Max Hastings in the Daily Mail shows the tabloids' true colours on race and social cohesion.Now, picture the scene. Imagine you're one of the 760,000 Britons who invaded Spain in the last ten years (and that's a lot of people in ten years, especially when you think they're mostly concentrated in the same two or three areas of Spain).
Imagine that every single day, relentlessly, the three best-selling Spanish dailies are ramming the point home that the British, as a whole, don't integrate, they can't pick up a word of Spanish, they put a massive strain on public services, they open their own shops, pubs and "British supermarkets".
Then opinion columns start popping up that accuse "the British" of building unlicensed villas that spoil the landscape. That, because of them, entire areas are "losing their identity".
Then, each time a Brit is caught doing something naughty, from street-vomiting to drunken brawls, from gang rapes to drug-dealing, they hand it the front page, perhaps with the headline "Costa del Crime", like the website dedicated to the several British gangsters resettling in Spain.
Like, imagine the public outcry that would follow a story like this ('Briton arrested after trying to shoot Spanish guard who caught him urinating in public') being given the tabloid treatment in the Spanish press, along with regular stories of promiscuous clap-prone British youths swamping nightclubs.
In the meantime, local far-right parties based on a platform of "send' em home" and "show them the door if they don't integrate" start making unprecedented electoral gains.
As tension keeps going up, imagine one day you open the paper and you read that a "respected historian" goes off on one on the fact that Brits keep giving their Spanish-born kids English names. And that, if you don't count the spelling difference between Jon and John or Stephen and Steven, "as surely seems logical", then English names are "right up there, near the top of the list", a sure sign that "a British tide will not merely transform [Spain's] traditional culture but, frankly, bury it".
And yet you're a law-abiding citizen. You love your adoptive country. You get on with everyone here. You've been working and paying tax like clockwork. Perhaps you've even lent a hand at the local Community Centre. How would you like it if you were constantly made to feel that "your lot" are doing something wrong?
Now, reverse the situation and look at Britain's deteriorating race relations.Look at what "respected historian" Max Hastings scribbled in the Daily Mail last Friday. In a remarkable rant, Hastings bewailed the fact that the 'Mohammed' is now one of the most popular first names in Britain. If it wasn't for different spelling "variants" "as in Mohammed, Muhammed and so on", he writes, "then Mohammed is right up there, near the top of the list".
And yet, in these days of BNP/EDL-centred headlines and racial tension showing its ugly rear on Britain's streets, it is often advocated that 'the Muslims' are the one religion/ethnic group that should be blamed for stoking tension and giving gangs of racist thugs a new lease of life.
That an ugly brand of fundamentalist Islam exists is undisputed. Soaked in misogyny, homophobia and deep intolerance, ironically it has quite a lot in common with the doctor-murdering right-wing Christian nuts who are so prominent in the US.
What is baffling, however, is that ten years of tabloid-based obsession with non-white immigration (including the consistent finger-pointing at 'the Muslims') can be so superficially by-passed when the resurfacing racial tensions are analysed.
And yet Max Hastings' gem about first names is only the pinnacle. For all the talks that "the liberal elite is calling the shots", here we have the best-selling dailies (The Sun, Daily Mail and Express tallying a circulation of around 5 million everyday), constantly frothing at the mouth and tearing Muslims apart with a daily bombardment of half-baked myths, half-truths and outright lies. One of the inevitable results is that a lot of law-abiding British citizens identified as 'Muslims' are increasingly feeling like aliens in their own country. If it isn't their religion, then it's the benefits. If not those, then it's the clothes. Now, apparently, they are guilty of calling their kids "Mohammed".
Finally, a word on the suspicion that Islam is being used as a 'fig leaf' to hide issues related to skin colour.
Max Hastings gives the game away when he writes that, in places like "Birmingham and Leicester [...] Muslims are soon expected to outnumber whites". There you have it. That's what's bugging him.
21 comments:
Not The Mail but The Express but the same sentiment:
Europe Express
Max Hastings:
"Birmingham and Leicester [...] Muslims are soon expected to outnumber whites".
But what would happen if Cat Stevens moved to Brum or Leicester? Would he outnumber himself?
I feel generous today so I'm going to concede your blog has blasted some bits of extreme Islam like sharia law, the taliban, etc.
