- The Guardian
- Issue #2112
This week’s target of US aggression is the final one, Vietnam, 1950-73: The slippery slope for the US began by siding with the French, the former colonisers and collaborators with the Japanese, and against Ho Chi Minh and his followers who had worked closely with the Allied war effort.
Ho Chi Minh had written numerous letters to President Truman and the State Department asking for US help in winning Vietnamese independence from the French and finding a peaceful solution for his country. All his entreaties were ignored.
Twenty-three years later, the United States withdrew its military forces from Vietnam, the biggest military power in history defeated by a tiny southeast Asian nation. Beaten by the great struggle and sacrifice of the Vietnamese people and international solidarity.
PARASITE(S) OF THE WEEK: Are the perpetrators of fascist violence and the political forces supporting them. As the new season of soccer kicked off in Britain last week it was against a background of racist rioting across the country and large-scale resistance to it.
James Nalton of the Morning Star reports as stadiums open their gates and teams return to action with fresh hope for a new season, soccer fans now have their chance to add to that resistance, as they have done on so many occasions in the past.
It is an opportunity for soccer to show its solidarity with those who have been targeted and forge working-class unity using the sport as a vehicle.
The sport and society are inseparable, and soccer has forever been intertwined with politics and vice a versa.
The mass gatherings of diverse but like-minded groups of people, from local communities and beyond, is a signal that the divisions the far-right extremists attempt to sow do not really exist.
In England, anti-racist and anti-fascist movements have mobilised across the country, showing that on-the-ground resistance can triumph where political parties have failed.
A newly elected Labour government that flirted with the right during its election campaign rather than condemning it outright, gave these racist and discriminatory viewpoints as much credence as those that concocted them in the first place.
Social media sites have pushed disinformation to stir up racism. One of those sites is X, formerly Twitter, whose owner Elon Musk has been endorsing various far-right figures.
Having stoked the fires, politicians and their media are now faced with the reality and consequences, but refuse to take responsibility.
The sentiment of the simple but effective chant of resistance: “This is what community looks like,” heard across the country in recent days, can be demonstrated at soccer grounds up and down the leagues in the coming weeks.
It is a chance for the resistance movement to come together at the soccer, and for the game to be part of this wider show of unity and solidarity, showing that those newly emboldened racists are far outnumbered by the resistance movement that is fighting back and needs to continue to do so.
“Unity of action of the proletariat on a national and international scale is the mighty weapon which renders the working class capable not only of successful defence but also of successful counter-attack against fascism.”
Georgi Dimitrov, 1935.
