Jon Stewart sits down for extended interviews with three trailblazing women of the 21st century. Listen to Malala Yousafzai's first visit to The Daily Show. Talk healthy eating and the power of gardening with First Lady Michelle Obama. Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards dives into the importance of her group's work for women. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chapter 1: Who is Malala Yousafzai and what is her story?
Welcome back. My guest tonight, she's an advocate for girls' access to education worldwide, is the youngest person ever to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Her new book is called I Am Malala, The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. Please welcome to the program Malala Yousafzai. Nice to see you. Thank you for being here.
Thank you so much. It's an honor for me.
It is an honor for us. I know me. This is... By the way, we talked a little bit before the show. Nothing feels better than making you laugh. I will say that. I enjoyed that very much. I am Malala. It's honestly humbling to meet you. You're 16. Where did your love for education come from?
We are human beings, and this is the part of our human nature, that we don't learn the importance of anything until it's snatched from our hands. And when, in Pakistan, when we were stopped from going to school, at that time, I realized that education is very important, and education is the power for women. And that's why the terrorists are afraid of education.
They do not want women to get education, because then women would become more powerful.
Exactly, exactly right.
When did the Taliban come to Swat Valley? Because before then, you describe it as a paradise of sorts.
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Chapter 2: What challenges did Malala face in Swat Valley?
Taliban came in 2004, but at that time they were quite good. They did not show their terrorism and they did not blast any school at that time. But they started the real terrorism in 2007. They have blasted more than 400 schools in Swat. They have slaughtered people. And in the month of January 2009, they used to slaughter even two, three people every night. and they have flogged women.
We have seen the barbaric situation of the 21st century, and we have seen, like, the cruelty, and we have seen harsh days in our life and those we regarded as the darkest days of our life. So it was really hard for us at that time.
You describe in the book still no matter what they they took the signs off of schools they uh they went underground but they continued in the face of you spoke out publicly against the taliban what gave you the courage to continue this you know
My father was a great encouragement for me because he spoke out for women's rights. He spoke out for girls' education. And at that time, I said that why should I wait for someone else? Why should I be looking to the government, to the army, that they would help us? Why don't I raise my voice? Why don't we speak up for our rights? The girls of Swat, they spoke up for their rights.
I started writing a diary. I spoke on Twitter. every media channel that I could, and I raised my voice on every platform that I could. And I said, I need to tell the world what is happening in Swat, and I need to tell the world that Swat is suffering from terrorism, and we need to fight against terrorism.
When did you realize the Taliban had made you a target?
When in 2012, I was with my father and someone came and she told us that, have you seen on Google that if you search your name and the Taliban have threatened you? And I just could not believe it. I said, no, it's not true. And even after the threat, when we saw it, I was not worried about myself that much.
I was worried about my father because we thought that the Taliban are not that much cruel that they would kill a child because I was 14 at that time. But then later on, I started thinking about that. And I used to think that the Taliban would come and he would just kill me. But then I said, if he comes, what would you do, Malala?
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Chapter 3: How did Malala respond to threats from the Taliban?
Then I would reply myself that, Malala, just take a shoe and hit him. But then I said... But then I said, if you hit a talib with your shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the talib. You must not treat others that much with cruelty and that much harshly. You must fight others, but through peace and through dialogue and through education.
Then I said, I'll tell him how important education is and that I even want education for your children as well. And I would tell him, that's what I want to tell you. Now do what you want.
You know, I know your father is backstage, and he's very proud of you, but would he be mad if I adopted you? Because you sure are swell. We are back. We're talking to Malala. The book I Am Malala is on shelves right now. Your love of school reminds me so much of my children. OK, maybe not. The people of Swat Valley, when the Talib first came, they thought they're bringing order.
They're bringing services. They established a court that was faster than Pakistani courts. And the people responded. When did that begin to turn?
When the Taliban came, they were trying to convince people. And they were just misusing the name of Islam. And they were telling people that we would just set up another court for you. And we would provide you justice on time. Because usually, in courts in Pakistan, people dies and their case is not yet resolved in the courts. So that's what is happening in the courts of Pakistan.
So people just said, like, if the Taliban are doing it, why don't we support them? But then they were that much cruel that they started slaughtering people. And they even blasted a generator of electricity. And it was the month of Ramadan in which we keep fast, in which we don't eat on the day, in which we don't drink for the whole day.
They blasted the electricity generators, which was providing electricity to the whole city of Mingora. And we could not have water because electricity is related to water supply as well. And people were sitting in the dark. People could not buy electricity generators. People were just sitting in the light of candles. And people were just dying of thirst at that time.
But my father is a great father because he bought generator for the school to create electricity and to provide water to the street and to that community. But still, many people were suffering from that hard situation. And other than that, our freedom was taken from us, the women's freedom. We could not go to market. We were not allowed to go to school. We were just kept imprisoned.
