News
The editorial
by Gariwo
Is International Justice useful?
written by Ulianova Radice and Annamaria Samuelli, founding members of Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide Committee 20 July 2011
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We will publish the most significant passages.
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Gariwo.net under construction
waiting for the new Website
In a few days we will publish the new daily devoted to the Righteous, with articles, insights, reviews and much multimedia content.
Please write to redazione@gariwo.net!
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The Righteous in Genoa
for the international rights week
The Gardens of the Righteous Committee takes part in the international Rights week in Genoa at Palazzo Tursi, with meetings and theatrical shows. Full event programme prepared with Gariwo inside.
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Creation of a new Garden of the Righteous
in Genoa
Liguria's administrative centre is the third town in Italy, after Milan and Padua, to remember the figures of civil courage who have opposed totalitarianism and genocides.
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The banality of Evil refuted
Gabriele Nissim's editorial in the Corriere della Sera
The chairman of Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide Committee recalls the great figure of Moshe Landau and the debate about Hannah Arendt's idea of "banality of Evil".
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We will publish the most significant passages.
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Why wasn't Auschwitz bombed?
the answer of David Silberklang of "Yad Vashem Studies"
The Israeli scholar tried to explain why the Angloamericans did not bomb the Holocaust's symbolic place. Starting from the runaway of two Slowakian Jews, his reconstruction dares tackle uneasy topics such as the presence of anti-Semitism among the Western liberators and the importance for Jews to have a State entity for themselves.
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The Righteous against the Mafia
a Ga.Ri.Wo. document
The Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide Committee reflects on the Mafia as an anti-State entity and on its relationships with politics and civil society.
In order to fight the Mafia it is important to spread the example of the Righteous who have been able to reject the criminal logics and defend the moral integrity and the legality of their personal and public deeds. This is why "We need to tell their stories by developing an educational memory and honouring them in all usual and unusual ways", including the Gardens dedicated to their courage.
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The Garden of the Righteous is on iPhone!
walk in Monte Stella with our free app
Now you can discover Milan's Garden of the Righteous Worldwide also with the iPhone.
You just need to download our free application to discover who the Righteous with dedicated trees are, watch the videointerviews and the testimonies.
download the app from iTune
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The uses and abuses of the G-word
genocide definition discussed by The Economist
"Many people, faced with any of the scenes created by systematic slaughter during the 20th century would simply say: “I may not be a lawyer, but I know genocide when I see it.” The reality of genocide may be easy to grasp at a gut level, yet its definition is complex". Article inside.
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The weak foundations of Arab democracy
Op-ed in the New York Times
"The preconditions for democracy are lacking in the Arab world partly because Hosni Mubarak and other Arab dictators spent the past half-century emasculating the news media, suppressing intellectual inquiry, restricting artistic expression, banning political parties, and trying to silence dissenting voices" writes Timur Kuran in the American newspaper. Article inside.
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Preventing genocide by defying human nature
interview to Yehuda Bauer
Israeli scholar Yehuda Bauer, in Berne for the Third regional forum on genocide prevention, gave an interview to Swiss Info ahead of the meeting. In it he puts forward the thesis that preventing genocide is possible, but it must be done in defiance of human nature, split between group cohesion and instinct to fight the other or the stranger.
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Mladic is jailed in The Hague
trial starts
Ratko Mladic is detained in Sheveningenm prison, also hosting Radovan Karadzic. In the first court hearing his lawyer said he "defended his people" during the war in Bosnia.
30 May
Demonstrations against Mladic arrest
his son: "He rescued many women"
Protests against the arrest of Srebrenica executioner. His son defends his presumed innocence by claiming "he has nothing to do" with the massacre.
27 May
Seizure of Ratko Mladic, Srebrenica executioner
testimony by Svetlana Broz
Jail doors open for the ex Bosnian Serb leader Ratko Mladic, detained in the Serbian town of Lazarevo. The arrest of the perpetrator of the Srebrenica massacre could be a step forward for the entry of Serbia in the EU. Comment by Svetlana Broz inside.
