Lawful??

         The law is not there to be obeyed by all, it's there to intimidate the plebs and defend the rich and powerful parasites of this exploitative class system. It will be brought into play as and when when it suits the powers that be. No matter the the obscenity of the situation created by those powers, you can rely on their weaponised thugs, the police, to support them. Once again this absurdity of the law and the unlawful being used in conjunction to try to crush an autonomous space. In their self serving rule book, all must be brought under the watchful eye of the state, by any means possible. This attempt at intimidation and eviction of an autonomous space demands our support and solidarity. Freedom is ours for the taking, just as shackles and obedience are ours by acceptance.

The following from Enough is Enough: 

 

        Pertuis. France. This morning Roger Pellenc carried out his threats at the ZAP (Zone à patates), where we are occupying several houses to fight against a project to extend a commercial zone and the capitalist world that engenders it. A shovel escorted by six municipal policemen came to destroy the gate of the common house as well as the fence and the hedge along the street and seriously damaged the reception hut that we had built in the last few days. All this under the hilarious look of the municipal police.

Originally published by Squat Net.

Some people from the ZAP witnessed these actions, a comrade tried to get between the shovel and the gate. The driver of the machine threatened him and continued his work while putting him in danger. Then the police tried to arrest him. In the morning, prolonging the pressure of the municipal police, a helicopter of the gendarmerie turned a lot around the houses.

We remind you that since the procedure is still in progress, the inhabitants of this house cannot be evicted. This destruction is therefore totally illegal and breaks domestic peace. It demonstrates once again the mafia methods of Roger Pellenc. It confirms to those who still doubt that the police have no shame in acting against the law to serve the interests of an autocratic, all-powerful mayor, ruling like a kingpin over the city of Pertuis.
We will not be intimidated. We will react on all fronts. We will file a complaint. We will rebuild in more solid what was destroyed. And above all we will defend with determination and determination these houses that we occupy.
Today we need support: material, financial for the procedure, and especially, your presence. We need to be more numerous, so we call on all of you to join us at the ZAP. May the force be with us!

La ZAP (Zone à patates)
Pertuis, France
lazapdepertuis [at] riseup [dot] net
https://zappertuis.noblogs.org/

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Keelie.

 

           Despite the usual Glasgow dull, cold, dreich, drizzly rain type of weather, the Glasgow Keelie folks were out today on the street doing their thing. They set up at the corner of Sauchiehall Street at the large, now closed BHS building. As usual the free Glasgow Keelie was well received, with a considerable number disappearing with passing Glesca Folks being eager to get their hands on a copy. Did you get one? if so how about letting us know what you think, or better if you would like to help with the distribution, just get in touch through The Glasgow Keelie webpage.

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

Organise.

            So many strikes called by unions end up as a sell-out by the unions, they seem to see themselves as part of the system, and negotiate from that position, so I doubt they will do anything to bring the system down. The case of the striking metalworkers in Cadiz, Spain, is just another sell-out by unions. This strike not only had the support of the workers but also the support of the local community and wider afield, but the unions settled for what most consider an insulting deal. So the workers with reluctance go back feeling once again the union has sold them out to the bosses.

The following from Angry Workers:

         But the die is cast: the media celebrate the ‘agreement’ in style, and confusion and frustration, if not demoralisation, reigns.
         Nobody is happy with the agreement, but the workers come back to work resigned, treating the unions treason like business as usual. At this point, it can’t even be considered a treason anymore.
         However, the 220 CYMI workers, a Dragados subcontractor with some of the most precarious contracts with not even union representation and left out of the infamous agreement decided to keep striking for almost two weeks in total until they got rises of between 200 and 400 euros.
        There has been some more strikes all over Spain that normally end with similar results but it feels like more workers are starting to get pissed with the whole situation. The question is if the workers will find the way to self-organise in a way that allows them to put up a fight on their own terms. Some union bureaucrats are having a hard time to keep the workers in line, like this CCOO representative telling this group of cleaners that the strike has been called off and them telling him to fuck off. Instant classic.

