Assed Baig blog post on Malala – my rebuttal

All indented quotes come from Assed Baig’s post Malala Yousafzai and the White Saviour Complex unless otherwise indicated. What follows is my rebuttal of him.

[UPDATE: this piece has been turned into an article for “The Huffington Post” – please read here]

When Malala Yusufzai was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen simply because she wanted to gain an education it sent shockwaves around the world.

Not so simple; she was shot because her blogging on education, women rights and supporting the war on terror meant Taliban considered her a traitor to be assassinated [Previous post]

Straight away the Western media took up the issue. Western politicians spoke out and soon she found herself in the UK. The way in which the West reacted did make me question the reasons and motives behind why Malala’s case was taken up and not so many others.

She was already being promoted because of her blogging by the BBC; it was western interest in her raising her profile which again made her a target for the Taliban.

There is no justifying the brutal actions of the Taliban or the denial of the universal right to education, however there is a deeper more historic narrative that is taking place here.

This is a story of a native girl being saved by the white man. Flown to the UK, the Western world can feel good about itself as they save the native woman from the savage men of her home nation. It is a historic racist narrative that has been institutionalised. Journalists and politicians were falling over themselves to report and comment on the case. The story of an innocent brown child that was shot by savages for demanding an education and along comes the knight in shining armour to save her.

You mean the specialised trauma and surgery care that Malala needed in the UK to ensure her life was “saved” from bullets fired directly at her to kill her. That a 15 year old being shot for writing about civil rights might strike a chord for activists on these universal issues the world over should not surprise us.

The actions of the West, the bombings, the occupations the wars all seem justified now, “see, we told you, this is why we intervene to save the natives.”

The truth is that there are hundreds and thousands of other Malalas. They come from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other places in the world. Many are victims of the West, but we conveniently forget about those as Western journalists and politicians fall over themselves to appease their white-middle class guilt also known as the white man’s burden.

Perhaps you are forgetting the 750 schools targeted and damaged in Taliban controlled areas of Pakistan [BBC] That is deliberate attacks on the education of children, and indeed to kill children on purpose. That straw man “The West” is you being a blow hard.

Gordon Brown stood at the UN and spoke words in support for Malala, yet he is the very same Gordon Brown that voted for the war in Iraq that not only robbed people of their education but of their lives. The same journalists that failed to question or report on the Western wars in an intelligible manner now sing the praises of the West as they back Malala and her campaign without putting it in context of the war in Afghanistan and the destabalisation of the region thanks to the Western occupation of Afghanistan.

You neglect to mention in Iraq that with the Iran war onwards teacher salaries became slashed to virtually nothing, the education budget as a percentage of GDP went into decline, the gender parity for enrolment widened, and Baathist ideology became increasingly part of the curriculum.

That under Saddam a country with one of the best indicators of education in the region became one of the worst, and the Gulf War he started by invading Kuwait did not help. His wars and misrule did nothing for the children of Iraq.

Malala’s message is true, it is profound, it is something the world needs to take note of; education is a right of every child, but Malala has been used as a tool by the West. It allows countries like Britain to hide their sins in Afghanistan and Iraq. It allows journalists to report a feel good story whilst they neglect so many others, like the American drone strikes that terrorise men, women and children in Pakistan’s border regions.

The current narrative continues the demonization of the non-white Muslim man. Painting him as a savage, someone beyond negotiating with, beyond engaging with, the only way to deal with this kind of savage is to wage war, occupy and use drones against them. NATO is bombing to save girls like Malala is the message here.

Historically the West has always used women to justify the actions of war mongering men. It is in the imagery, it is in art, in education, it is even prevalent in Western human rights organisations, Amnesty International’s poster campaign coinciding with the NATO summit in New York encouraged NATO to ‘keep the progress going!’ in Afghanistan.

Beyond negotiating? When the White House wants to talk to the Taliban [Source] and David Cameron says talks should have happened a decade ago [Telegraph]

Also women are coming to the frontline in the war on the Taliban, as this happened last Sunday:

Twenty-four Pakistani women made history on Sunday when they became the country’s first group of female paratroopers to complete their training (AFP). After three weeks of basic airborne training, the women completed their first jump on Sunday and were given their “wings.” A military spokesman recognized the historic day and said: “From now on, lady officers will not be restricted to the Army Medical Corps…They will be able to serve alongside men in active combat on the battlefield” (ET). [Source]

As the above source mentions Taliban are now in Syria spreading their violent ideology with them.

Shazia Ramzan and Kainat Riaz were also shot along with Malala, the media and politicians seem to have forgotten about them. Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi – how many of the Western politicians and journalists know about this name? She was the 14-year-old girl gang raped by five US soldiers, then her and her family, including her six-year-old sister were murdered. There are no days named after her, no mentions of her at the UN, and we don’t see Gordon Brown pledging his name to her cause.

I support Malala, I support the right to education for all, I just cannot stand the hypocrisy of Western politicians and media as they pick and choose, congratulating themselves for something that they have caused. Malala is the good native, she does not criticise the West, she does not talk about the drone strikes, she is the perfect candidate for the white man to relieve his burden and save the native.

Malala reminded people in her speech about her friends injured in the attack on her. She was talking to the UN in a youth forum capacity focusing on one thing for a reason:

Dear fellows, today I am focusing on women’s rights and girls’ education because they are suffering the most. There was a time when women social activists asked men to stand up for their rights. But, this time, we will do it by ourselves. I am not telling men to step away from speaking for women’s rights rather I am focusing on women to be independent to fight for themselves. [Malala’s Speech]

She gets to chose what she focuses on not you.

The Western savior complex has hijacked Malala’s message. The West has killed more girls than the Taliban have. The West has denied more girls an education via their missiles than the Taliban has by their bullets. The West has done more against education around the world than extremists could ever dream of. So, please, spare us the self-righteous and self-congratulatory message that is nothing more than propaganda that tells us that the West drops bombs to save girls like Malala.

You confuse a rallying cry not to abandon the Afghanistan and Pakistan people – women, men, boys and girls – to the Taliban. Instead claiming we are trying to ease our consciences or trying to make up for past sins. Long since shaken off the sins of my ancestors. The one that matters now is the sin of omission.

The rallying cry is that when children are targeted for assassination, schools blown up for extreme religious ideological reasons, then the fight is a universal one for humanity. Because forget oil, diamonds, uranium – children are the natural resource worth fighting for and defending.

Art work comes from Lejla Kuric – used with permission do check out her site

Article written by John Sargeant on Homo economicus’ Weblog

Follow @JPSargeant78