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Anna Politkovskaya's killer arrested
but masterminds are still unknown
Jailed in Checnhnya Rustam Makhmoudov, charged with murdering Anna Politkovskaya. The Russian journalist who used to criticize Putin and the Kremlin has a tree dedicated to her in the Milan Garden of the Righteous Worldwide. She was assassinated in Moscow on October, 7 2006.
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Istanbul remembers Metz Yeghern victims
ceremony with hundreds people
Memorial stone for the victims of the Armenian Genocide unveiled in the Turkish capital. Hundreds citizens rallied in Taksim square to light candles and bring flowers in memory of the over 250 Armenian leaders and intellectuals captured by the Ottoman government on April 24, 1915 and then executed. Video inside.
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Who are Syria's opponents
the faces of the anti-Assad struggle
Nidaa Hassan is a Syrian journalist who, under pseudonym, offers the Guardian the profiles of the prominent opponents in the Country.
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Can evil be banal?
reflections on Hannah Arendt and the Eichmann trial
Historian Yaacov Lozowick and writer Deborah Lipstadt reflect on the thoughts of the Hannover philosopher 50 years after the historic trial.
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The quest for another Egypt
dissident Noor Ayman Noor: "We want to be free"
British daily The Guardian features an analysis by Al Jazeera journalist Ayman Mohyeldin and a freedom wish by political activist Noor Ayman Noor, who was arrested on the first day of protests in Tahrir Square.
They reveal a contradictory reality, with fundamentalist dangers, but also a great confidence in the possibility to give the revolt a peaceful outcome.
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Rwanda, military convicted for genocide
by the UN's International Court
30 years jail were handed down to the former army chief, accused of leading the men involved in the genocide started on 6 April 1994. Year terms were handed down also to the chief of the paramilitary police Augustin Ndindiliyimana and two officers who masterminded the murder of Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana.
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A forest for Giorgio Perlasca
in Israel
The wood, made of 10,000 trees, was created to remember the deeds of the Righteous among the nations who rescued 5,000 Hungarian Jews by pretending he was a Spanish diplomat.
The green area is situated in the Northern part of the Country between the towns of Accro (Acri) and Safed, inside the Ahihud forest.
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Karol Wojtyla, Cracow's Metropolitan
personal memory by Annalia Guglielmi
Wojtyla's pontificate played a key role in the destabilization of the Eastern communist regimes until their fall. Our contributor Annalia Guglielmi met the "Polish Pope" and portrays him in the anniversary of his birth and a few days after his beatification.
Testimonies of prominent Solidarnosc leaders inside.
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Sharing and learning remembrance
meeting in Potsdam
From 6 to 10 May in Potsdam conference Sharing and learning remembrance – Memory culture(s) in the 21st century was held by the German non-profit organization Mostar Friedensprojekt. Gariwo sent Carolina Figini of the Editorial Staff and Salvatore Pennisi of the Teaching commission. Their comments inside.
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The Arab spring turns anti-Israeli
in Tel Aviv
The anniversary of Israel's independence sparks a wave of violence. Inside the report of Christian Science Monitor.
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Gaddafi guilty for crimes against humanity
arrest warrant for the dictator and his son
According to International Criminal Court's prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo the Libyan leader personally "ordered assaults" against unarmed civilians to "keep his absolute power".
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5 years handed down to Sannikov
a dissident and Lukashenko opponent
Andrei Sannikov was sentenced for oranizing protests against the reelection of President Lukashenko. Two years jail with probation were handed down to his wife, journalist Irina Khalip.
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Jailed artist Ai Weiwei receives wife's visit
the world ignores his whereabouts
The Chinese authorities fetched the wife of the dissident artist, Mrs. Lu Qing, and took her to meet her husband in jail for some minutes. No declarations were issued.
