Malala Yousafzai meets Greta Thunberg: “She's the only friend I would skip school for”
Rights — di Martina Girola
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai and climate activist Greta Thunberg met in Oxford. The encounter has already made history.
Malala Yousafzai meets Greta Thunberg: “She's the only friend I would skip school for”
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai and climate activist Greta Thunberg met in Oxford. The encounter has already made history.
Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize laureate for her efforts against the oppression of young people and children and in support of their right to education, and Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist who launched the Friday strikes and the Fridays for Future movement, met at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom, on Tuesday 25 February.
A story of mutual admiration
The two young women had never met before. At the moment, Thunberg is in the United Kingdom to take part in the climate strike on Friday 28 February to be held in Bristol, while Yousafzai is attending the University of Oxford, where she is studying politics, philosophy and economics. "Well… Today I met my idol," Thunberg tweeted. "What else can I say?"
"She's the only friend I would skip school for," replied Yousafzai, who had already expressed her admiration for Thunberg in a recent interview with the magazine Teen Vogue: "Sometimes young people are not included in decision-making processes. Women are not included, so young people are even less so. Having young people's voices at the discussion table, having female figures at those tables, I think makes an enormous difference."
Read also: Nobel Peace Prize, Malala dreams of becoming prime minister
Two young women who have changed the world
Greta Thunberg began protesting against the climate crisis when she was fifteen years old. She sat alone outside the Swedish parliament, sacrificing her school days for a bigger cause. Eventually, she created a global movement and helped bring the environmental issue to the centre of the discussion table. During the time spent on the university campus, she spoke about scientific issues, the importance of voting and the limitations encountered during the protests.
Read also: COP25, Greta Thunberg is tireless and urges us to stay united behind the science
Honoured to host @gretathunberg at @lmhoxford today. grateful she found time to talk to some of our students about science, voting, the limits of protest, divestment, real zero v net zero, and much more
At roughly the same age — fourteen — Malala Yousafzai survived a near-fatal attack on her way home from school, having kept a diary in which she described life under the Taliban regime. Once she had recovered from her injuries, she moved to Birmingham, in the United Kingdom, with her family, and in 2014 became the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. "I am here to speak up for the rights of children everywhere, to give voice to their cries. I will fight until I see the last child in the world receive an education. Until I see every child go to school," she had said after being awarded the prize. Three years later, she began studying at the University of Oxford.
These are different stories, but they share the same goal: to make the world a better place.