Fly the flag

Much of the country is presently obsessed by the World Cup. There is no denying that its murky chauvinist side is getting a good outing. Chants of ‘What does it feel like to win a war?’ rang out in many a town centre and pub after England’s victory over Argentina - whose subsequent exit from the competition will no doubt have caused some concern among the ranks of the Argentine government, hoping success would serve to distract attention from the country’s economic crisis.

However, despite the rash of bank holidays, the opening of the annual newspaper silly season and, of course, the nationalist outpourings provoked by the football and jubilee, working class politics can still be pushed to the fore. The Weekly Worker will, of course, be doing its best in this connection.

Our thanks go to the four comrades who sent us money this week: HJ (£25), PL (£15), OD (£10) and, last but no means least, LH with £5. This week’s £55 leaves us with only £160 towards our monthly target of £450 and two weeks gone. Comrades, help us fly the flag for working class politics. Please rush in your donations now.

Robbie Rix

Ask for a bankers order form, or send cheques, payable to Weekly Worker, BCM Box 928, London WC1N 3XX

Weekly Worker 436 is available in pdf format as zipped (1.80MB) or unzipped (2.15MB) files

Number 436

Thursday June 13 2002

The Weekly Worker is available from bookshops across the United Kingdom or can be delivered direct to your door by completing our online subscription form.

World cup 2002: Reclaim the game
Foot ball needs to be taken out of the hands ofcapitalists and placed under the control of those who play, watch and enjoy it, argues Mike Speed

Letters
Ukraine alliance; Falsification; Education strike; CPGB adaptation; Israel democracy; Kashmir; Beware Sparts

Simon Harvey of the Socialist Labour Party
No activity, no information and no communication

Socialist Alliance: Executive sets ambitious timetable
Marcus Strom reports on the latest meeting of the SA executive

SWP comes out for 'no'
Motion for the Socialist Alliance October conference on the euro referendum

Nottinghamshire SA: Republican success
The decision of Notts Socialist Alliance to mount some kind of protest against the jubilee was undoubtedly a correct one, writes Sam Metcalf

Taaffe still hanking after a veto
Letter from the Socialist Party to the Socialist Alliance national executive

Slow progress for ESF
Roughly 50 delegates representing national mobilisations for November’s three-day conference of the European Social Forum met on June 10 in Rome, Roland Loveless was there

• Tina Becker spoke to two members of Rifondazione Comunista. Luciano Muhlbauer is the representative of trade union federation Cobas and Marco Berlinguer is RC’s programme officer

India-Pakistan: Debating Kashmir
Bob Paul and Marcus Strom report on the June 6 Socialist Aliance meeting

Secularism and self-determination
Phil Kent welcome the return of working class politics in the debate on Kashmir

Connolly rally ambushed
Saturday's Connolly march in Edinburgh was attacked by rightwingers. Sarah McDonald reports

Dialectics of defeat
The Alliance for Workers’ Liberty’s conception of barbarism is designed to obfuscate, argues Martyn Hudson

Israel-Palestine: Wrong side of the road
Socialist Alliance member Martin Wicks recently returned from Israel, where he spoke to representatives of workers’ campaigns and Israeli army refuseniks

Divisions in SWP surface
Has Chris Harman become a CPGB ally, asks Mark Fischer