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France rejects punishing denial
of the Armenian genocide
The French Senate rejected a law design providing a year jail and a fine of 45,000 euros for those who deny the Armenian genocide.
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Syria, tanks bombed Homs
over 800 died in the protests
Tanks of Assad's regime shelled Homs, the crucial point in the anti-dictatorship demonstrations.
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John Demjanjuk found guilty
for the death of 28,000 prisoners
John Demjanjuk was covicred for collaborating in the murder of the nearly 28,000 prisoners of the Sobibor concentration camp as a guard. He was sentenced to 5 years jail, his defense lawyers announced he will appeal.
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Bin Laden a martyr for extremists
shocking Hamas declarations
Bin Laden was assassinated and the alarm for possible terrorist attacks is growing.
Hamas greets the news by condemning the killing, defining Bin Laden as "a fighter in the Muslim Holy War".
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Holocaust, a database of confiscated goods
to compensate the victims
Israel commemorated the Yom HaShoah by presenting the Heart project, a database collecting the goods confiscated from the Holocaust victims.
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Farewell to Moshe Landau
the founder of the Righteous Department
Judge Moshe Landau, who in 1961 presided the Eichmann trial and later Yad Vashem's Righteous Department, passed away at age 99. According to Time magazine, at the moment of the sentence the crowd expected a defense of the Israelis' right to try the Nazi criminal, while Landau simply nailed him to his atrocious charges. Israel's President Shimon Peres also remembered other contributions Landau made to democracy and the rule of law.
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"Je ne veux pas rester une victime"
speech by Yolande Mukagasana, survivor of Rwandan genocide
The writer tells about some terrible experiences she lived during the mass murder and demands UN Countries to pass a law against denial and revisionism. In French.
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What do the Youths Know about Communism?
conference at the European Parliament
Contribution delivered at the conference about the subject "What do Young Europeans Know about Totalitarianisms?" held in the European Parliament in March 2011. Work resulted in the proposal to use the word communism for the totalitarian regimes in Central and Eastern Europe. Calling these events "stalinism" in fact would exclude the human rights violations and victimsbefore and after Stalin's rule.
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Interview to Yekmalyan, Article 19
"gross human rights violations in Belarus"
Sara Bicchierini interviewed Mushegh Yekmalyan, Article 19's person in charge of the Asian and European areas. Article 19 is an international organization that struggles for freedom of expression in Belarus.
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Egypt erases Mubarak
and blogger Ghonim is "most influential man"
Time magazine included Egyptian blogger Wael Ghonim among the world's most influential men right while a tribunal orders the removal of pictures and names of ex dictator from streets, squares, schools and libraries.
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Armenia to start a Day of Remembrance
dedicated to the Righteous and witnesses to genocide
On 24 April 2011 commemoration of the 96th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Consul Pietro Kuciukian met the President of the Armenian Parliament in Yerevan and demanded a law to celebrate those who have had the courage to oppose genocide and denounce the massacres.
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The Berlin Righteous
solidarity stories in Third Reich's Germany
Ernst and Helisabeth Joseph are two Jews who were rescued from Nazi persecution thanks to the courage of some German citizens in the aftermath of the setting into force of the racial laws in 1933.
Their stories were revealed by their daughter who wishes to honour the memory of the rescuers.
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Voting is not enough
democracy in the Arab countries
Unease in the West over the developments of the Arab movements. In Tunisia the Revolutionary committee preparing the first democratic elections sanctions gender equality, but in Egypt fundamentalist violence prevails. Uncertain is the future of Syria, where the lifting of the special legislation in force for 48 years could not suffice to calm the discontent. International press review inside.
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Remembering the Righteous against mafias
a reflection by Nando Dalla Chiesa
After the Ceremony at the Garden of the Righteous Worldwide in Milan Nando Dalla Chiesa, the son to a General killed by the mafia and the honorary President of Libera, demands that this symbolic place be enriched with new trees dedicated to those who have fought "the totalitarian savagery of mafioso organizations".
