68-534: The Independent Working Class Association (IWCA) is a minor political party in the United Kingdom that aims to promote the political and economic interests of the working class , regardless of the consequences to existing political and economic structures. It has been most successful in the Blackbird Leys and Wood Farm estates of Oxford and had a councillor on Oxford City Council until 2012, but
136-445: A New Labour government would entrench the legacy of Thatcherism and further diminish the political influence of the working class. The IWCA describes its ideology as stemming from the trade union collectivism of the 1970s. It has received support from some anarchists, but it criticises the contemporary socialist movement , describing it as "hopelessly middle class – and obsessed with Identity Politics ". "We don't really recognise
204-530: A libel action against Bill Baker, Deputy Leader of Oxford City Council , who had posted defamatory material alleging the IWCA had links to violent extremists and Irish Republican groups to homes in Donnington Brook in the run-up to the 2005 local elections . The IWCA, represented in their suit by Carter-Ruck , said it would use the £15,000 it collected in damages to fund their 2006 campaign. In 2009
272-449: A "slum of hope" from the 1920s and 1930s, members of this class are given hardly any chances of attaining membership of the formal economic structures. Diane Reay stresses the challenges that working-class students can face during the transition to and within higher education, and research intensive universities in particular. One factor can be the university community being perceived as a predominately middle-class social space, creating
340-587: A Funeral . Thurrock can also be seen in 28 Days Later . Scenes from the films Alfie (2004), and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade were shot at Tilbury docks. The opening scenes from Batman Begins (2005) were shot at Coalhouse Fort in East Tilbury. Some filming also took place for the film Essex Boys in and around the Bata estate at East Tilbury. The State Cinema , where Eddie met Roger in
408-659: A community campaigner, saying that she was disillusioned by the politics of the council. In 2008, the Thurrock branch of the IWCA contested the seat of Stanford East and Corringham Town ward and came last with 98 votes, down from last with 144 votes in 2007 and behind the BNP 's 344 votes. In March 2012 Stuart Craft, the last remaining IWCA local councillor in Oxford, announced to the Oxford Mail that he would not stand again in
476-547: A group of 18 parishes in southern Essex. Poor Law Unions subsequently formed the basis for later local government structures, with the Orsett Rural Sanitary District created in 1872 covering the same area. The parish of Grays Thurrock was made its own urban sanitary district in 1886. Urban and rural sanitary districts were converted into urban districts and rural districts in 1894. Two further urban districts were later created from parts of
544-470: A key change in these Soviet-style societies has been a new type of proletarianization , often effected by the administratively achieved forced displacement of peasants and rural workers. Since then, four major industrial states have turned towards semi-market-based governance ( China , Laos , Vietnam , Cuba ), and one state has turned inwards into an increasing cycle of poverty and brutalization ( North Korea ). Other states of this sort have collapsed (such as
612-453: A public house January 2023 Chadwell St Mary has one of the few examples of a "Sunspan" house designed by the architect Wells Coates . Although built in the 1950s, Woodside Primary School's architecture has been described as the slightly earlier "ocean liner" style of Art Deco. The building features a number of bricked curves and circular windows, while the wrought-iron banisters on the stairs are deliberately set to lean out at an angle. There
680-560: A result of the floods. In 2002, a partnership between Thurrock Council, Thurrock Heritage Forum and the Thurrock Local History Society began an initiative to place heritage plaques marking the famous people, events and organisations associated with Thurrock. By September 2021 plaques included: The borough has its origins in the Orsett Poor Law Union , which had been created in 1835 covering
748-589: A riot ensued which was the catalyst for a mass protest across Essex and Kent . Later, in 1588 Elizabeth I addressed her troops not far from the Tilbury blockhouse as the Spanish Armada sailed up the English Channel . Between 1670 and 1682, the Tilbury blockhouse was substantially rebuilt into a much larger fortification ( Tilbury Fort ) and Coalhouse Fort was built further down river, close to
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#1732787198124816-401: A self-identification with the working class group. This subjective approach allows individuals, rather than researchers, to define their own "subjective" and "perceived" social class. Karl Marx defined the working class or proletariat as those individuals who sell their labour power for wages and who do not own the means of production . He argued that they were responsible for creating