However, me feels you're going down the galloway path- at the end of the day, when you write tabloids are making those people 'feel alien', you forget one simple truth: a lot of them want to feel alien.
How else do you explain there lack of integration, especially put against other groups?
The comparison to 'Brits in Spain has a some merit to it but misses a huge point, in fact several points.
1. Brits in Spain are mostly retired elderly types. Excluding the 18-30 crowds in Tenerife of course.
2. Brits in Spain go there largely to make money and have contributed enormously to the Spanish economy. Or to enjoy retirement in the Sun. They most certainly do not live off welfare payments. There is no equivalent of Omar Bakri or Anjem Choudhary amongst them. Several of the more prominent criminals have been extradited back to UK anyway.
3. Of course there is a criminal element. However there is no security problem commensurate with the one associated to some of the UK’s unintegrated Islamic elements. The moment Brits are convicted for wanting to blow up trains or airplanes. Or start violently agitating for the implementation of the Common law of England and Wales in Spain you may have a point. The Brits in Spain certainly may be guilty of ignorance. They do not however seem intent on building Church Of England Churches everywhere and supplanting the native religon and culture. Simply put there is virtually no comparison at all. I will concede however that Hastings’s article is bordering on Xenophobic in parts.
The anti-Muslim bigots are patriots for an imaginary Britain and enemies of the Britain that actually exists. Britain isn't a culture, a tradition or a religion, it's a community and it can change drastically as long as we are all willing to live together. The anti-Muslim bigots are much more unwilling to integrate than most Muslims.
I Agree. Personally, i think It's the gentile Mail-readers who are more dangerous than the Facists on the streets.Its the people who mutter in dark-corners (aka The Daily Mail) who really fuel this racism.
Seems to be a lot of talk of racism. When did Islam become a race?
Paul,
I'm afraid you're basing your judgement on a number of Anglo-centric and ill-informed misconceptions.
"1. Brits in Spain are mostly retired elderly types. Excluding the 18-30 crowds in Tenerife of course."
It used to be the case, but not anymore. Especially the last 5 or 6 years have seen a dramatic rise in families of working age relocating.
According to this,
"the most recent official figures list 208,523 foreign residents in Andalucia, of whom the vast majority are British, double the total of five years ago. Most of the new arrivals are between 30 and 50."
Surely the swirl of articles about expats in Spain who've lost their jobs through the crisis must have caught your attention?
What the appalling '18-30 crowd' of Tenerife, Ibiza, Benidorm, Lloret del Mar etc does, it further contributes to the idea that British people are just a bunch of barbaric drunkards, which reflects badly on the expat "community". Have a look here.
Only the other day I was translating a daily paper from Spain and the 'comment' section was full of Spaniards saying "we've had enough of all their drug-taking street-urinating antics. Why don't they take it elsewhere".
In any case, whether retired or not, Brits in Spain have caused a stir for other reasons:
a) Many of them don't bother to register with the local council. Hence, entire areas where, say, hospitals are only equipped to provide for a set number of people (those who are registered as residents), end up being literally swamped with Brits who want to enjoy the Spanish weather but can't be bothered to accept any responsibility for the place they live in.
I read a report last year where a village near Murcia of 2,000 people had in fact the burden of 14,000 mostly British (plus some Dutch and Germans). A situation that was quite common to a number of regions.
b) entire areas have English-only businesses, i.e. nightclubs. There was an outcry in a place called Lloret a couple of years back because leaflets and "discount vouchers" for nightclubs where only handed to English-speaking (or English looking?) people.
Paul,
PART TWO :-)
"2. Brits in Spain go there largely to make money and have contributed enormously to the Spanish economy. Or to enjoy retirement in the Sun. They most certainly do not live off welfare payments."
Well, as above.
Plus, surely you will have read reports of expats building illegal villas aplenty, forcing what the Spaniards call urbanizaciones in parts where water is terribly scarce.
But those Brits of course have to have their swimming pool built. The arrogance and colonial mindset you find, well documented in Giles Tremlett's "Ghosts of Spain", is shocking (of course, also courtesy of local crooked politicians).
300,000 coastal homes a year are being bought or built from scratch (many illegally) by British passport holders.
"There is no equivalent of Omar Bakri or Anjem Choudhary amongst them. Several of the more prominent criminals have been extradited back to UK anyway."
