CNN gives the most complete coverage of Malala’s speech at the UN that I’ve seen so far, with a selection of videos.
Speaking for children across the world, she told world leaders: “We are really tired of these wars.”
Yousafzai went on to address specific attacks in Pakistan on teachers and school children. Earlier this summer a female teacher was gunned down in front of her son as she drove into her all-girl school. A school principal was killed and his students severely injured when a bomb was tossed onto a school playground at an all-girl school in Karachi in March.
In January, five teachers were killed near the town of Swabi in the volatile northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the United Nations says.
And, in June, a suicide bomber blew up a bus carrying 40 schoolgirls as it made its way to an all-girl campus in Quetta. Fourteen female students were killed.
“Dear sisters and brothers,” she said, “we realize the importance of light when we see darkness. We realize the importance of our voice when we are silenced. In the same way when we were in Swat, we realized the importance of pens and books when we saw the guns.
“The extremists were and they are afraid of books and pens,” she said.
“The power of education frightens them. They are afraid of women. The power of the voice of women frightens them.”
This fear is partly based on the Taliban’s own lack of education, Yousafzai said. And, she said, world leaders should “change their strategic policies” to press for peace and ensure that children’s and women’s rights are protected.
“We call upon all governments to ensure free, compulsory education — all around the world for every child.”
Free, compulsory, and safe – no bombers, no gunmen, no acid attacks, no arson. No theocrats trying frantically to shrink human beings into something tiny and afraid and submissive.