884-510: A sense of otherness due to class differences in social norms and knowledge of navigating academia. Working classes in different countries Thurrock Thurrock ( / ˈ θ ʌr ə k / ) is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Essex , England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames immediately east of London and has over 18 miles (29 km) of riverfront including
952-522: Is adequate rainfall year-round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is " Cfb " (Marine West Coast Climate/ Oceanic climate ). At the census of 2011, there were 157,705 people, 62,353 households and 45,985 families residing in the borough. The population density was 9.7 people per hectare. There were 63,869 housing units. The racial makeup of the borough was 86% White, 3.8% Asian, 7.8% Black, 2% Mixed Race, 0.6% other. There were 62,353 households, out of which 30.5% had children under
1020-866: Is one multiplex cinema attached to the Lakeside Shopping Centre, and the Thameside Theatre in Grays . Live shows are held at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet . Open space includes Chafford Gorges Nature Park , Langdon Hills Country Park and Grove House Wood , managed by Essex Wildlife Trust . Museums and historic buildings include Coalhouse Fort at East Tilbury , Tilbury Fort in Tilbury , Purfleet Heritage and Military Centre, High House, Purfleet with its historic farm buildings,
1088-467: Is served with good communication links. The M25 London Orbital Motorway , the railway line between Southend and London Fenchurch Street which provides direct access to Central London, the Port of Tilbury, and the nearby London City Airport make Thurrock an important international trade centre. There is a grass airstrip south of Bulphan village. A ferry for passengers on foot connects Tilbury with Gravesend on
1156-475: Is some uncertainty as to whether his body was displayed at what is now called Coalhouse Point or at a site a few hundred yards up stream, close to the present Tilbury Docks. On 31 January 1953, the low-lying areas of Thurrock were inundated by the North Sea flood of 1953 . The Van den Berghs and Jurgens margarine factory, which manufactured Stork margarine , was forced to stop production for many months. Since
1224-732: The Harris Federation and Ormiston Trust and the country's first cooperative academy trust. Since 2007, all secondary schools in Thurrock have had specialist school status. Some schools, such as William Edwards School and Orsett Heath Academy , utilise their right as specialist schools to select 10% of their pupils in specialist subject aptitude every year. Thurrock has no grammar schools , although Thurrock Council has tried to introduce them. Historically Thurrock had three grammar schools, Grays Thurrock School, Palmer's School for Boys and Palmer's School for Girls. In 1931,
1292-663: The Orsett Rural District : the Tilbury Urban District in 1912 covering the parish of Chadwell St Mary , and the Purfleet Urban District in 1929 covering the three parishes of Aveley , South Ockendon and West Thurrock . After 1929 the area therefore comprised four district-level authorities: one rural district, containing 13 civil parishes, and three urban districts: In 1936 the four districts were all abolished to create
1360-707: The Port of Tilbury , the principal port for London. Thurrock is within the London commuter belt and is an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The borough includes the northern ends of the Dartford Crossing . The local authority is Thurrock Council , based in Grays . The borough also includes Purfleet-on-Thames , South Ockendon , Stanford-le-Hope and Tilbury , as well as other villages and surrounding areas. More than half of
1428-476: The Romans and Anglo-Saxons . Thurrock has numerous archaeological sites including the major excavation at Mucking . The name "Thurrock" is a Saxon name meaning "the bottom of a ship". Horndon-on-the-Hill was the site of an 11th century mint as well as the 15th century woolmarket which gives an indication of the area's wealth in the 15th century. The narrowing of the river where Tilbury now stands meant it
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#17327871981241496-532: The Soviet Union ). Since 1960, large-scale proletarianization and enclosure of commons has occurred in the third world , generating new working classes. Additionally, countries such as India have been slowly undergoing social change, expanding the size of the urban working class. The informal working class is a sociological term coined by Mike Davis for a class of over a billion predominantly young urban people who are in no way formally connected to
1564-453: The Thames Gateway regeneration area, a corridor of opportunity that has been identified by central government as the area with greatest development and commercial potential in the country. Thurrock Development Corporation took over much of the borough's planning functions from its creation in 2005 until its demise in March 2011. Much of the population and commercial activity is centred along