But why do you equate the entire Muslim community of the UK with that prick called Anjem Choudhary?
This is what has to stop! You focus on a total twat, a criminal in fact IMHO, but you don't see how unfair and inflammatory your default generalisation is. It's like a Brazilian equating all British people with Ronnie Biggs!
"Several of the more prominent criminals have been extradited back to UK anyway."
What from Spain? With respect: what are you talking about? The presence of Gibraltar alone is a constant source of concern for the Spanish authorities as one of the reasons for the arrival of English-speaking gangs who then establish themselves in the southern area of Spain, close enough to Gibraltar which alone features 58,000 offshore companies (bear in mind there are only 29,000 people in Gibraltar).
Crime amongst Brits in Spain is actually getting worse. Hey there's google, just take a quick look!I even linked to the Costa del Crime website!
"3. Of course there is a criminal element. However there is no security problem commensurate with the one associated to some of the UK’s unintegrated Islamic elements."
Granted there's no religion side to this. Of course.
But, there's a widening cultural issue. And one of integration too. The BBC reported last year that an English mayor of a town near Alicante (!) was demanding bilingual schools there. (link)
Most expats have their own English publications ('Costa Blanca News', 'Barcelona Magazine', etc).
The whole expat culture is astonishingly arrogant, intrusive, aggressive, colonial. You have British families who've lived there for a decade and -literally- cannot utter ONE word of Spanish.
Dare i say from what I witnessed myself, the worst English speakers of Asian extraction in Britain can piss all over your average British expat in Spain language-wise.
PART 3!
"The moment Brits are convicted for wanting to blow up trains or airplanes.... "
I take your point there. However. Deep-rooted racism in the UK existed well before 9/11. Think of the widespread episodes against black people in the 1980s and early 90s. NF marches, Combat 18, Stephen Lawrence. I can't help but think that the extreme Islam issue (which I never denied, you know where I stand on sharia law, the burqa, faith schools and the Taliban) is being used as an excuse.
"I will concede however that Hastings’s article is bordering on Xenophobic in parts."
Bordering? The stuff about spelling names is staggeringly ignorant! From someone who's a "respected historian"!!!!!!!
He should be ashamed of what he wrote.
"Seems to be a lot of talk of racism. When did Islam become a race?"
Why don't you ask Max Hastings who wrote of "Muslim people outnumbering whites"?
How do you call that? Ignorant? Stupid? Racist? All three?
I personally know two British people of white complexion whose religion is Islam. What the fuck?
PS I apologise for my lengthy reply. I don't deny the issues of integration. Some parts of Birmingham are a sad example. But i don't think the EDL way "We hate the Muslims" is the way to solve the problem. Quite the opposite.
'PS I apologise for my lengthy reply. I don't deny the issues of integration. Some parts of Birmingham are a sad example. But i don't think the EDL way "We hate the Muslims" is the way to solve the problem. Quite the opposite.'
I agree entirely, however the rest of your answers do concern me. For instance you accuse me of lumping all Muslims together with Choudhary. Then you seem to do the same with regards to the British expats in Spain. However I did admit earlier that they were guilty or at least some of them were of ignorance. The 'Brit pubs' scene indeed reflects that and I can understand the way it antagonises many Spaniards.
You ignored a point I made re welfare payments. I'm entirely willing to believe there all sorts of boorish Brits in Spain. However they pay their own way. There are certainly none of them living off the Spanish state whilst plotting its demise.
I am not guilty of labelling all Muslims as Choudharyesqe terror sympathisers. However the fact remains that I have yet to see Muslims marching with banners saying 'not in my name' about al Qaeda. Instead it seems there is a major cultural unwillingness to criticise a fellow Muslim. I'm sure we all remember the Channel 4 dispatches documentary 'Undercover Mosque'. I believe it featured Saudi trained clerics at Mosques in Birmingham. Now can you point to any Church or Synagogue in the UK that was similar to the Mosques depicted? 'Sermons' all about killing homosexuals, and hitting women if they won't wear a hijab. I’m sure I needn't bore you with further details and I accept you are as repulsed by it as I.
