Re: [Marxism] England Football Supporters

[Yuriy Dergunov <dergunov2005@xxxxxxx>]

Jac> Surely there is no uglier sight than thousands of England fans gathering to
Jac> support their team. The nationalism, jingoism and racism is disgusting, as
Jac> they  verily drink themselves into a stupor whilst singing songs 
celebrating the
Jac> Second World War. In Germany they've come with inflatable Spitfires, German
Jac> Second World War army helmets, and an attitude of football as war by other
Jac> means. Surely it speaks to an attachment to Empire and imperialism which
Jac> pervades the English working class, resulting in a national chauvinism 
which  allows
Jac> British governments to continue to engage in imperialist military  
adventures
Jac> to this day and get away with it.

Absolutely agree.

Jac> In comparison the African and South American fans bring joy and celebration
Jac> to the game. In fact there is a marked difference between the behaviour of
Jac> fans  from the undeveloped world and those from the developed world as a  
whole.
Jac> I wonder if the list agrees with that.

In some aspects. Sometimes when World Cup becomes a suppression of the
national dignity of Third World countries they also can become very
angry. I remember anti-white pogroms in Camerun during World Cup 2002
when referee's mistake was the reason Camerun didn't come to 1/16. But
of course the nature of this angryness is quite different, it's not
shauvinistic, but is born by oppression.

There're other dimensions of Third World "inchada". In some cases it
becomes a sourse of faulse solidarity. In Ukraine where I live all
major clubs are the property of some oligarchic groups and football in
a kind of a toy of capitalists. And it makes usual people mad in some
ways. The ordinary worker can say about Rinat Akhmetov, a president of
Shakhtyor FC and the owner of a half of Ukrainian metal industry
that for him it's doesn't matter that Akhmetov exploits him because he
is a president of his favourite team. The same picture is with
international team that for the first time plays at World Cup. It
became an important topic in government propaganda.


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