1632-586: The Thurrock Adult Community College , Osborne Sixth Form and Ortu Sixth Form Centre Stanford & Corringham . The Tilbury and Chadwell St Mary Excellence Cluster brought together Chadwell St Mary Primary School, ORTU Corringham Primary School, Grays Convent High School, Hassenbrook Academy , Herringham Primary School, Landsdowne Primary School, Manor Infant School, Manor Junior School, St Mary's RC Primary School, Woodside Primary School and The Gateway Academy . Senior members of
1700-564: The Thurrock Urban District (subject to some minor boundary changes with surrounding areas, notably at North Ockendon). All the civil parishes within the area were merged at the same time to become a single parish called Thurrock. The present-day borough of Thurrock was created in on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 , covering almost the same area as the former Thurrock Urban District, which
1768-408: The global economy and who try to survive primarily in slums . According to Davis, this class no longer corresponds to the socio-theoretical concepts of a class, from Marx, Max Weber or the theory of modernization . Thereafter, this class developed worldwide from the 1960s, especially in the southern hemisphere. In contrast to previous notions of a class of the lumpen proletariat or the notions of
1836-454: The wealth of a society, asserting that the working class physically build bridges, craft furniture, grow food, and nurse children, but do not own land or factories . A sub-section of the proletariat, the lumpenproletariat ( rag-proletariat ), are the extremely poor and unemployed, such as day labourers and homeless people. Marx considered them to be devoid of class consciousness. In Marxist terms wage labourers and those dependent on
1904-403: The welfare state are working class, and those who live on accumulated capital are not, and this broad dichotomy defines the class struggle . In The Communist Manifesto , Marx and Friedrich Engels argue that it is the destiny of the working class to displace the capitalist system, with the dictatorship of the proletariat (as opposed to the " dictatorship of the bourgeoisie ") abolishing
1972-548: The English Working Class , E. P. Thompson argues that the English working class was present at its own creation, and seeks to describe the transformation of pre-modern labouring classes into a modern, politically self-conscious, working class. Starting around 1917, a number of countries became ruled ostensibly in the interests of the working class (see Soviet working class ). Some historians have noted that
2040-437: The IWCA actively campaigns on crime affecting working-class people and a lack of services. It campaigns on issues of local concern such as council housing stock transfers, muggings and inner-city regeneration, and against social harm due to drug abuse . The group has also argued that many racial issues are symptoms of the wider issue of social deprivation, and for taking a stance against what it describes as multiculturalism in
2108-638: The May elections, after ten years as an IWCA councillor. He said, "I couldn't stand on people's doorsteps any more, telling them we were going to change things when that wasn't going to happen." The party was deregistered with the Electoral Commission in November 2020. In summer 2004, the Hackney branch of the IWCA split away to form Hackney Independent. In 2006, the Oxford branch of the party won
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2176-488: The Palmer's schools became public schools with boarding , reverting back to grammar school status in 1944 under voluntary control . Grays Convent High School was an independent day school from its formation until 1969. There were also two selective secondary technical schools , Grays County Technical High School which is now an academy status comprehensive and Aveley County Technical High School , which merged with
2244-480: The Palmer's schools in 1971 to form Palmer's College . Palmer's College, now one half of USP College , is Thurrock's local sixth form college for generalised further education , whilst the Thurrock Campus of South Essex College is the local sixth form college for vocational education . Palmer's also offers courses at higher education . Other institutions of further education in Thurrock include
2312-470: The Royal Opera House's Bob and Tamar Manoukian Production Workshop, The Backstage Centre and ACME artists' studios, Thurrock Museum and Walton Hall Farm Museum. Next to Lakeside Shopping Centre is Arena Essex , a former motor sports complex, where speedway, banger and stock car racing took place. This site is now to be redeveloped for housing. Being on the river and close to London, Thurrock
2380-449: The age of 18 living with them, 72.7% were married couples living together, 52.5% of all households were made up of individuals, 10.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The median age in the borough was 42. 25.5% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.3% of residents were between the ages of 19 and 24; 30.3% were from 25 to 44; 24.2% were from 45 to 64; and 38.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of
