Workers of the Terrace Unite?
Different team colours, same flag of resistance or fan allegiance against worker unity...
Celtic FC are currently out in front with no real challenge presented against their dominance domestically speaking, and they appear to have all the hallmarks of a team who simply won't be stopped at any point in the near future. Not to mention it's now been two years since they last lost a league game at Celtic Park. For Celtic fans at least, times are good. Very good.
Elsewhere, however, times are bad. Very bad. The so-called "cost of living crisis" is but one example. And I refer to it as so called because, despite a media and government agenda trying its best to convince, actually, this is a very easy to solve problem which is well within the confines of a rich Westminster government. This 'crisis' is typical of any aggressively capitalist right wing country however in that it allows for economic bust periods where prices skyrocket amid static wages and low growth. And all the while, 'big business' pompously register record breaking profit margins, such as British Gas as of February 2023.
Utterly sickening.
This is the way of our society however which is greasily maintained by a central government who, in part, benefit from it. And it is the bulk of the electorate of this union of nations who, unforgivingly, allow it to continue. All be it, aided and abetted by a manipulating mainstream media owned by a handful of wealthy white men with strong anti left wing prejudices. Not to mention a Westminster voting system which is deliberately designed to disable fairer and equal representation of how the public truly vote.
And democracy, we are told to name this!
We ought to remember of course that the UK government is shamelessly set up to serve big business - (See Michelle Mone et al) as they actually benefit from such a 'crisis' and, typically, the voters of the capitalist party in power are largely unaffected by the harsh economic landscape, so why would the same capitalist party in power even bother to provide the necessary interventions for those who suffer? Simply label it a 'crisis' instead, the same way that capitalists all over the globe label famines as natural disasters, despite the same globe having enough food to feed us all six times over, according to the UN.
This is perhaps the most pernicious example of political smoke and mirrors which are manufactured in order to preserve the financial wealth and power of the morally bankrupt political and corporate elite.
Some of us, however, can see through this routine for what it is, a form of class war waged by the oligarchic against the ordinary.
Excitingly, it is great to witness the fightback of the ordinary - now in its hundreds of thousands - as evidenced in the Enough is Enough campaign for social and political change. Not to mention, of course, the support shown for the striking workers of the RMT, Royal Mail, and nurses unions to name a few. The working class are, at present, fighting back and show no sign of relenting. Times may be getting better. If a little slowly.
And this is why the theatre of sport, particularly fitba' - a historically working class sport - can perhaps play a crucial supporting role too.
Solidarity From Terrace to Town Centre
And as much support as possible is what is needed. That's why I, as a politicised Tim like many within the Celtic support, think it both wonderful and essential to see fans of our club front and centre amongst this rebellious period of much needed protest and political change.
I'm referring here to the recent banners of worker and strike solidarity spotted at Celtic Park. Not to mention the social media presence of certain Celtic fans groups such as the North Curve and closely aligned Green Brigade who also play a role in popularising and educating the masses with regards to the worker solidarity movement. For example, when they endorsed a message online that the current UK Government has now spent more money fighting striking RMT workers than it could have spent on simply meeting their demands, they were engaging in the game of class consciousness. This is simply tremendous. And completely unique to Celtic FC Ultras groups, indeed it is utterly impossible to name another team in Scotland with such a worker focused and class conscious base to their support.
Further, it has been great to see the numerous banners of support from fan sections of our club at both home and away games which have been direct in their support for the specific struggle currently experienced by RMT rail workers, which is now into its 8th month and is fast becoming the 21stC equivalent of the Miners Strike.
The aforementioned Celtic ultras group were also visible in good numbers at the Buchanan Street rally in October 2022 spearheaded by Roz Foyer of the STUC.
Solidarity First - Fitba' Team Second?
The figurehead of these movements nationwide is, of course, the uniquely unflappable Mick Lynch who, by his own political admission, is a keen admirer of one of Scotland's most significant sons of Irish heritage, James Connolly of Edinburgh's Little Ireland, or Cowgate. Best remembered amongst the political Tim's as an Irish revolutionary martyr of the Easter Rising executed in Kilmainham Gaol in typically cowardly fashion by the imperialist forces of Britain.
He was also regarded as one of Europe's most influential trade unionists and strike organisers and, in an attempt to bolster the anti sectarian trade union movement in the North east of Ireland, he created the Irish Citizen Army, a physical force armed militia who provided much needed back up to striking workers whilst on their pickets.
Lynch's able comrade, Eddie Dempsey, has also admitted his fondness for Celtic FC who are his chosen Scottish team. Maybe I'm being too biased or even a tad romanticised here, but I like to think of this as a Tim friendly movement.
However, this is completely detrimental of course. And the socialist in me - which is by far and away more important than the Tim in me - knows that to factionalise such a movement of solidarity and protest along tribal footballing lines is to undermine it completely and serves only the interests of the ruling class as they attempt to continually divide and ultimately conquer the worker.
So, whether it is indeed a Tim-centric worker solidarity movement or not that is currently alive and kicking in Glasgow and beyond, let it continue to rise, resist and revolt regardless of fitba' colours.
But it would be good to see some support in the terraces from other fan groups too, whether based in Ibrox, Inverness or anywhere else for that matter. Although it seems an impossibility at present, it would be great to have a united fan-front here in Scotland visibly present outside of stadia every weekend and in civic squares on days of parade.
A fan collective who were capable of wearing their teams own colours whilst marching together, side by side, all under the same flag flying proudly above them: the Red flag of socialism and all that it encompasses from social justice to the fairer redistribution of wealth of the corrupted few amongst the industrious many.
Well, I can but dream…
*An abridged version of this article also appears in The Alternative View Fanzine.