A boy who harnessed the wind, a smiling female warrior, sisters stamping out plastic. How the fearless underaged change the world.

Mona Lisa versus hatred

April 2016, Birmingham. A march is taking place, organized by a far-right organization called the English Defence League (EDL). The Press Association photographer Joe Giddens is there. Before he takes a picture that will soon circle around the world, a Muslim woman, Saira Zafar, is walking down the street and gets surrounded by a dozen or so aggressive men. A teenage girl, Saffiyah Khan, will stand by her. She won’t push the men away, she won’t berate them. But she will make them stop. She will smile.

The girl in Giddens’ photo is wearing a denim jacket, a black hood sticks out from underneath it. She has an earring in her nose. Her 17-year-old face is beaming with a warm smile. You can even see it in the eyes turned towards the man in front of her. It’s Ian Crossland, leader of the EDL. There is a policeman in a helmet between them – his mouth is wide open, he is saying something, perhaps shouting.

Saffiyah catches the eye the way Mona Lisa does, even though she is not even in the centre of the frame. The only female among the crowd of shouting, enraged men. The photo immediately spreads over the internet and Saffiyah is declared a ray of hope for Birmingham and for the world.

“Sometimes it’s