2448-617: The belief that it encourages segregation . With its notable electoral results in Oxford in the early to mid-2000s, the IWCA is briefly mentioned in Patrick Keiller 's 2010 film Robinson in Ruins , which explores the social, political and natural history of Oxfordshire and its surrounds. Working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary -based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of
2516-590: The borough is designated as Green Belt . The neighbouring districts are the London Borough of Havering , Brentwood , Basildon and Castle Point . On the opposite side of the Thames are Gravesham and Dartford in Kent . Mammoths once grazed in the Thurrock area and archaeologists unearthed the remains of a jungle cat. Humans have lived in the area since prehistoric times and the land has been farmed by
2584-466: The borough, with the whole borough being an unparished area . The local authority is Thurrock Council . Elections are held in three years out of every four. Thurrock is covered by two parliamentary constituencies. Thurrock includes most of the borough while South Basildon and East Thurrock includes some wards in the east of the borough. Thurrock has a population of 175,500 people living in 90,500 homes. The Metropolitan Green Belt covers 70% of
2652-478: The borough. There are 494 acres (200 ha) of land available for industrial use. There are seven conservation areas , 19 scheduled monuments , including the dovecote at High House Purfleet , and 239 listed buildings . The borough contains ten Sites of Special Scientific Interest : Despite much of the borough being protected Green Belt land, Thurrock provides localised opportunities for further industrial and commercial development. The borough forms part of
2720-463: The charity Gorkha Learning for Life, which was founded by a member of school staff. Thurrock is served by BBC London and ITV London with television signals are received from Crystal Palace TV transmitter, BBC South East and ITV Meridian can also be received from Bluebell Hill TV transmitter. Radio stations that broadcast to the area are: The area is served by these local newspapers: Thurrock has several Non-League football clubs in
2788-479: The city was 49.3% male and 50.6% female. This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Thurrock at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by the Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling . Thurrock has been the scene of several major films. St Clement's Church and street scenes at West Thurrock were used in the making of the film Four Weddings and
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2856-527: The classic Who Framed Roger Rabbit , can be found in Grays. There are a number of examples of Art Deco architecture in Thurrock. The baggage hall at Tilbury was opened in 1930. It has an art deco interior, designed by Sir Edwin Cooper and is a grade II listed building. The State cinema is also a listed building and dates from 1938. It is one of the few surviving examples of 1930s cinema architecture. It has
2924-740: The election of a local councillor , Stuart Craft, with more than 40% of the vote in Northfield Brook ward. Three more candidates received over 20% of the vote in the local elections in London, in Heaton and Gooshays wards in Havering , Clerkenwell ward in Islington and Haggerston ward in Hackney. They won 22% in Bunhill ward in London in a by-election in 2003. The IWCA was able to raise
2992-638: The first preference votes and 39,678 (2.1%) of the second preferences. In the local elections that took place on the same day, the IWCA picked up two more seats on Oxford City Council. Maurice Leen contested the seat of Oxford East for the IWCA in the 2005 UK general election , receiving 892 votes (2.1%). At the 2006 local elections , they stood six candidates and gained a further seat from Labour, taking their total to four. However, they lost two of their Oxford council seats to Labour in May 2008 . One of their councillors, Jane Lacey, stood down in 2010 to continue as
3060-743: The labour of others. The term, which is primarily used to evoke images of laborers suffering "class disadvantage in spite of their individual effort", can also have racial connotations, applying diverse themes of poverty and implications about whether one is deserving of aid. In other contexts the term working class refers to a section of society dependent on physical labour , especially when compensated with an hourly wage (for certain types of science, as well as journalistic or political analysis). Working-class occupations can be categorized into four groups: unskilled labourers, artisans, outworkers , and factory workers. Common alternative definitions of Working Class include definition by income level, whereby
3128-514: The late 18th century, under the influence of the Enlightenment , European society was in a state of change, and this change could not be reconciled with the idea of a changeless God-created social order. Wealthy members of these societies created ideologies which blamed many of the problems of working-class people on their morals and ethics (i.e. excessive consumption of alcohol, perceived laziness and inability to save money). In The Making of