However was there a Muslim counter demo against what was said at the Mosque? No the audience soaked it up like lemons and indeed one little girl pointed out chillingly to the preacher that 'apostates' could be thrown off a cliff as well as beheaded! Before I bore you further I will outline the nub of my argument. Overall the Muslim reaction whilst not universal, was nonetheless largely against Channel Four for inciting 'Islamaphobia', not one of shock and horror at the clerics themselves! Google it and look at what organisations such as the MCB and MPACUK said Re Channel four and dispatches. When there is a Muslim reaction against Jihadism, that say is more vociferous than or equal to the reaction to harmless cartoons I will stop my own arguments.
I suppose you're right Re Hastings being racist on this occasion. I said he was xenophobic myself. On extradition from Spain this is a legal fact under the EU. Examples include people like Kenny Noye. Yet in the UK the HRA prevents the UK deporting many Al Qaeda wanabees such as Qatada.
Hi Paul,
"I am not guilty of labelling all Muslims as Choudharyesqe terror sympathisers."
Fair enough. I accept that.
"Then you seem to do the same with regards to the British expats in Spain."
Mine was largely a paradox, to highlight how absurd it is when we tar people with the same brush as well the old saying 'Let He Who Is Without Sin Cast The First Stone.'
"Overall the Muslim reaction whilst not universal, was nonetheless largely against Channel Four for inciting 'Islamaphobia', not one of shock and horror at the clerics themselves!"
It's true, it's vile, and ultimately it's an issue the Muslim community need to address and quick. Even Muslim commentators like Yasmin Alibhai Brown have been saying so. Unfortunately she's an exception.
Trouble is, tabloid hysteria and BNP/EDL type will have the effect of making them "clam up" even more.
I can show you at least 3 links where The Sun made up ENTIRELY stories about "the Muslims" (i.e. the one about Muslim bus driver who stopped the journey because he wanted to pray, or the one about Jewish terror threats and Alan Sugar). That is poisonous.
Finally, as I wrote on another thread, paradoxically Islamic fundamentalism and far-right white fascists have more in common that they both like to think.
Hello Claude - Tokyo Pete here.
Interesting piece. The spanish people absolutely have cause for valid concern but the ruling elite do not. They brought this upon themselves. Why didn't they control their borders and prevent such numbers of foreigners coming in and causing this disharmony?
Spain is a sovereign country and has every right to control immigration as they see appropriate. Opting out of the EU agreements as necessary.
I would support the view that in the interests of social cohesion migration from UK to Spain should be severely restrained but then of course it is not my business. It is for the Spanish authorities / electorate.
T.P.
'Hello Claude - Tokyo Pete here.
Interesting piece. The spanish people absolutely have cause for valid concern but the ruling elite do not. They brought this upon themselves. Why didn't they control their borders and prevent such numbers of foreigners coming in and causing this disharmony?
Spain is a sovereign country and has every right to control immigration as they see appropriate. Opting out of the EU agreements as necessary.
I would support the view that in the interests of social cohesion migration from UK to Spain should be severely restrained but then of course it is not my business. It is for the Spanish authorities / electorate.'
Claude said himself the discussion was about a paradox! Your statement proves it. I could have said exactly the same thing in my arguments. The irony.
Hi Paul
You know that I am absolutely serious don't you?
What is most revealing about Claude's piece in my view is it suggests he is a snob and he depises the English working classes. I hope I am wrong?
He has tied himself up in a knot this time. He preaches with zeal the church of multiculturalism and attacks anyone that suggests mass immigration may be problematic but then today he entertainingly highlights another case of how mass immigration can cause social disharmony.
I call for the Japanese / Korean model of monoculturalism to be adopted in the UK before it is too late.
T.P.
Anonymous Tokyo Prick,
if you´ve got to call people names on this blog (first your hideous dig at 'students', now 'snob', what for, it's unclear because you also write like incomprehensibly)...,right,
why don't you fuck off elsewhere and take your minging notions of racial superiority (at odds -typical of fascists- with the fact that you brought your Japanese woman, so you say, into this country) elsewhere?
The snob who has it in for the working classes is you, Anonymous Peter the Prick.
So, practice what you preach about monoculturalism and send your wife home, along with who, you Nazi cunt, second or third generation non whites?
So what shall we do?- shall we beat up all the non-whites in the street? Stick em on a bus and ferry them out so that the likes of you, Nick Griffin and some shaven headed psychos with anger management issues can enjoy Blighty and run after each other carrying baseball bats?