          Perhaps the road to take for those workers wishing to take control of their conditions would be to follow the example of the Clyde Workers Committee from the Clydeside in 1915.

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Keelie 25.

   

         The December issue, No. 25, of the Glasgow Keelie is now out and finding its way on to our streets, look to grab your copy, we will be out and about the city centre handing out the best wee free newspaper in the city. We will also be dropping them of at pubs and cafes around the city, so look out for this wee gem. The Glasgow Keelie is the voice of the ordinary Glesca folks, you can add you voice and and turn our whisper into a roar of protest at what is wrong with our society and who is responsible. Drop us a note, get in touch, let's hear your grips, moans and anger.

 Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

Fascism.

  

             I'm puzzled at the quiet streets here in the UK, lots of chatter about a bunch of of arrogant wealthy parasites having a party and spouting they don't know anything about it but insisting no rules were broken. When quietly and surreptitiously our cabal of those who believe they were born to rule, are moving us steadfastly into an authoritarian state. The legislation being passed to prevent any form of protest, with extra powers to the police that will massively restrict your right to protests, form groups, lock arms or make a noise. inconveniencing corporate business, annoying anybody by making a noise can now land you with a fine or imprisonment. These laws will be set in stone as far as the establishment is concerned. Your freedom of movement and freedom to protest at what you see as injustice could see you criminalised, all the true hallmarks of fascism, yet our streets are quiet. We are quietly walking into a prison cell and applying our own shackles and handcuffs. This is serious, once on the statute book, it is there for keeps, they have got you to accept the death of protesting, so whatever they throw at you, to protest could end any shred of freedom you had as an individual. Remember, fascism doesn't come with jackboots and street thugs, it comes with wealthy individuals in chauffeur driven limousines. 

Thanks Loam for the following link to this video:

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Assange.

         Our mock democracy is always spouting about our free press, and how fortunate we are in having such freedom as to publish facts, no matter come what may. However, if you ever get round to publishing the dark deeds and violent doings of the state, then your freedom to publish rapidly evaporates.  When you make public the brutality and lying of the state, the state apparatus moves into overdrive, and ignores the information and shoots the messenger. That is the shape of our so called Western freedom. The case of Julian Assange is living proof of this methodology. The state will not tolerate anyone who dares to reveal the nasty, brutal activities it indulges in to protect and further its power and wealth. The UK judicial system, which comprises mainly of wealthy, privileged pro-establishment figures, today has by granting U$A the right to extradite Julian Assange, more or less sentenced a journalist to a life in an American prison, for telling the truth. Those who claim we live in a democracy, are either blind and naive, or one of the privileged parasites that control our lives. Where is the uproar from all those journalist that spout about our free press? If they are honest reporters, they could be next.   

Image courtesy of David G. Silvers, Cancillería del Ecuador - Wikimedia.

 

The following from Wikipedia:

             Julian Paul Assange (/əˈsɑːnʒ/;[3] born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks came to international attention in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by U.S. Armyintelligence analystChelsea Manning. These leaks included the Baghdad airstrike Collateral Murder video (April 2010),[4][5] the Afghanistan war logs (July 2010), the Iraq war logs (October 2010), and Cablegate (November 2010). After the 2010 leaks, the United States government launched a criminal investigation into WikiLeaks.[6]
            In November 2010, Sweden issued an international arrest warrant for Assange over allegations of sexual misconduct.[7] Assange said the allegations were a pretext for his extradition from Sweden to the United States over his role in the publication of secret American documents.[8][9] After losing his battle against extradition to Sweden, he breached bail and took refuge in the Embassy of Ecuador in London in June 2012.[10] He was granted asylum by Ecuador in August 2012[11] on the grounds of political persecution, with the presumption that if he were extradited to Sweden, he would be eventually extradited to the US.[12] Swedish prosecutors dropped their investigation in 2019, saying their evidence had "weakened considerably due to the long period of time that has elapsed since the events in question."[13]
         During the 2016 U.S. election campaign, WikiLeaks published confidential Democratic Party emails, showing that the party's national committee favoured Hillary Clinton over her rival Bernie Sanders in the primaries.[14]
         On 11 April 2019, Assange's asylum was withdrawn following a series of disputes with the Ecuadorian authorities.[15] The police were invited into the embassy and he was arrested.[16] He was found guilty of breaching the Bail Act and sentenced to 50 weeks in prison.[17] The United States government unsealed an indictment against Assange, related to the leaks provided by Manning. On 23 May 2019, the United States government further charged Assange with violating the Espionage Act of 1917. Editors from newspapers, including The Washington Post and The New York Times, as well as press freedom organisations, criticised the government's decision to charge Assange under the Espionage Act, characterising it as an attack on the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees freedom of the press.[18][19] On 4 January 2021, District Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled against the United States' request to extradite him and stated that doing so would be "oppressive" given his mental health.[20] On 6 January 2021, Assange was denied bail, pending an appeal by the United States.[21] On 10 December 2021 Britain’s Court of Appeal ruled that Assange can be extradited to the USA to face the charges.[22][23]
         Assange has been confined in Belmarsh maximum-security prison in London since April 2019.[24]

