First off, here is my poem in honour of the day. It's from 2024 but the thought is worth repeating.

Lysistrata Starts Women's Day

I'm sure it was some time like this

with spring a month away

that Athen's Lysistrata

with friends, had this to say:

"Men, turn your swords to ploughshares.

Forget the wars you'd win.

You'll get no ploughing here at home

until the crops are in."

And being guys, they thought a bit

but not too long or hard

then shoulder-punched and headed home

to work their own backyard.

Lysistrata's ancient wisdom

may inform our world today

declaring sanctity of life

beyond aggression's sway.

The hope today in women's role,

assuming global power

is that we move the world to peace

in this its desperate hour.

And here's a short lesson from Wikipedia:

Lysistrátē, (lit. 'army disbander') is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's mission to end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city states by denying all the men of the land any sex, which was said to be the only thing they truly and deeply desired. Lysistrata persuades the women of the warring cities to engage in a sex strike as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace – a strategy that inflames the battle between the sexes.

And Wiki tells me that there have been various modern movies, animated films, and stagings of versions of the Lysistrata story, but you can look those up yourself if you want a Saturday night's entertainment. The two that I want to check out are:

1. Chi-Raq from 2015 set in modern-day inner-city Chicago, substituting gun violence among African-Americans for the Peloponnesian War. It sounds like a version of West Side Story.

2. The 2016 film, Is That a Gun in Your Pocket? about a Texas town whose women want to make their menfolk abandon their love of guns. 

But, 2025 is a different time than 411 BC in other than calendar designation. We have Putin and Trump to contend with and they seem to have sublimated whatever libido or libidinous fantasy they still have into political conquest, and any frustration they experience at attempts to satisfy it causes a lot of collateral damage. The on-again-off-again tariff chaos is just one example. Ukraine has been undergoing a more desperate reaction.

I like a good "battle-of-the-sexes" comedy as much as the next guy, even when the joke is on us penis-packers; 2025 however, isn't starting out being very funny. This is going to be - must be - the year of public demonstration, and it has certainly started south of the border. The streets of many US cities were filled with demonstrators recently to protest the anti-science policies of their new administration. The signs were creative ("Vaccines Can Fight Brain Worms") and the commitment was inspiring. Washington DC in a March cold spell is uncomfortable, but the government actions being protested threatened much worse. Humorous signs had an edge that Lysistrata would have appreciated.

We have choices to make here in Canada, starting with a change in government. No, we don't have to wait for that event. There have been a lot of "Buy Canadian" messages circulating and you can get one easily enough. Your spending pattern is a political tool, if you are able to use it. I know that some folk cannot travel to shop at different grocery stores or are constrained by income and family responsibilities to spend what little they have at the best bargain outlet. Do what you can when you can. The political change will come soon enough.

In regard to buying decisions, I was recently informed that the package messages "Made in Canada" and "Product of Canada" mean very different things. If it says "Made in Canada" it means that at least 51% of content and labour production costs were from Canada while"Product of Canada" designates an item 98% sourced in our country. But watch out.

A big maple leaf sticker on an item can give the impression of Canadian source, but only closer inspection will reveal the true origin. And for some things such as coffee, bananas and oranges, you know they had to be imported and so you may want to see who was doing the importing. Even products that meet the labelling standards may be ultimately sourced by US companies and that creates an additional dilemma. I know Thifty's is now owned by Sobey's from eastern Canada, and I can look for other food outlets such as my local "Market" store. I originally thought Sobey's was a US firm, but thanks to one of my readers I have been set straight. The point I wanted to make was that workers at both places are still residents of this city and they didn't start the trade war.

The CBC has a page that you may find informative for spending your food dollars. Have a look at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/made-in-canada-product-of-canada-1.7451556  And, for the big decision coming soon to an electoral district in which you live, get informed and get involved. And if you feel inclined, go back and read the earlier blog, "Voting Daze". It was composed in kinder times but with a message that I think is still relevant.

Lysistrata was a comedy written a long time ago by a guy in a dress. In the last two hundred years the gals have been changing their dresses for work clothes and business suits and rugby pads. The accessories they would like include pay cheques, and legal protections and government positions. The tools are the same ones revolutionaries have aways used - diplomas, demonstrations and regrettably, blood. It would be nice to think that laughter would also be effective.