“Some women pretend to have no choice, and some women just act”

The wives of the British and German ambassadors to the UN have called on Asma Al-Assad, wife of the Syrian President Bashar Assad, to end the Syrian regime’s violence against its own people.

Huberta von Voss-Wittig and Sheila Lyall Grant have addressed this video message directly (pointedly, relentlessly) to Asma Al-Assad. They call on her to stop pretending that she has no choice but to stand idly by, and to use her power – her proximity to the people directly responsible for the bloodshed – to help end it. It’s a fascinating instance of two women who are also in direct proximity to diplomatic power calling on another woman to exercise that particular privilege. Let’s hope to hell it works.

**Trigger warning for gore.**

There’s also a Change.org petition, which reads,

Women from around the world, urge you, Asma Al-Assad, to take up your responsibility as wife of the Syrian leader.

Hundreds of children in your country have already died, tens of thousands have been injured and displaced, all of them have been traumatized.

We expect you to speak out for peace, to stop the bloodshed. Make your voice heard!

Stop being a bystander.

It is your duty to prevent the breakout of civil war as a woman, as a wife and: as a mother of young children yourself.

You have waited too long already.

Act now!

You can sign that petition here.