FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM!
International Communist Workers Party
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FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM! |
International Communist Workers Party | |
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“Look out for yourself!” That’s the mass line of capitalism. “We all need each other” is the communist motto. Those differences are often overlooked, but a big story like the FIFA scandal exposes them as night and day, and shows the need for a communist movement and Red Flag.
No matter what angle the capitalist media take, they write the masses out of the story. Read the press in Russia, Asia, Africa and parts of the Americas and Sepp Blatter, the head of FIFA, is a hero and a victim. Read the press in the US or Western Europe and he’s a demon.
Is it Personality or Media Rivalry?
Centering the discussion on Blatter’s personality downplays the titanic break that is shattering the world order and making world war inevitable. US imperialism is no longer on top. Look at the world’s most popular cultural event, the World Cup. The last two venues were in South Africa and Brazil. The next two are planned for Russia and Qatar. The sites reflect the growing influence of the BRICS (the up-and-coming imperialist powers) against the interests of US imperialism and its allies.
Centering the discussion on the inter-imperialist rivalry helps explain the US’s need for full- spectrum media coverage of the FIFA charges. The pressure from the mass movement against racist police murder, however, has forced their hand. The mass anger that has swept the US has exposed the always false claims of the US to represent fair and just governance. Exposing the reality of its racist brutality, these demonstrations have not only weakened its influence among its allies but also damaged it ability to recruit youth to its Armed Forces.
Is it Media Manipulation?
The US desperately needs to restore its image as the defender of fair and just governance. It’s a hard sell. They can’t stop police terror or discipline the banks, but they’ll “root out” FIFA’s misconduct! Without a willing media it would be an impossible sell. Red Flag has a vital role to play, countering all this.
This story could also center on the fact that everything capitalism touches, it destroys. The “beautiful game” with few rules and hardly any special equipment invites people of all body sizes to play and excel. It emphasizes the reality that “we all need each other.” It builds community but it has also built capitalism.
Football (“soccer” in the U.S.) is the center of a growing sports economy that accounts for 2% of global GDP. It has long ago attracted major capitalists like Coca-Cola who pay (bribe) FIFA $30 million to secure the rights to promote their drinks in Asia, Africa and South America. It has also attracted smaller capitalists, like the drug cartels who make easy money fixing games—preying mostly on smaller teams in weaker leagues, like Eastern Europe, for example.
Or is it the Masses in Motion?
At the center of the FIFA scandal story is the mass activity of football fans. Most soccer fans are workers. It was the uprising of the Brazilian fans demanding hospitals, not football stadiums, that signaled trouble for Sepp Blatter and FIFA. In Turkey, Bestikas fans (who played a major role in the Gezi Park uprisings) face a government ban against political chants. In England fans protested against a mega TV deal with the chant: “They don’t care about football. They don’t care about fans. All they care about – is money and brands!”
The fans are in motion, but they shouldn’t be fighting for either side. African football associations’ defense of Blatter is an equally blatant attempt to confuse the masses in capitalist regimes which are increasing attacking the working class. Our role is to win fans—and all workers—to fight for communism—not to reform the beautiful game.
The mobilized fans who champion use values like hospitals in Brazil and parks in Turkey, and access to games over money and brands (in England) are a sign of political awakening. The US capitalists are responding to this, as well as their declining power in the world, by launching an ideological campaign to restore their image. Our answer is building Red Flag and the ICWP. We know it is a David and Goliath battle. We also know that David won!
