A-list
mailing list archive

Other Periods  | Other mailing lists  | Search  ]

Date:  [ Previous  | Next  ]      Thread:  [ Previous  | Next  ]      Index:  [ Author  | Date  | Thread  ]

Re: [A-List] World Cups and Argentina



At 23/12/01 18:19 -0300, you quoted:
En relación a Re: [A-List] Argentine spontaneous insurrection,
el 23 Dec 01, a las 9:06, Louis Proyect dijo:

> What shocking nonsense and a willful distortion of reality. This is
> not a celebration over a World Cup victory, it is a spontaneous
> uprising against a regime of imperialist austerity.

Although there is a subtle haughty contempt in the pages of the Financial Times about Argentina's problems, I can confirm that there is no haughty contempt among the English public towards Argentina in the next round of the World Cup.


The English are used to being beaten at cricket. Apart from hooligans organised by right wing racists, as a whole English people have had to learn modesty about football too. Even the Murdoch populist press has had to be more cautious.

Football is a game of the urban working class. Despite the gigantic transfer fees it retains strong democratic features. It is a test of collective group intelligence and courage which can be relatively independent of the economic strength of the country in the system of global finance capital. Cameroun can win the respect of European countries, and Argentina is regarded as the strongest team in the world today.

The English appreciate their able and diplomatic Swedish coach. He has said without hesitation that England has been drawn with the most difficult group with Argentina in the next round of the world cup. That is not because it also includes Sweden.

We fear that the Argentinan goal shooting is more accurate than their Exocet missiles.

Now if it had been the other way round, Mrs Thatcher, rather than the Videla regime, would have gone many years before she did.

Chris Burford

London









Other Periods  | Other mailing lists  | Search  ]