Re: The interpretation of sports (1 of 2)

[Adam Rose <adam@xxxxxxxx>]

On Wednesday morning I walked into work late singing "Deutschland uber alles"
- well, the opening line only - I had to hum the rest, because I don't
know the words. As is usual on such occassions, I was the figurehead of
an unholy alliance of Irish Catholics, Nigerians, Scots, football haters,
and Marxists.

The nationalist hysteria here would have been quite unbearable if England had
won. I extend my deepest sympathies to the German comrades.

There are plenty of working class football fans depressed at England's defeat
today. But the most depressed person in England is John Major - no nationalist
tide for him to ride on.

The press recently has been whipping up anti - German feeling over BSE and
over football. I think this trend will continue, particularly with an
unpopular Labour government and a rightward moving Tory opposition.

What is interesting ( and this relates to previous discussions ) is that
the nationalist hysteria has NOT been entirely successful. The most
disgusting of the tabloid press racism has been widely condemned, even
by the Tory England Football manager Terry Venables. On BSE, while many people
do think we should be allowed to export "our beef", the Tories have not been
able to divert blame for the BSE crisis away from themselves ( despite
Labour's support for the Tories against "the Germans" ).

[ Last night, someone made the interesting point that Trotsky's observation
about the nationalist hysteria in Vienna applies to such sporting nationalism -
it relieves people from the everyday tedium of their normal lives, and
makes them feel important, and in a distorted way, brings them together
collectively. This collective feeling in Vienna in 1914 eerily reminded
Trotsky of the 1905 revolution - in the same way, the events in Trafalgar
square the last week had echoes of the 1990 Poll Tax riot ].

Adam.



Adam Rose
SWP
Manchester
UK


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