Is it what you're advocating Anonymous "Tokyo" (how very un-British) Prick?
Shout P*ki as you cross the road? Attack Asian shops like the EDL did in Luton in May?
Is that what you want? And those who oppose such methods are "snobs"?
You are a cunt. And a dangerous one too.
P R I C K!
Apart from being dense (I truly believe you understand very little of what is said to you) Anonymous T.P, you above all are a racist tosser with dangerous ideas, and violent, slow-witted and disturbed people like you are the reason why the UK is turning into a pretty awful place.
If you admire the Far East so much do us all a favour (and your wife maybe, God knows what it must be like married to a grade A cretin like you) and bugger off to Japan. Because you do realise if that Japanese model of monoculturism you so ridiculously admire ever came into place in the UK, your missus would be sent home too, don't you, you slow-witted prick?
Decent people could do without people like you and your ilk walking the streets, white or non-white, so just go. However if you do, you'd have to put up with the enormous amount of ex-pats who have settled in Japan over the years, you realise that don't you? Or is it alright as long as they're not non-whites?
"(Claude)...has tied himself up in a knot this time"
His message was actually quite clear that this rise of Xenophobia and racism is coming from a country who's exports are actually well-known for being arrogant, yobbish and not willing to integrate. That is undeniable. Not that I'd expect you to think about things as in depth as that, obviously.
Now make sure you read this carefully, because you really do have a tendency to misread and not understand things properly, alright?
Such abuse? and now you don't want to hear comments that don't accord with your narrow world view. It has been entertaining reading your angry and lunatic responses - I can recommend a retreat in Himachal where you can address some of your anger issues?
It is you and your dogmatic friends that dont understand and have totally missed the point. I think you are puzzled - you clearly hate me, I have no problem with that.
The "left" have been very successful in protecting multiculturalism and restricting the debate. They do this by not allowing this social engineering be questioned by tarring all that question the policy as being racist nazi nuts and BNP supporters etc.
What I am saying and it seems you have never encountered this argument before because you have quite narrow frames of reference is that many advanced nations do not accept multiculturalism - they have quite sensibly rejected it.
It follows that you hate the people of Japan and Korea and countless other nations as much as you hate me?? It also follows that the governments of Japan and Korea etc are nazi thugs?? Well of course they are not - they simply have valid and different positions on social engineering to you.
Sorry to tire you again with such "dense" comments. I won't go down to your level in terms of the abuse - entirely unnecessary.
One last thing you don't seem to understand that I have been questioning mass immigration - stress the "mass". In an effort to marginalise my views you wilfully distort what I say in your responses with really very silly comments such as my wife and I can't live together in my world view - this is personally offensive but then you have proved your selves to be unpleasant people so no surprises. Of course it is inhuman to separate couples and I never suggested this should happen - you did. Migration due to marriage is a tiny proportion of migration.
I have never really taken an active interest in politics other than when I was a student when I was a staunch Labour supporter. However your extraordinary responses to my comments has given me the idea that perhaps I should take more of an active role in bringing reason to the debate.
Bye for now.
T.P.
Anonymous TP
Abuse?
See how manipulative you are. Who started coming here (anonymously, which is already inviting hostility) patronising people with the belittling accusations of 'student politics'? You came here talking of people as if they were dog breeds, "ethnic", "indigenous", pure and less pure
which is just low.
Secondly, now you say we're "tarring with the same brush, BNP" blah blah but you never said a word, not one (1), against the BNP and you've stood up for them both on this thread and the one about Melanie Phillips.
The other guy, Paul, for instance, expressed his opposition to Claude's ideas but also made it clear he is no BNP-material. You instead didn't.
You clearly are a BNP supporter but you haven't got the guts to come clean. You lot are like leaches and chameleons, you lurk around, spout venom and then pretend you're not even there!
You also deliberately distorted (a typical tired trite strategy of the far right) what Claude had written by repeating that "he is a snob and he depises the English working classes", which is insulting, as well as a blatant distortion and a lie.
Then you again accuse us of "preaching multiculturalism"
and "social engineering". You fabricate that we hate Japan and all that shite, which is bollox.
So, no wonder you get abuse hurled at you.