 

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State.

          The "State", a small word with gigantic influence over our lives. A mechanism created and evolved into a forceful defender of wealth, power and privileges for the few. A self perpetuating machine for total domination over the population. However it was not God created, nor is it written in tablets of stone, never to be dismissed, it is simply a man made system of control welded to an economic system of greed and inequality. It can be dismantled and replaced with a humane system of fairness, based on co-operation, mutual aid and a driving force to see to the needs of all our people, free from the profit motive. The more we realise this, the quicker we can bring it down and create that better world for all, and relegate the state/capitalist system to history under the label of Humanity's Darkest Hour.

The following from from Anarchist Agency

A New Animated Video Primer From Agency & AK Press

        As we collectively face an increasing level of social and environmental crises around the world, many people are questioning how the State—a system that wreaks so much destruction—even came to exist and why it has such a stranglehold on us. As anarchists we feel that it is important to acknowledge that the State is the framework for ordering and controlling relations among human society, the economy, and the natural world, and that we have the power to create a better world.
        Recently, Agency’s Eric Laursen published The Operating System: An Anarchist Theory of the Modern State—a groundbreaking look at the State and how it performs like a digital operating system, providing a framework for every part of our lives and rendering itself essential to functioning in human society. Not only does Laursen’s book provide a rare anarchist analysis of the State, but it also calls on us to recognize that the State is something that was intentionally created and can just as readily be replaced with something better.
        We are excited to share with you a new animated video, What is the State? (3:44), which we produced with Eric Laursen and illustrator Seth Tobocman to capture the essence of The Operating System. We highly recommend that you check out the book from AK Press, and please share the video with your friends.

YouTube video link here:

https://youtu.be/u1y_dDfkjrc

 

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Obscene.

                                               Image courtesy of Luxury Launches

           “Ultra high net worth individuals” — the wealth management industry’s term for people worth more than $30 million — hold an astoundingly disproportionate share of global wealth. These wealth owners held 6.2 percent of total global wealth, yet represent only a tiny fraction (0.002%) of the world population, based on Institute for Policy Studies analysis of Capgemini and Credit Suisse wealth data and Census Bureau population estimates.

         Inequality is not a natural flow of events, nor is it an unalterable progression, inequality is the result of political and economic decisions. 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. If these political and economic decisions are left to be made by the rich and powerful, then it is obvious how the world's wealth will be distributed. The results of this power in the hands of the few is poverty for the many.
          Since 1995 that 1% of humanity have grabbed 38% of all new wealth, at the other end the poorest 50% of humanity have gained just 2% of that new wealth. Creating an unbridgeable chasm between the privileged few and the poverty stricken many, if we allow this economic insanity to continue.
          By now it is blatantly obvious that obscene inequality is on a trajectory to continue, unless we take the decision making out of the hands of the rich, powerful and privileged few. We live in a world where there are more billionaires than ever before, with their fortunes growing ever faster than before. While hundreds of millions struggle to survive in extreme poverty. All based on political and economic decisions, we can reverse that inhumanity by taking the necessary political and economic decisions on a community and co-operative basis. We the ordinary people, the real wealth creators, have the right to decide how our wealth will be distributed, with a fair and just system that sees to the needs of all our people.
       Some horrifying facts that should motivate us to bring the existing system down and replace it with justice, and equality.
         According to the latest  World Inequality Report,

