Greece: Lysistrata, a timeless anti-war messageLysistrata, loosely translated to "she who disbands armies", is a Greek comedy, written in 411 BC, though the central anti-war message of the play has proven timeless.
The play was first performed in the 12th year of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta and the title character, Lysistrata convinces the women on both warring sides to withhold sex from their husbands and to barricade the public building funding war in order to obstruct the conflict.
As a contemporary campaigning tool the play has been adapted to address current conflicts, such as the Lysistrata Project protesting the 2003 invasion of Iraq and a 2006 ‘sex strike’ on the part of girlfriends and wives of gang members in Pereira, Colombia to force their partners into putting down their weapons. |