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• Jessicalynnh

  a copy of a letter i wrote to vogue regarding their glowing february 2011 article of first lady assad:

  Dear Vogue,

  In light of the recent release of hacked emails from accounts belonging to Bashar and Asma Assad, I believe Vogue owes to it’s subscribers a statement about it’s attitude regarding Asma Assad.  One can begin to understand why such a statement is necessary by examining some of the events of the last year.

  In February of 2011 Vogue published a flattering portrait of the first lady of Syria praising Asma Assad as “wildly democratic.”  The portrait goes on to note that the “first lady’s central mission is to change the mind-set of six million Syrians under eighteen, to encourage them to engage in what she calls ‘active citizenship.’”  This article was published after the Syrian uprising began, but before Assad’s regime began to willfully slaughter many of Syria’s “active citizens,” including those under eighteen.

  Max Fisher’s summary of Vogue’s response to this controversy in the Atlantic  indicates that Vogue has stood by the article thus far, despite having quietly removed the article from it’s website.  The article in full can still be found online, however, at Bashar Assad’s official website.   The full summary of Vogue’s response written by Max Fisher can be read here: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/01/the-only-remaining-online-copy-of-vogues-asma-al-assad-profile/250753/

  On February 7th 2012, approximately 1 year after your glowing profile of the first lady, the Times published an email from Mrs. Assad’s office stating that the first lady stands by her husband and that “The President is the President of Syria, not a faction of Syrians, and the first lady supports him in that role.” 

  Today the estimated death toll associated with the Syrian dictator’s response to the uprising has surpassed 8000, with atrocities against humanity told and untold occurring daily.  We can see now without any shadow of doubt that this man is a war criminal of the most despicable order, yet the first lady still “supports him in that role.”

  This week 3,000 emails were leaked from the president and first lady’s private accounts.  A wealth of information is contained in these emails on many issues, however those which relate to this topic and to Vogue’s handling of the subject have to do with the excessive and frivolous lifestyle and spending habits Mrs. Assad has maintained while the citizens of her nation are being imprisoned, tortured, and indiscriminately slaughtered by the husband she so supports. 

  The timeline and details of the events I’ve described so far will, I hope, make a compelling case for the need for a public statement from Vogue on this issue.  I believe it is very important, at this moment in history, for Vogue to clarify it’s attitude regarding the glamorous luxury lifestyle it promotes in the magazine and those in leadership positions who live such a lifestyle because of, or despite, the suffering of their people. With tales of the Syrian first lady’s excess on everybody’s lips this week, now is also the moment for a formal and public apology from Vogue for what has been perceived by many as a callous lack of sensitivity towards the suffering and misery of the citizens of Syria who are being slaughtered by their leader. 

  The time has come for Vogue to publicly declare whether or not they still see Mrs. Assad as “glamorous, young, and very chic—the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies,” or if that opinion has changed in light of the events of the past 13 months.    I hope the magazine will choose to do the right thing.