafzai was shot.

Malala is now 17 years old, and this morning is dressing in her school uniform and racing down the stairs. She just has time for a quick breakfast before school. But as she devours a slice of toast, the telephone rings. Her father answers it but then rolls his eyes theatrically as he hands the phone over to Malala. It's not unusual for Malala to field calls from journalists, activists, even world leaders on an almost daily basis, so her father often jokes that he’s become his daughter’s personal assistant.

But this morning’s phone call is an extraordinary one even for Malala. The caller is from the Norwegian Nobel Committee—and he’s pleased to inform Malala that she has been selected as this year’s winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

More than a hundred years ago, Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel died and bequeathed his fortune to establish five annual prizes. Nobel wanted them to go to people whose work had most benefited humanity. In the years since, the Peace Prize has been awarded to activists including Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, and Nelson Mandela. Now, Malala has joined that elite club - and she’s the youngest person ever to receive the honor.

A few minutes after putting the phone down, it begins to ring again. The Nobel Foundation has put out a press release declaring that Malala has won the Peace Prize, and everyone wants her reaction. Malala soon realizes she is not going to make it to school today.

Two months later, she travels to Oslo, Norway, to accept the honor bestowed on her. In her speech at the ceremony, she tells the distinguished guests how proud she is to be the first Pashtun, the first Pakistani, and the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize. But she also injects a little humor into her speech.

Malala: "Along with that, I’m pretty certain that I’m also the first recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize who still fights with her younger brothers."

In the years afterward, Malala continues her campaign for children to have the right to education. Her story is told in print and on screen, and she becomes one of the world’s most famous activists—but there has still been no greater recognition of Malala Yousafzai’s efforts on behalf of women and girls than when she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on October 10th, 2014.

Outro

Next on History Daily. October 11th, 1982. After 437 years beneath the waves, the flagship of King Henry VIII’s navy is recovered from the seabed.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Gabriel Gould.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Scott Reeves.

Edited by William Simpson.

Managing producer, Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.