Dear Editor,
Just after the start of the World Cup, a commentator said that Ghana’s team was the youngest in the competition and some of them played in the Ghana football league. I there and then picked them to get through the group stage of the competition because I reckoned that they would play with a greater national purpose than any other African team, eg Cameroon, that is made up of mainly of Africans domiciled in Europe. Ghana did not let me down. They brought second to Germany in their group.
On Cameroon, I took a friendly G$500 bet with Cecil Joshia (and a non-monetary bet with Terry Fletcher) that Cameroon would lose every game because many of their players who lived in Europe initially yearned to play for European nations. I reflected that many had divided loyalties.
Back to Ghana. I picked Ghana to win against the USA in the round of 16 knock-out stage because of “greater national purpose.” What I did not reckon for was the fear they drove into the hearts and minds of the USA team. When the match ended and Ghana won, I thought of the class fear, the class struggle and Karl Marx.
Ghana represented the working classes of the world – not only those from the continent of Africa and its diaspora. The match began with these representatives of the working class taking the offensive.
Within 20 minutes the USA had to change a team member and tactics. The match remained a picture epic of the class struggle – into overtime they had to go. At the moment Ghana scored the winning goal the commentator said that the strike was done with “power and purpose.” The commentator then paused and added, “and precision.” I savoured the moment, reflected on the phrases , and at the end of the match Marx’s writings on the class struggle flooded my brain. I have no doubt that imperialism will collapse and “the wretched of the earth” will one day triumph.
I thought of the PNC and hope that it recognizes the lesson of this match and advance to 2011 with power and purpose.
I hope to get a DVD of the match USA v Ghana and look, listen, and reflect on it again and again – “power and purpose.”
Yours faithfully,
Tom Dalgety
