Re: [Marxism] England Football Supporters

[Jscotlive@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 18/06/2006 18:22:07 GMT Daylight Time, ian@xxxxxxxxxxx
writes:

OK - but  in England at least those 'progressive forces' (in the sense of
those who  have no truck with nationalism) are *very* much the minority. Go
to any  working-class housing estate and you'll see England flags plastered
all  over the place. I'm looking for thoughts on how it's possible to combat
the greater pull that nationalism rather than international socialism has
for a large number of the white working classes here (and increasingly
you'll find England flags sported by black and Asian people as  well).



Reply:

Yes, there needs to be a way to alter that false consciousness. In the  short
term, in the case of the US and British working classes, the rout of their
military forces by the Iraqi resistance would serve to make them rethink their
previously held received truths about the superiority of their respective
militaries and cultures. We saw this occur in the US during and after the
Vietnam War and there is no reason to think a similar change in consciousness
would occur in the case of Iraq.

In the long term, at least in British terms, the break-up of the British
State should be the goal of all internationalists residing in the British Isles.
Only a qualitative change in the composition of the British State, an
imperialist construct, with a Republic as a minimum demand for Scotland, Wales  
and
Ireland, do we stand a chance, in my view, of permanently altering the
consciousness of the English working class and their attachment to the glory of
belonging to a nation defined by militarism.

JD
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