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Hungary is no more a republic
ultraconservative Constitution passed
The new text, replacing the Communist one of 1949, does not call the State a Republic anylonger and identifies the political nation with the ethnical one. Article in The Budapest Business Journal.
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Ante Gotovina sentenced to 24 years in jail
for war crimes and crimes against humanity
The International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia based in The Hague issued a verdict for the murders of August 1995 in the Krajina area.
This verdict affects the politics of Croatia.
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The Great Dictator
Chaplin defies Hitler, with irony
Charlie Chaplin was born in London on 16 April 1889. He was an actor, director and screenwright, and he shot over 90 movies. We remember him with one of the most famous ones, The Great Dictator.
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The unheeded witnesses
at the Garden of the Righteous Worldwide
In the Milan Garden of the Righteous since past 7 April there have been five new trees for five unheeded witnesses who have tried to oppose totalitarianism in the Twentieth century and genocides: Romeo Dallaire, Jan Karski, Sophie Scholl, Aleksandr Solženicyn, Armin T. Wegner.
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Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo arrested
Obama: "It's a victory of democracy"
Ivory Coast's outgoing President Laurent Gbagbo, entrenched for days in his palace-bunker in Abidjan, was arrested with his wife.
Alassane Ouattara, the Head of State recognized by the international Community, announced on tv the opening of a trial against Laurent Gbagbo.
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Egypt, blogger sentenced to 3 years
he criticized the militaries
25 years old Maikel Nabil became the first prisoner of conscience in post-Mubarak Egypt for accusing the army of corruption and repression. According to his lawyer this represents a warning for all pro-democracy activists in Egypt that rhey should refrain from criticizing the armed forces or could face military jail. Harsh stance of Human Rights Watch.
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Another victim of ideological extremism
Italian activist murdered in Gaza
Vittorio Arrigoni belonged to an NGO and was found dead in a house in Gaza. His killing shows that ideological extremism has no consideration whatsoever of human life.
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Being artists in China
among repression and compromise with the regime
Architect Ai Weiwei famous for designing the Shanghai stadium and the Sunflowers artpiece exhibited at the Tate Modern gallery in London, is detained following the crackdown which has been unleashed since the beginning of unrest in the Mideast. Call of Change.org for his release. The New York Times devotes him a special feature while addressing a vitriolic editorial to singer Bob Dylan, who accepted to play before the Chinese authorities.
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"Genocides can be averted"
address of Gen. Dallaire for the Day of the Righteous
General Romeo Dallaire has been honoured with a tree in the Milan Garden of the Righteous Worldwide for trying everything possible to stop genocide in Rwanda.
Dallaire asks: "'Are some humans more human than others?” The answer, of course, is “no.”This is why I continue to champion the human rightsof people in distant places, like Rwanda and elsewhere. This is why it is so important not just to remember those who have fallen victims to the dangers of hatred and murderous violence, but to act to ensure their tragedy does not befall others".
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The memory of the Rwandan genocide
commemoration
In 1994 in just 100 days the Hutu extremists killed more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. On 9 April 2011 the association Bene-Rwanda onlus commemorates the genocide with an event at Rome's Teatro Eliseo, with the participation, among others, of Gabriele Nissim, Moni Ovadia and Françoise Kankindi.
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Teaching Palestinians about the Holocaust
by Robert Satloff and Mohammed Dajani Daoudi
Robert Satloff is director of the Washington Institute and the author of Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust’s Long Reach into Arab Lands. Mohammed Dajani Daoudi is the director of the American Studies department at Al-Quds University.Together they reflect on education and peace process in a New York Times editorial.
