"Hunger strike a signal to world's oppressed"

{I was fortunate and honored to have interviewed Khader Adnan on Wednesday, April 18th a day after his release from the Israeli Ramleh prison hospital.}

Khader Adnan recounts his 66-day fast in Israeli jail that has made him a symbol of Palestinian resistance.

When Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan called his mother at 11:30pm on Tuesday night, she burst into tears. "He told me, 'Mother I am on my way home,'" she said. “For the first time in months my heart was at ease again." For Palestinians, Khader Adnan has become a symbol of resistance and steadfastness, or sumoud, after he waged a 66-day hunger strike against the Israeli prison service. He began his hunger strike immediately after his violent arrest by Israeli soldiers on December 17, 2011. He was detained under what Israel calls "administrative detention", a policy adopted from the era of the British mandate. Under administrative detention, Israel can detain a prisoner for up to six months, renewable indefinitely, without ever charging the prisoner or presenting any evidence against them.


There are currently more than 4,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, over 300 of those, in administrative detention. Adnan’s hunger strike, which eventually attracted international media attention and solidarity from around the world, inspired other administrative detainees to go on hunger strike. Hana Shalabi went on strike for 43 days before she was released and deported from her village in the West Bank to Gaza. Five others are now in the Ramleh prison hospital, including Bilal Thiab and Thaer Halahleh, who have not eaten for 52 days. After more than two months without food, Adnan’s lawyer brokered a deal in February with Israeli officials that saw him released on April 17. Coincidentally, that is the same day Palestinians commemorate Prisoners Day, which was marked this year by the open-ended hunger strike of 1,600 prisoners. 


Sahar Francis, director of the Ramallah-based rights group Addameer, saw Adnan's hunger strike as a catalyst for this current mass hunger strike movement. "I definitely think the successful hunger strike of Khader Adnan and his release was a main feature in inspiring the 1,600 prisoners to carry out this act now, which is a continuation of what they began in September 2011," he says. "It should be noted that a successful hunger strike depends a lot on internal support, international pressure from the EU and UN, and the policy of the Israeli prison authorities." Khader Adnan, who was was reunited with his family just before midnight on Tuesday, after visiting the families of the prisoners in Arrabeh, seven of whom are serving life sentences, later spoke to Al Jazeera.


Al Jazeera: You've undergone the most difficult experience of your life and have been separated for months from your family. Why did you first stop by the families of other prisoners before seeing your own, and how does it feel to be free again?

Khader Adnan: Every day we live through Prisoners’ Day and its special symbolism. I went to see the families of those imprisoned before seeing my own family as a token of appreciation for their support during my imprisonment and their enduring anguish at having loved ones behind the bars of the Israeli occupation. My freedom is incomplete because of the prisoners who I've left behind. We salute all of the prisoners; Lina Jarbouni [the longest serving female prisoner], Sheikh Ahmad Hajj [the oldest prisoner on hunger strike], Omar Abu Shalalah, Jaafar Ezzedine, Hassan Safadi, and of course Thaer Halaleh and Bilal Thiab. I was received by Bilal Thiab's mother in [the nearby village of] Kufr RaI and relayed to her his message of endurance and commitment to his hunger strike.

After 66 days of refusing food, you spent 53 days recuperating. Did the treatment at the hands of the Israeli officers during your imprisonment improve after you ended your hunger strike?

No, not at all. Up until the last day in the prison hospital they would embark on ways to humiliate me, such as opening the door to stare at me whenever I would use the bathroom or shower. When I was hunger striking, they would purposely eat and drink in front of me. They would insult me, call me a dog. One told me that they still haven't done anything to me yet. Their manners are so unscrupulous. They tried to provoke me by repeating that my wife was unfaithful to me, and that my daughters were not mine. What else could they do? They banned the media from covering my case, proof that they are afraid of the truth. Even after I ended my hunger strike, as I was being transferred from the hospital in Safad to Ramleh, they did so in a way so that no one could see me. They kidnapped me and pushed me through an inner garage. My appeal was held in the hospital cafeteria! Is Israel that afraid of showing its true face to the world?

 How did you manage to find the resilience and strength in continuing your hunger strike, especially after the three times your family visited you?

[Hurried laugh] I don't know how I did it. All strength comes from God, and when I began my hunger strike I knew that it would be until freedom or death … sometimes I am puzzled myself! Israel granted permission for my family to see me not out of the goodness of their own hearts, but because they thought that the sight of my family would be enough to pressure me into eating again. It achieved the opposite effect, and I was further inspired to challenge my jailers. I've spent many sleepless nights from the pain my body was going through. However, my family's happiness, my people's happiness, and the free people's happiness all over the world made me forget that I've ever experienced pain throughout my hunger strike.