        The world’s richest 1% have more than twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people.
       Almost half of humanity is living on less than $5.50 a day.
       Only 4 cents in every dollar of tax revenue comes from taxes on wealth.
       The super-rich avoid as much as 30 percent of their tax liability.
       Every day 10,000 people die because they lack access to affordable healthcare.
        Each year, 100 million people are forced into extreme poverty due to healthcare costs.
        Most governments fuel this inequality crisis by massively under taxing corporations and wealthy individuals, and at the same time underfunding vital public services like healthcare and education. It is our choice, accept this injustice and inequality or reverse the process by organising, solidarity and direct action to take control of our wealth and our lives.

Image courtesy of Do Something.

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Anger.

Protests marking the murder of 15 year old Alexis Grigoropoulos by the police

              Young Alexis Grigoropoulos, shortly before he was gunned down by police.

          I happen to be in Athens on December 6th. 2008 when 15 year old Alexis Grigoropoulos was murdered by police, shot dead at a cafe in Exarchia, he died in the arms of his young friend Nikos Romanos Two then teenagers whose lives were defined by state violence. I joined some of the protests in Athens that followed this brutal murder. It was awe inspiring to see so many ordinary people on the streets displaying their righteous anger, thousands day after day, prepared to face down the brutal authority of the state. This event should never be forgotten and never be forgiven. No youth should ever be shot dead while out with friends for an evening coffee. Sadly, that is the society we live under and to date, tolerate.

Nikos Romanos after his arrest by state enforcers.

This from Act For Freedom Now: 

         ‘A bullet in the heart of Alexandros to close the circle of the statist machine’s omnipotence. A bloodstain on the Messolonghiou pedestrian street to open the circle of rebellion that wrecked the legal order and sowed chaos and anarchy in all cities throughout Greece.’
– Nikos Romanos, Requiem for a Journey of No Return.
         As of today, 6/12/2021, it has been 13 years since the Greek state murdered the anarchist Alexis Grigoropoulos. Alexis was shot by two cops, E. Korkoneas and V. Saraliotis, in the neighbourhood of Exarcheia, following minor clashes with the police. As soon as the news of Alexis’s murder broke, a spontaneous insurrection began. Protests, riots, expropriations and occupations of public buildings were but some of the collective expressions of rage. Despite the attempts of state and capital to depoliticise the murder, we must not forget that Alexis was killed because of his political beliefs – he challenged in practice the authority of the police and, by extension, that of the state. This is the violence faced every day by those whose existence the state deems undesirable, those who are a threat to their social order.
          13 years later, the spirit of the December revolt is alive in the resistance of the Anarchist/Anti-Authoritarian movement. As anarchists, we stand in solidarity with all insurrections against the state apparatus worldwide, present and future. Our struggles take place in our streets and neighbourhoods, in our workplaces, schools and universities. We will reclaim our space and our lives.
FROM ATHENS TO SCOTLAND, INSURRECTIONS ARE NOT A UTOPIA.
COPS-FASCISTS-MURDERERS
    Clydeside Anarchist Noise.

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The Street.

         I am always spouting on about anarchist literature on the streets and moaning that there is not near enough. Just so that people don't think that I just spite out these words, I did try to do my bit for a number of years. Over a period of more years than I care to remember, I produced a small free paper called "The Anarchist Critic". I would stomp the streets of Glasgow handing it out, leave it on buses and cafes etc.. Sometimes greeted with a smile, sometimes abuse and sometimes ignored, but it was always with the thought that I was doing my small bit in getting that word "anarchist" on the streets. Sadly age and other disabilities have curtailed that activity somewhat. I still produce the odd issue to hand out at an event. The last one being issue 123 on the cop-out-26.