3196-608: The original cinema organ which can still be played. However, in the early 21st century the building became disused and faced dereliction. In September 2015 it was announced that J D Wetherspoon had bought the property for conversion to a public house.( Building of the Bata Shoes estate in East Tilbury was begun in 1933, and this is now a conservation area.JD Wetherspoon have since put the State Cinema building up for sale after announcing they would no longer be converting it to
3264-472: The output of this factory constituted one third of the country's ration allocation, this led to a severe strain on the supply of margarine in the UK. Most schools in Thurrock were closed, either as a direct result of the flooding or in order to use them to help the relief effort. More than 1300 people in Tilbury and other low-lying areas were evacuated to schools on the higher ground. Chadwell St Mary Primary school
3332-414: The problems where they live, then trying to work out ways of resolving them. In Birmingham and Oxford this meant working with local people on issues of anti-social behaviour , and in Hackney around, for example, school closures. IWCA got some of the best results ever in UK politics of independent radical candidates, and several elected in Oxford. In the 2002 Oxford City Council elections the IWCA achieved
3400-512: The riverfront. This includes many large and important industrial sites, including two large oil refineries, manufacturing industries, a container port, cruise liner terminal, distribution warehousing and one of Britain's largest refuse disposal sites at the appropriately named settlement of Mucking. Thurrock is also home to the Lakeside Shopping Centre . Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there
3468-478: The same social unit , a third estate of people who were neither aristocrats nor church officials. Similar hierarchies existed outside Europe in other pre-industrial societies . The social position of these labouring classes was viewed as ordained by natural law and common religious belief. This social position was contested, particularly by peasants, for example during the German Peasants' War . In
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#17327871981243536-534: The schools' councils also sat on the cluster's student council before its dissolution. ORTU Gable Hall School has had a long partnership with Pro Arte Alphen Park School in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa for almost 10 years – the two schools have held exchange programmes with each other and the students sampling life in each other's respective countries. Woodside Primary is linked with a school in Nepal , through
3604-457: The second blockhouse. The importance of the forts in defending the country continued through Napoleonic times and into the two world wars. The land where Tilbury Town now stands was farmland and marsh grazing until the building of the docks in the 1890s. Thurrock includes the Bata village , built for workers of the shoe company in 1933. Eight homes and the factory are listed. Historically, the area
3672-461: The social relationships underpinning the class system before then developing into a communist society in which "the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all." In feudal Europe, the working class as such did not exist in large numbers. Instead, most people were part of the labouring class, a group made up of different professions, trades and occupations. A lawyer, craftsman and peasant were all considered to be part of
3740-843: The southern bank of the River Thames. Rail transport in the borough is provided by c2c with stations at: Bus services within the Thurrock urban area are mostly provided by Ensignbus . Other operators are First Essex, Stagecoach London and NIBS Buses. Thurrock has 55 schools; 39 of them are primary schools , 13 are secondary , two are special and one is alternative . All but one have free school or academy status , with Grays Convent High School instead having voluntary aided status. Five schools, including Grays Convent High School and four primary schools, are Catholic faith schools while two primary schools are Anglican faith schools. 44 schools in Thurrock are operated by one of 13 multi-academy trusts , which include major chains such as
3808-570: The term left anymore, because looking around I don't see any of the people that profess to be left or socialist as actually pro-working class." Stuart Craft From 1998, the IWCA formed groups in Birmingham , Oxford , Glasgow, the London boroughs of Islington and Hackney , and a few other areas. In 2003, it launched as a national organisation. The IWCA slogan is "working class rule in working class areas", and its policies are based on door-to-door surveying of people and asking them what are