Sixteen hundred Palestinian prisoners are on their third day of an open-ended hunger strike in Israeli jails demanding improved living conditions, including the right to family visits and the right to receive family photographs. Will this tactic succeed in translating a popular resistance movement outside of the prison walls amongst Palestinians?

My stance will always be with the prisoners, whether next to them, behind them, or in front of them. From the Gaza Strip to the West Bank to the '48 territories and the exile, every Palestinian is obliged to stand united. We are all the children of the same cause, and one people living under the same occupation. I saw so much support from our family in 1948 Palestine, from the Palestinian doctors and nurses, the Palestinians in Haifa, the school girls from Nazareth who wrote an assignment on me … I will never forget their love. The mass hunger strike is a signal to all oppressed and vulnerable people everywhere, not just Palestinians. It's a message to everyone suffering from injustice, under the boot of oppression. This method will be successful, God willing, and will achieve the rights of the prisoners. I ask God to move the consciences of the free people around the world. I thank them all, especially Ireland, for they have stood by my hunger strike. I ask them to stand in solidarity with all the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in the past, present and future, with our tortured and oppressed people who live under the injustice of occupation day and night.
 
As the Palestinian prisoner to go on the longest hunger strike and survive, how does it feel becoming a symbol not just for Palestinian steadfastness but for resistance among other oppressed people?

During my days in the [Meir Ziv] hospital in Safad, occupied pre-partition Palestine, I was reminded of the holiness and the glory of this land. Being close to the resisting countries of Lebanon and Syria all gave me further incentive to defy the Israeli prison authorities, which I don't recognise. I have barely presented anything worth of value to the Palestinian cause. I work at a bakery and sell zaatar, and will continue to do so to remind every Palestinian that their roots are deeply entrenched in this land, among the olive trees and the zaatar.

Source: Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera English Doesn't Care About Khader Adnan

As posted on Electronic Intifada

Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan has entered his 55th day of hunger strike. He has long passed the critical stage and is in danger of organ failure any moment now. In other words, Khader Adnan is dying.

The silence from international media is deafening. Much of the publicity highlighting Adnan’s case came from social media via Twitter and blogs.

Does a young father of two arrested in the dead of night from his home, held under illegal administrative detention i.e. no charges have been brought against him, beaten and tortured during his interrogation, hunger striking since December 18th—a day after his arrest—not warrant headlines?

Does his identity as spokesperson for the Islamic Jihad cloud the editors’ judgments? Does his long beard — most of which has now fallen out due to the effects of starvation — not make for sexy media attention?

Yesterday a group of Palestinians called up Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem Bureau, demanding to know the reason for the bureau’s nonexistent coverage regarding Khader Adnan. Why Al Jazeera English? Why not the myopic BBC—who’ve recently proclaimed their censorship of the word “Palestine” from their music programmes—or The Guardian or CNN? (The last one was a joke.)

As an Arab news source with a bureau based in Jerusalem, Al Jazeera English holds the responsibility to report what is happening to Palestinians. Not only are they not covering the bombings in Gaza, but they are ignoring the ethnic cleansing happening under their noses in Jerusalem. They have also completely ignored the weekly, daily popular protests in Palestine, while at the same time attempting to present themselves as the voice of the people who are revolting against oppression in the Middle East.

The litany of crimes that Israel commits on a daily basis against Palestinians is long and ranges from land theft, ethnic cleansing, violence against men, women, and children, bi or tri-weekly bombing campaigns on the besieged people of Gaza, political arrests of dozens of Palestinians on a weekly basis including children as young as 13 years of age and institutionalized racism and discrimination that Palestinians face every day which prohibits them from living anything resembling a normal life. As a result many of us turn to blogs and twitter to find out what is happening which begs the question, what exactly is AJE correspondent Cal Perry being paid to report on in Palestine?

Furthermore, while all political prisoners are a shame to the countries imprisoning them, what was the criteria that Al Jazeera used to determine that a self professed Egyptian Zionist, Maikel Nabil, was more worthy of coverage than a Palestinian anti-Zionist?

Coverage of Maikel Nabil from Al Jazeera English:

Egptian blogger’s arrest stirs doubts
Maikel Nabil Live Blog
Egyptian blogger’s arrest stirs doubts
Ministrial declared in case of Egyptian blogger
Egyptian anti-military activist Maikel Nabil rejects pardon

Al Jazeera simply cannot state that Khader Adnan’s hunger strike is not news worthy as international human rights organizations have expressed alarm and condemnation over his detention and concern for his deteriorating health.

The following conversation took place between one caller and a woman from Al Jazeera English Jerusalem office, in response to that caller’s question about why Khader Adnan has been receiving so little exposure from Al Jazeera English.

“But there are other important stories we’re covering.”

“But Khader Adnan has been on hunger strike for 54 days in administrative detention and he’s dying.”

“But there are people dying everywhere.”

