Some ideas to think about:
- people stand up for what they believe in if they feel there is injustice (for example, Malala, the person who said the quote, stood up for the rights of women to have an education in developing countries. She did this because she believed that girls should have as much access to education as boys, even though this was against what was taught and what was societally acceptable.)
- because of this, rebellion can be positive because it can offer new perspectives and give those who have been silenced a chance to change things for the better
- In addition, historically all positive movements that have allowed for the liberation of marginalized groups have come from rebellion, and from people standing up for what they believe in. Some examples:
- Ending segregation in the United States (civil rights movement), this happened because many African Americans began rebelling against the rules of segregation and standing up for their rights, one notable example that is pretty famous being Rosa Parks, who refused to move out of her seat on the bus to sit in the ‘black section’
- Women’s rights, such as their right to own a bank account. Until the 70s, women were not allowed to own their own bank account in the United States and had to have a male ‘supervise’ their account, such as a father or husband. This obviously caused problems, as women in abusive relationships could not move out on their own, as they would have no money, or way of making money, or place to put their money, and could not keep any savings. (Another example could be women’s right to vote, and you could note that black women were not given the right to vote until after white women, if you want to focus more on the oppression of racial minorities (e.g. African Americans)
Overall I would write about how rebellion often only happens because the people who rebel do not have the power to make change in any other way. In all of the examples I gave, the groups that were rebelling had the least amount of power/authority within their society, and therefore the only way they could be listened to was if they rebelled.
This presents a good argument for why rebellion can be positive: because it gives a voice to those who may not have one. After all, no one rebels against a society that caters to their needs, and rebellion is often the symptom of being silenced.