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Barack Obama and Libya
speech at the National Defense University
The US President says: "America has an important strategic interest in preventing Qaddafi from overrunning those who oppose him. A massacre would have driven thousands of additional refugees across Libya’s borders, putting enormous strains on the peaceful –- yet fragile -– transitions in Egypt and Tunisia".
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Minorities in the Mediterranean
international meeting
4-5 aprile
Circolo dei lettori - Turin
via Bogino 9
The Italian Centre for Peace in the Middle East (Centro Italiano per la Pace in Medio Oriente or CIPMO) holds an International Meeting comparing the experience of Ethnic and religious minorities on the sides of the Mediterranean Sea.
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"Sophie didn't die in vain"
Sophie Scholl's sister writes to Gabriele Nissim
7 April, 11.00 a.m.
Giardino dei Giusti di tutto il mondo - Milan
piazza Santa Maria Nascente
(MM QT8)
Moving letter from Elisabeth Hartnagel, the sister of Sophie Scholl, the White Rose student killed by the Nazis for trying to awake the conscience of German youths face the horror.
"May the tree for Sophie grow and bloom", writes the Righteous' relative to Gabriele Nissim. "This will symbolize the fact that she did not die in vain in the struggle against injustice and racism". Scan of the original letter inside.
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A lesson of courage and integrity
Jan Karski at the Garden of the Righteous
7 April, 11.00 a.m.
Giardino dei Giusti di tutto il mondo - Milan
piazza Santa Maria Nascente
(MM QT8)
Ewa Wierzynska, leader of the Karski project - Unfinished Mission at the Warsaw Museum of Polish history presents the figure of Jan Karski who will be honoured with a tree and a memorial stone at the Garden of the Righteous in Milan. Karski tried everything in his power to stop the extermination of Jews.
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A world split apart
Aleksandr Solženicyn at the Garden of the Righteous
7 april 2011, 11 a.m.
Giardino dei Giusti di tutto il mondo - Milano
piazza Santa Maria Nascente
(MM QT8)
We seize the chance of dedicating a tree and a memorial stone to great writer Aleksandr Solženicyn, unheeded witness with by his books made the world aware of the horror of the Stalinist GULag, to present his full Harvard speech A world split apart.
The great dissident uttered words which are still highly topical and provide a warning for the future generations.
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Armin T. Wegner, unheeded witness
at the Garden of the Righteous Worldwide
7 April 2011, 11.00 a.m.
Ceremony at the Giardino dei Giusti di tutto il mondo - Milan
piazza Santa Maria Nascente
(MM QT8)
Armenian consul Pietro Kuciukian presents the figure of the volunteer in the German Health Service between 1915 and 1916, who documented the Armenian genocide by the means of letters and pictures.
Furthermore, Wegner was the only German intellectual who in 1933 dared address a letter to Hitler against the regime's anti-Jewish behaviours.
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Trials all over the world
against persecutions
In Argentina Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone tried again for ordering the kidnapping of the missing's children. A Honululu court granted compensations after 25 years to 7,000 Filippinoes whose families had been abused by the men of Ferdinand Marcos. A historic resolution demands the International Criminal Court to try the Lybian leader Muammar Gheddafi.
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We(l)come to read... and to watch
books and movies suggested by Gariwo
We'll plant five new trees in the Garden of the Righteous to honour men and women who have been able to oppose totalitarianism and have denounced genocides. Discover who these figures are through books and movies.
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Senseless Goodness
the secret of the Righteous, second reprint
24 January 2011, 6 p.m.
Teatro Franco Parenti in Milan
via Pier Lombardo, 14
Presentation of Gabriele Nissim's new book La bontà insensata. Il segreto degli uomini giusti (Senseless Goodness. The secret of the Righteous), published by Mondadori, for Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The author speaks alongside editorialist Antonio Ferrari, philosopher Salvatore Natoli, professor at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Vittorio Emanuele Parsi, director of Teatro Franco Parenti Andrée Ruth Shammah and oncologist Umberto Veronesi.
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