Fenomenologia delle first lady dei dittatori decaduti

Glamour, cosmopolite, mondane, spesso colte e sempre e comunque molto attive nel mondo della filantropia. Sono le ex first-lady del Nord Africa e del vicino Oriente, mogli dei dittatori decaduti del sud e dell'est del Mediterraneo. Un tempo considerate "rose del deserto" e "luci in paesi pieni di ombre", riemergono ora per un'ultima volta sulle cronache insieme a tutti gli scheletri che hanno custodito nell'armadio domestico. 

Ne parla Christina Patterson, in un bell'articolo pubblicato sull'Independent (Lessons in love, marriage and charity from dicators' wives), partendo da biografia tra loro diverse per arrivare però ad accomunarle nella condanna. Una condanna se possibile doppia: per avere taciuto, e per avere rappresentato il lato più ipocrita e populista del regime.

How do these women sleep at night? How do they climb into bed with men who kill, and torture, and steal? How do they stand on platforms and talk about the rights of women and children, while their husbands are stifling, and cheating, and sometimes even killing, the women's husbands and the children's fathers? How do they convince themselves that it's fine for them to have millions, while their people struggle to buy bread, and that, even with their millions, they need more? You can't excuse a 25-year-old woman for staying with a man she knew to be a mass murderer. You can't excuse a 54-year-old Tunisian for trying to steal money she must have known belonged to the people, or a 70-year-old Egyptian for trying to steal money that was clearly meant for the poor. And you can't begin to excuse a bright, well-educated, Syrian Brit for colluding in her husband's regime's mass murder.