Building Cosmopolitical Solidarity from the Antigone: A Return to the Chorus

“Building Cosmopolitical Solidarity from the Antigone.” takes an in-depth look at
how the Antigone by Sophocles has been used by social movements and
social/politically concerned playwrights, theorists and activists as either a tool for
discursive and performative resistance, or as a way to reinforce status-quo state rule
since at least the Enlightenment to present day. I argue that Sophocles’ characters
Creon and Antigone are not ideal images for social movements who seek a
cosmopolitical democracy. Rather it is to Sophocles’ Chorus and the Watchman that we
must turn when proposing democratic cosmopolitanism. Thus, a new communication
approach is proposed: a choral dialogue driven by pragmatic logic and employing an
aesthetic, often comedic, improvisational experience. Further, this work strives to unite
theories from social science, social movement theory, rhetoric, philosophy and theatre.
Its aim is to offer practical tools for social movements who wish to gain international,
cosmopolitical, stature and to encourage a progressive democratic space. Core study
groups include the Project for a New American Century, Reverend Billy and the Church
of Stop Shopping, ACT-UP, and the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army.