Because:
Noone's preaching multiculturalism. As far as I know, this blog has repeatedly condemned faith schools and looked at the secular French model where people from day one are encouraged to mingle irrespective of their parents' religion. Faith school funding in this country has been a mistake. Clear? Capisce? Usted Parla Ingles?
2- You'll find that social engineering is more what the BNP are proposing. By forcing repatriation and putting up barbwire along the British coast they are the ones artificially proposing that the future is engineered.
Also, your repeated childish evoking of Far Eastern countries is hollow. It assumes that they're doing the right thing. That may be a legitimate opinion but it's my legitimate opinion to disagree, for fucks sake. Or is it not? It's like saying "what's so bad about eating dogs? The Koreans do it!" in order to justify dog on the menu. That would be daft, right?
Your contradictions are laughable.
You repeatedly called for the adoption of, say, the Malaysian model (or the Thai, you could also do with writing more clearly, duck):
"Where the "sons of the soil" ethnic Malays occupy a privileged status compared to ethnic Indians and Chinese".
Does it mean that your status should be privileged to that of your wife's because she's no "ethnic English" (whatever that may be?)?
And answer: who is "indigenous" in Britain? Answer! It aint difficult!
It's a shame that the debate was hijacked by Anonymous Tokyo Guy because I feel the original article was about something else i.e. the tabloids' poisonous role in British society. Tony above (top of the comments thread) made an excellent point for instance.
Anyway. For what it's worth i'll give my tuppence worth:
Right wing ethnic supremacists tend to be extremely paranoid. One thing they excel at is playing the victim. So now how poor bieseged 'Anonymous' claims that people on this blog 'hate' him. Practically everything he's put so far is a distortion of other people's opinion.
He also said "he couldn't be bothered to sign up" to validate his anonymity. Wow, what a mammoth task. Poor chap. 5 seconds to simply jot down his name he couldn't spare. But he's been spending 3 days posting paranoid weird comments a go-go.
Also, I joined in with what Stan said about the Anonymous guy's cryptic style. He quoted China's belief in racial superiority and from what I could grasp, he endorses it, he thinks the UK too should adopt it. Am I reading it right? If yes, does he accept that he's a racist? If not instead, what the fuck is he on about?
Like someone else pointed out above, Anonymous' hypocrisy is ridiculous. He repeatedly sticks up for the BNP's caucasian-only policy (if that isn’t racism then what is, you tell me) but then he says he's married to a Japanese wife. Then he points at the too-many kids in Britain who are born to foreign mothers. So I take it he is going to relinquish his chance to have any kids because foreign mother=bad? Can't he see why his whole position is untenable? Maybe he needs some help?
Anonymous, I wouldn't waste my energy hating you. I don't know you as a person, but given what you have said however, I do find your opinions repellant.
I'm certainly not puzzled by what you've been saying, that's for sure. People like you are in fact the easiest people to understand because your views are so one sided and bigoted. It doesn't take much brain power at all to think like you because everything in your world is black and white.
E.g: What on earth gave you the opinion that I hate Japan?! This really beggars belief and proves my point entirely about the way you think. I hate Japan because of what? I want you to move there? Because I disagree with monoculturism? Where in my answer did I state of even IMPLY that the Japanese government is Nazi? This is a complete fabrication and completely untrue. Stop making things up.
Also, not once in your answers have you stated that your views are towards MASS immigration, Anonymous. Not once. If you did, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation now. Try harder.
"In an effort to marginalise my views you wilfully distort what I say in your responses with really very silly comments such as my wife and I can't live together in my world view - this is personally offensive but then you have proved your selves to be unpleasant people so no surprises."
Well, thanks Pete, but to be honest with you being called unpleasant by a bigot like you doesn't really bother me. You don't come across as a particularly nice person yourself judging by what you've been saying so far. Why are you playing the victim now? How a person with views so racist as yours (and yes, they are, this has nothing to do with not addressing issues of immigration, I am against unregulated mass immigration too, but the difference between you and I Pete is that I don't justify racist views by using this as an excuse) can call another 'unpleasant' is laughable.
Finally, with regards to you being married to a Japanese person, the point was NOT whether you should be living together, but how someone like you can criticise multiculturism and then be married to a 'foreigner'. You support ideas that would force non-British people to leave the UK yet you are married to someone of a different race/country?
Your hypocrisy is stunning!
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