 

      At one point I tried to put them online, but again that fell by the wayside, other activities and it would have meant meant too much time at the computer and not on the street. However there are some issues on line, so if you are interested in reading those old sheets that found their way onto the streets of Glasgow, you can find them HERE.

This is the latest issue, 123, on the Cop-Out_26 Carnival of Illusions.

 

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Paper.

 

        In keeping with my love of anarchist leaflets/pamphlets/serials etc. being distributed on the street, handed out to the stranger, perhaps a new convert to the principles of anarchism, I endorse and post these words from one such journal Romear.

       "For us the choice to write and to print real paper copies could never be casual decisions, nor would this project be able to exist in the digital realm. The internet is too momentary and seems to relate poorly to the reality of everyday life. By publishing on paper, we want to break away from daily news cycle, bombardment of information and updates and chatter, to find a different time, space, and rhythm on which to connect to each other. Quite apart from the latest instagram post from one’s favorite internet celebrity or would-be politician whose opinion can be summed up in a 20 second snippet, we want to find ways to communicate our ideas, desires, and frustrations with this world with all the complexities and difficulties they entail, and to give the required attention and care to this, never competing with trendy slogans or easy answers. We also want these ideas to end up in strangers’ hands, not decided according to algorithms of google or facebook whether they are meant for you or not. We like chance encounters, hearing via-via that someone got handed a copy of RUMOER or found one in a folder on the street."

               From Anarchist News some of the paper that ended up on our streets, not a definitive list, I'm sure you will be aware of many others, but obviously not enough. 

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Event.

 

     An event not to be missed, two great minds come together James Kelman, activist, and famous author from Glasgow and Noam Chomsky, world renowned philosopher to discuss anthropology and social change, "Between Thought and Expression". Presented by PM Press. December 6th.

https://youtu.be/7iR_BMCOZ6A

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Tomorrow!

       Sometimes a few verses can say more than a few volumes. Poetry is a wonderful way of expressing those deeper emotions and thoughts, that halfway house between music and conversation.

                                                   Image courtesy of libcom.

 Not So Long Ago

Woke one bright morning not so long ago;
Heard the sound of shooting out on the street below;
Went to the window and saw the barricade
Of paving stones the working people made not so long ago.

Met a man that morning not so long ago;
Handed me a leaflet on the street below;
Lean and hard-faced working man with a close-cropped head;
Held me for a moment, eye to eye, then said,
“Read it. Read it. Read it and learn
What it is we fight for and why the churches burn.”

Out on the Ramblas, she passed me on her way,
Weapon cradled in her arm; it was but yesterday.
“Not just for wages now and not alone for bread.
We’re fighting for a whole new world, a whole new world,” she said.

On the barricades all over town not so long ago,
The time had come to answer with simple “Yes” or “No.”

They, too, were storming heaven. Do you think they fought in vain?
That because they lost a battle they would never rise again?
That the man with the leaflets, the woman with the gun,
Did not have a daughter? Did not have a son?

Hugo Dewar. 

                                          Image courtesy of Stand Up And Spit:

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Fascism.

         Democracy is a fragile thing, slowly and silently it disappears if we don't exercise the freedoms it offers. That old statement about our world, "use it or lose it" applies to democracy as it does to other things in our life. Today we quietly see democracy being whittled down by an authoritarian cabal who hold sway over our lives, and our anger is just a ripple. The government's new police, crime, sentencing and courts bill is simply an over dose of anaesthetic to our freedoms and any semblance of democracy we might have had, yet still no real anger from the populace. By ignoring the vile authoritarian aspects of this bill we are quietly putting the states handcuffs on ourselves, putting their shackles on our own ankles. Taking these appendages off will be far more difficult than putting them on.

Image courtesy of The Canary.

