Malala Yousafzai Addresses the United Nations

At the Telegraph UK, "Malala tells UN she will not be silenced by Taliban attack":

Malala Yousafzai has she will not be silenced by terrorist threats, in an address to the United Nations on her 16th birthday that was her first public speech since being shot by the Taliban.

“Let us pick up our books and pens,” said the Pakistani teenager, who was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman as she left school last October.

“They are our most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world. Education is the only solution.”

Malala, who has been recovering in Britain, delivered her address in New York in front of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to an auditorium packed with 1,000 students from around the world.

Her parents watched proudly as she assured her audience that she was “the same Malala”.

Wearing a loose-fitting pink shawl that had belonged to assassinated former Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto, she continued: “I am not against anyone. Nor am I here to speak against the Taliban or any other terrorist group. I am here to speak up for the right to education of every child.”

It was a typically impressive performance by a teen who earned the enmity of the Taliban in her home country for campaigning for girls’ rights to go to school. She said she was speaking for human rights activists across the world fighting for education, justice and equality.

“Here I stand not as one voice but speaking for those who have fought for the right to be treated with dignity, their right for equality of opportunity, and their right to be educated,” she said.

She called on governments to fight for the rights of women and children deprived of an education by child labour and forced marriages at early ages.

“The extremists were afraid of education,” she said. “That is why they’re blasting schools every day. Because they’re afraid of progress, afraid of change.

“If we want to achieve our goals, let us empower ourselves with a weapon of knowledge and shield ourselves with unity and togetherness.”

During a series of standing ovations, she said that the attempt on her life had only made her more resolute. “Weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, courage and fervour was born,” she said.”I speak not for myself but for those without a voice.”

Unable to safely return to Pakistan, she started at a school in Birmingham in March after medical treatment there during which doctors mended parts of her skull with a titanium plate.

I think she should be condemning the Taliban. Let's hear it.

Don't be all "Imagine" on us, okay. You've got to stand up to evil, and you've experienced it like few others.

Also at the New York Times, "Malala Yousafzai, Girl Shot by Taliban, Makes Appeal at U.N."