We were just limited to the four walls of our house. Women's rights were denied at that time, and that's why I spoke. Because I believe in equality, and I believe that there is no difference between a man and a woman. I even believe that a woman is more powerful than men.
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Chapter 4: Why does Malala believe education is the solution to global issues?
We wanted to live a normal life because Swat is like a paradise on earth. I believe in two paradises. One I'll get after death, but the other one that is on earth, for me, that is Swat because Swat is really beautiful. And you would be astonished when you see the lush green hills and when you see the tall mountains and the And the rivers that we have, the crystal clear water.
And you can find trout. So it's really beautiful. You'll love Swat.
Malala, I'm from New Jersey. So I know a little something about paradise. The beaches. It does. It sounds magnificent. And it is heartbreaking because you see what these children want and what these people want is to just live in peace without having this imposed on them. And I think we don't know what to do to help. There are passages in the book about the United States. And we come out great.
But there is, you know, there are attacks in SWAT and in those areas with drones. And they talk about a man, a CIA agent, who shot two men in Lahore, Raymond Davis. And this is... I think we have a common want and desire, but perhaps are not accomplishing it in the manner that shows the people how we feel. But in some ways, we don't know what else to do. What is your thought on that?
I think that the people of America, the United States, they truly support peace and they say that we must not fight against war through war. They believe that dialogue is the best way and we must try to find a solution for it. And in my opinion, the solution that would work to fight all these wars and all these problems that people are facing is only education. Because
You can stop war for a second, but you don't know it would start again or not. We have seen First World War. We have seen Second World War. And I think Third World War is coming. But I believe that we must stop it now. I don't want to see a Third World War in this world again. And the best way to fight against this war is education because...
As we can see, the children are suffering from terrorism. They are suffering from child labor and child trafficking. They're also suffering from the cultural norms and traditions. There is not only one issue that we are facing. There are many others as well. So I think education is the best way.
People will be thinking, just going to school, learning about chemistry and physics and math, and that's it. Going to school is not only learning about different subjects. It teaches you communication. It teaches you how to live a life. It teaches you about history. It teaches you about how science is working.
And other than that, you learn about equality because students are provided the same benches. They sit equally. It shows us equality. It teaches students how to live with others together, how to accept each other's language, how to accept each other's traditions and each other's religion. It also teaches us justice. It also teaches us respect. It teaches us how to live together.
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Chapter 5: What is Michelle Obama's initiative on healthy eating?
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How are you?
Nice to see you. It's good to be here. Good to be back.
It's nice to see you again. The book is called American Grown. Look at this. You, as first lady, everybody has an issue. And you decided, I'm going to take on this idea of getting children to eat well. Wouldn't you have been more successful with, let's say, colonization of Mars? As a parent of two children, unless this garden sprouts cheeseburgers, What gave you the idea to do this?
You know, it was really my experiences as a mother trying to get my kids to eat well. I mean, you know, what most people don't know, we're seeing an epidemic of childhood obesity. One in three of our kids will be overweight or obese, and we are spending billions of dollars in health care costs for preventable illnesses. And in my life, I saw how that was happening.
You know, two busy parents, don't have time to cook, eating out too much, you know, activity is being eliminated from our schools in many ways. The average kid is spending 7.5 hours a day in front of a screen. The average kid. That's on average. And it's... Wow.
Can I just very quickly? Kids, if you're at home right now... Daddy says you can beat that. Daddy knows... You're not average, kids. I want to see 10 hours from you today. My kids can do it. They can make it. No! They can... Oh, did I get that wrong? No, no. Oh, I have it backwards. Go the other way around.
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Chapter 6: How does Michelle Obama engage children in gardening?
You know, it is... Absolutely. You know, you're trying to feed four people. You've got a dollar man who's got a lot of good food on him.
That's right.
It's very difficult. Is this, for you, more of a symbolic idea that they start to understand?
Well, the garden is a way to begin the conversation, because what I also learned in changing my kids' habits is that if kids are involved in the growth process of food and they get a better understanding of where their food comes from and they're engaged, they tend to be more likely to be excited about it. And the garden has been a really important catalyst for that discussion.
I mean, we've had hundreds of kids working with us in the garden to help plant and harvest. And usually with the harvest, we end with a vegetable feast. And we've got kids who... I'm sorry, just very quickly. It's a vegetable feast.
The phrase, vegetable feast.
It's a feast.
And we've had kids... Is there a cheese faucet for this vegetable feast?
We've served everything from flatbread, veggie pizza that many kids have said is better than takeout. You know, because the truth is, is that vegetables that are grown fresh taste much better. I mean, I know when I was growing up, you got those store-bought tomatoes in that plastic tin, and they tasted like water.
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