The following article was written by George Monbiot:

        December 03, 202: Information Clearing House -- "The Guardian" - This is proper police state stuff. The last-minute amendments crowbarred by the government into the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill are a blatant attempt to stifle protest, of the kind you might expect in Russia or Egypt. Priti Patel, the home secretary, shoved 18 extra pages into the bill after it had passed through the Commons, and after the second reading in the House of Lords. It looks like a deliberate ploy to avoid effective parliamentary scrutiny. Yet in most of the media there’s a resounding silence.
       Among the new amendments are measures that would ban protesters from attaching themselves to another person, to an object, or to land. Not only would they make locking on – a crucial tool of protest the world over – illegal, but they are so loosely drafted that they could apply to anyone holding on to anything, on pain of up to 51 weeks’ imprisonment.
       It would also become a criminal offence to obstruct in any way major transport works from being carried out, again with a maximum sentence of 51 weeks. This looks like an attempt to end meaningful protest against road-building and airport expansion. Other amendments would greatly expand police stop and search powers. The police would be entitled to stop and search people or vehicles if they suspect they might be carrying any article that could be used in the newly prohibited protests, presumably including placards, flyers and banners. Other new powers would grant police the right to stop and search people without suspicion, if they believe that protest will occur “in that area”. Anyone who resists being searched could be imprisoned for – you guessed it – up to 51 weeks.
      Existing stop and search powers are used disproportionately against Black and Brown people, who are six times as likely to be stopped as white people. The new powers would create an even greater disincentive for people of colour to protest. Then the media can continue to berate protest movements for being overwhelmingly white and unrepresentative.
      Perhaps most outrageously, the amendments contain new powers to ban named people from protesting. The grounds are extraordinary, in a nation that claims to be democratic. We can be banned if we have previously committed “protest-related offences”. Thanks to the draconian measures in the rest of the bill – many of which pre-date these amendments – it will now be difficult to attend a protest without committing an offence. Or we can be banned if we have attended or “contributed to” a protest that was “likely to result in serious disruption”. Serious disruption, as the bill stands, could mean almost anything, including being noisy. If you post something on social media that encourages people to turn up, you could find yourself on the list. Anyone subject to one of these orders, like a paroled prisoner, might be required to present themselves to the authorities at “particular times on particular days”. You can also be banned from associating with particular people or “using the internet to facilitate or encourage” a “protest-related offence”.
       These are dictators’ powers. The country should be in uproar over them, but we hear barely a squeak. The Kill the Bill protesters have tried valiantly to draw our attention to this tyrant’s gambit, and have been demonised for their pains. Otherwise, you would barely know it was happening.
       Protest is an essential corrective to the mistakes of government. Had it not been for the tactics Patel now seeks to ban, the pointless and destructive road-building programme the government began in the early 1990s would have continued: eventually John Major’s government conceded it was a mistake, and dropped it. Now governments are making the greatest mistake in human history – driving us towards systemic environmental collapse – and Boris Johnson’s administration is seeking to ensure that there is nothing we can do to stop it.
       The government knows the new powers are illegitimate, otherwise it would not have tried to avoid parliamentary scrutiny. These brutal amendments sit alongside Johnson’s other attacks on democracy, such as the proposed requirement for voter ID, which could deter 2 million potential electors, most of whom are poor and marginalised; the planned curtailment of the Electoral Commission; the assault on citizens’ rights to mount legal challenges to government policy; and the proposed “civil orders” that could see journalists treated as spies and banned from meeting certain people and visiting certain places.
       So where is everyone? Why isn’t this all over the front pages? Why aren’t we out on the streets in our millions, protesting while we still can? We use our freedoms or we lose them. And we are very close to losing them.

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Anarchy.

 

         Still not able to function fully because of the pandemic, Spirit of Revolt still try to reach our friends and supporters with little gems from the archive, hence "Read of the Month". Another month and another Spirit of Revolt offering of “Read of the Month”. For December we have chosen a serial well know in anarchist circles, but there are still those who may not have read the older issues. So here is Anarchy, A Journal of Desire Armed, Volume 14, No. 2, spring/summer, 1994.

 Read on line HERE:

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