Lysistrata

Lysistrata is a play about a woman in ancient Greece, who, being fed up with the constant warfare and the lack of male companionship, comes up with the novel theory that the woman of Greece can make their men less warlike by witholding sex.

Ok there's more to it than that, she and her followers take over the acropolis and force a peace treaty by refusing to have sex with the men. Lysistrata presuades the women of Sparta and Corinthia to follow her lead. To make a long story short, they succeed.

In what is being heralded as the "First-Ever World Wide Theatre Event for Peace," in over 1,000 locations, mostly today, this play is being read. One such location was here in Tallahassee (and actually there will be a second reading tonight at The Mickee Faust Clubhouse, 8:00 I believe). I attended and took pictures, as is my wont, and I have a bit of sound from the performance as well.

To hear a bit of the performance, click hear. We were outside so recording conditions were not very good--but it is reasonably clear.







Cara Rossen, who organized the event, stated "Our goal is to make our legislators and state administrators aware that the citizens of Tallahassee, and this nation, do not want to see a war in Iraq. There are so many options available to us, being the most powerful nation in the world. War is the last of those. We have to set the example and be responsible to the rest of the planet. Yes, we have the ability, but it doesn't mean we should use it. Might does not make right. I believe that we do need to take action in Iraq. I do agree that they have violated the UN's requests and directives for too long. But we need to take action against Pres. Hussein and his government, not the people of Iraq. And that's what a war is, an action against a people. And the Iraqis, at least 99% of them in my opinion, don't deserve that. They deserve our help. They have suffered enough."

In a discussion with Ms. Rossen (who is the primary voice on the MP3 as well (unless my memory is faulty, which is entirely possible)), she confirmed that she believed this war was avoidable, and that even with a UN resolution, she might not be able to support military action against Iraq.