3876-475: The two IWCA Oxford councillors missed a meeting at which an above-inflation rise in council tax of 4.5% was decided, due to work and family commitments. A tied vote was decided by the casting vote of the Labour Lord Mayor. The IWCA has adopted tactics of community action to tackle anti-social behaviour , which has led to it being accused of vigilantism . In contrast to many other left-wing groups,
3944-524: The working class is contrasted with a middle class on the basis of access to economic resources, education , cultural interests, and other goods and services, and the "white working class" has been "loosely defined" by the New York Times as comprising white people without college degrees. Researchers in Australia have suggested that working class status should be defined subjectively as
4012-507: The working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour . Most common definitions of "working class" in use in the United States limit its membership to workers who hold blue-collar and pink-collar jobs, or whose income is insufficiently high to place them in the middle class , or both. However, socialists define "working class" to include all workers who fall into this category; thus, this definition can include almost all of
4080-528: The working population of industrialized economies . As with many terms describing social class , working class is defined and used in different ways. One definition used by many socialists is that the working class includes all those who have nothing to sell but their labour, a group otherwise referred to as the proletariat . In this sense, the working class includes white and blue-collar workers, manual and menial workers of all types, excluding individuals who derive their livelihood from business ownership or
4148-476: The £20,000 required for participation in the 2004 London mayoral election and nominated Lorna Reid, a resident and advice worker on the Highbury council estate . Her campaign focused on opposing anti-social behaviour by funding youth facilities and cleaning up estates, establish community restorative justice schemes, local drugs detox centres and progressive local taxation. Reid came ninth with 9,542 (0.5%) of
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#17327871981244216-434: Was a lower-tier district authority, with Essex County Council providing county-level services. Thurrock was made a unitary authority on 1 April 1998, taking over the county-level services. Thurrock remains part of the ceremonial county of Essex for the purposes of lieutenancy . There is only one tier of local government in Thurrock, being the unitary authority of Thurrock Council . There are no civil parishes in
4284-422: Was abolished, with just a minor change on the border with Basildon to place the whole designated area for Basildon new town in that district. The civil parish of Thurrock was also abolished as part of the reforms and the area became an unparished area . The reformed Thurrock district was given borough status at the same time, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor. Until 1998 Thurrock
4352-409: Was displayed in Thurrock. He had been convicted of piracy and hanged on 23 May 1701, at ' Execution Dock ', Wapping . His body was gibbeted — left to hang in an iron cage over the Thames at Tilbury Point — as a warning to future would-be pirates for twenty years. Some sources give the location where his body was exhibited as Tilbury Ness, but this may be an alternative name for the same place. There
4420-517: Was important in the defence of London , and Henry VIII built three blockhouses, two on the Tilbury side and another on the Gravesend side of the river, following the end of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon . In 1381, villagers from Fobbing , Mucking and Stanford-le-Hope instigated the Peasants' Revolt when they were called to Brentwood to pay the poll tax . When they refused to pay,
4488-704: Was renowned for mineral extraction, including clay, aggregates and notably the digging of huge amounts of chalk from the West Thurrock area for use in the now defunct cement industries. When chalk extraction ceased one of the disused pits was redeveloped as Lakeside Shopping Centre. A number of former pits have been used to form the Chafford Gorges Nature Reserve, managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust. The body of Captain Kidd
4556-549: Was ultimately deregistered with the Electoral Commission in November 2020. The IWCA was formed in 1995 by several organisations but primarily Red Action and Anti-Fascist Action . Initial sponsors included Communist Action Group, Colin Roach Centre, Open Polemic, Partisan, Red Action, the Revolutionary Communist Group and Socialist Parent. The founding groups argued that the likely election of
4624-484: Was used as the main welfare centre for the homeless. By 15 February, most schools had returned to normal. The last to resume were the Landsdowne school in Tilbury and the newly opened Woodside Primary School – then called Tyrell Heath School. On Friday 13 February, the flooded areas were visited by the young Queen Elizabeth II Despite severe loss of life in nearby Canvey Island , only one person in Thurrock died as
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