The caller was then directed to the editor, who said:

“With all due respect, it’s not up to you to tell us what to cover. I’m only accountable to my superiors in Doha.”

The editor continued to say that there will be a story on the website today so perhaps “you should wait before passing judgments.”

Did that mean that the caller should wait until Khader Adnan dies before he can get decent coverage?

The caller then asked why there had been no TV reports, features, etc. The editor replied that there were more important stories around.

Another caller had this conversation:

“Hello, I’m wondering why Al Jazeera English hasn’t given the Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan who’s been hunger striking for 54 days any coverage?”

“Who is this?”

“It doesn’t matter. I want to know-“

“WHO ARE YOU? I’ve been getting calls every five minutes from people asking about the same subject.”

“Why does that matter? I-“

“I need to know if I should make a list of people calling. I need to know if something is wrong.”

“Of course there’s something wrong. Your coverage of Khader Adnan has largely been nonexistent.”

[Speaking to someone in the room] “It’s another one of them, asking about Adnan.” [Addressing the caller] “You need to tell me who you are.”

“Consider me a viewer of your network.”

“Listen, you can’t do this. Who are you?”

“Why are you getting defensive? I’m only asking why Khader Adnan hasn’t been getting any attention-“

“Who are you? Tell me your name.”

“So you’re interested in my name but not in Khader Adnan’s? The man has been on hunger strike for 54 days and-“

A man took over the phone. “Hello, who is this?”

“I’d rather remain anonymous. I want to know-“

“Look, why should we bother to answer you if you won’t even give us your name? Ok, thank you.” [The line went dead.]

The disrespect and arrogance that Al Jazeera English has shown to Palestinians with the lack of coverage has been nothing short of shocking. If Al Jazeera cannot commit itself to doing actual reporting about the cruelty of the Israeli occupation on a daily basis against Palestinians then it would be best for them to move their office to Tel Aviv or head back home to Qatar.

The Qatar Experience II

 After the initial southern belle reaction to the hotel and the food and Doha's public bathrooms (so clean! so bright! so perfect!) we settled down to enjoy our classes-even the homework was fun, albeit scribbled down at breakfast or in the car. After 3pm we had a lot of time to kill, so we visited the thousand and one tourist attractions Doha has to offer. Ok, I can count them on my fingers. There was the Museum of Islamic Art, an impressive structure built on the Corniche and designed by architect M. Pei. Really fascinating stuff. You walk through each exhibition room based on time spans and witness how the spreading Islamic empire's identity was formed from the cultures and traditions of far east Asian countries all the way to Andalusia. Paintings, carpets, coffins, robes, jewelry, buckets, Quranic inscriptions, pencil cases, lanterns, tiles, knockers, screens, lattices, beakers, compasses, etc. It was so much to take in, and oh so beautiful.

Suq Waqif was another attraction. It's an old suq, or marketplace that retains some magical aura because of its original authenticity and age. It's popular because it is proof that Doha has some cultural aspect. Now it's being modernized by new building structures made to look like they are old, and all the restaurants that were once located along the Corniche were forced to relocate to the suq for tourism purposes. The smell of incense pervaded the air before we turned to the restaurant sector. Big fans were blowing outside stores and restaurants alike, to combat the heat and humidity, which was at its strongest at night. It's rare spotting a Qatari though. The tiny country is made up of, what two thirds expats? We still prefer Jerusalem's Old City, no doubt :)

The city center mall was right around the corner from our hotel. The girls went and marveled at the clothes and the expensive prices. It was also a chance to capture Doha's glass skyscrapers against the night sky as they went walking, forcing themselves to become immune to the heat. The other fancy mall, Villagio, had the whole roof from the inside painted like it was Hogwart's very own Enchanted Ceiling. It has its own river too, complete with a couple of gondolas. Both malls unleashed the horror of "Islamic Swim-wear" to us. I've seen pictures of the burkini before, but having to see it from a close-up on a mannequin makes it about a million more times uglier.

Dina and I were lucky to watch the last episode of The Doha Debates this season live. The wording seemed a little off: "This House believes that resistance to the Arab Spr ingis futile." Typing that now it makes perfect sense, but I remember during the debate I was racking my brain trying to paraphrase the motion into something more understandable. Nadeem Houry, supporting the motion was passionate in voicing his opinions, but I found them a little too optimistic. On the opposing side, Jane Kinninmont had to remind the audience a few times that the motion is not about whether they are against the Arab revolutions, but against the presumption that the dictators will simply roll over. It was very interesting too see and hear. Personally I was on the fence, infused with optimism that no matter what the dictators will do the people's resolve won't be broken or tampered with-the wall of fear has been broken-, and then with a more realistic outlook as dictators can buy off the protesters and won't desist in their killing sprees. Don't forget to tune in! Oh, it was broadcast on June 4th and June 5th. Never mind.

At VCU on another night was the book launch for Kate Lord Brown. It was our first sighting of Qataris! Dina received a signed copy, and there was a reading and a Q and A session followed up by finger food.

Our last tourist stop was at the Al Jazeera compounds. Getting through felt like going through a watered down experience at Ben Gurion airport. In the Arabic compound, we saw the museum, a small room that displayed the jackets of slain journalists, the wreckage from its bombing in Baghdad at the start of Bush's holy war, the calligraphy of the logo, the sketches of the logo itself, the letters Sami al Hage wrote to his wife during his seven year unlawful detainment in Guantanamo Bay (we saw him in his white dishdashah, standing an arm's length away from us. He received his Qatari citizenship on the day we visited!). We entered the newsroom and the people working there barely gave us a second glance. We stood next to the auto-cue (but out of the camera's way) as the two anchors rattled off the world's news. Then we went to the English compound, whose interior design doesn't give the feel of a permanently 90's stuck atmosphere. The lighting was pretty, oranges and pinks and purples. Our tour guide, who happens to be my relation, told everyone that we were from the Palestine Writing Workshop. Everyone perked up at "Palestine" looking at us with renewed interest. Those Paalistiniyunns. Hello, welcome! Enjoy your tour! Al Jazeera struck me as being laid back and quiet. I half expected it to be intimidating, full of frantic people and chaotic scenes. Also, I could have sworn it housed a breeding terrorist cell. Still, it was nice looking at the empty studio rooms and learning what people did there.

It was our last day, and we took a lot of pictures with our new friends. I wanted to catch the sun set while riding a boat, so Dina and I got dropped off at the Corniche and clambered upon a ship. There were absolutely no waves, and the water wasn't Mediterranean clear. Didn't stop us from taking more pictures of each other and the beauteous sun set, reflecting off the glass buildings. Half an hour later we stepped on concrete again, and forgetting we weren't in the hisbeh hassled the poor Indian man to accept the little money we had. I think I won him over when I said, "It's our first time here!" with an innocent fresh green smile. I stopped short of mentioning that we came from Palestine because that's just a dirty tactic. One I will use on later trips no doubt.

After that there was a small event for the participants of the Summer Writing Institute, made especially for the "Palestine delegation." We had trouble getting to the venue but finally we made it. The techniques we learned during the week will definitely help in writing more consistently now, khalas there's no excuse. After a late dinner everyone read a piece that they wrote during the week. It was a last hug, smile, and pose for a picture opportunity. After getting back to the hotel, I stayed up to have my own private time at the beach, 4 am. Wearing my own improvised Islamic swimwear, I swam in the sea, watching Doha's sky turning lighter and lighter, wishing I could stay for one more week. 

Watered Down Version

So world domination doesn't look that far away now, as my account of that revolutionary March 15th day was published by Al Jazeera English.

Singing the Praises of Ayman Mohyeldin

Early on during the Egyptian Revolution, we were enamored with dear Ayman. Julian Assange who? Move over there, it only took us about a month before we found ourselves agreeing with Robert Fisk assessment that Assange was indeed a man who entitled himself to a great deal of self-importance.

Ayman's clear cut analyses and top notch reporting has led us to discuss his physical status and jacket choices, which made our parents permanently switch back to the Al Jazeera Arabic channel instead. Still, it was nice while it lasted, and his being half Palestinian doesn't hurt his case at all.

A couple of interviews we eagerly lapped up before we remembered that the crush had faded:

The Daily Beast talks to him about...stuff.

This New York Magazine query stirred the feathers of a few righteous people because Ayman mentioned their silver fox Anderson Cooper. Somehow they automatically took it to be a diss on Anderson's part. Eh.


Oh, and apparently our knack for putting links here and there isn't going to end anytime soon.

• One man's brutal account of what the army did to him as he tried to enter Tahrir Square with medical supplies ( in Arabic).

• We've seen this before on many articles, but this one sums it up pretty nicely. The winners and losers of the Revolution.

• Love Jon Stewart. This is the world's reaction accordingly.

Offendum on Al Jazeera

Because we adore you.


Egyptian rapper? Faiiil.

Also...rosaries as necklaces. Not big fans of. That's just the superficiality coming out of us though ;)


#Jan 25 Egypt, featuring Offendum, The Narcycist, Amir Suleiman,Ayah, and Freeway.


Since our souls are uncovered right now...we've heard better songs about revolutionary Egypt. Still love you guys though!

PA Buss Supporters While Egypt Comes to Life

The government ministries closed an hour earlier so that their employees could congregate in Ramallah to protest the apparent witch-hunt Al Jazeera TV is unwittingly implementing against the PA. The Palestine Papers? What Palestine Papers? Al Jazeera is Zionist! That's all that matters.

The PA also bussed in the tailandeen from the northern parts of the West Bank, as is their custom whenever they are in dire need of supporters. I hurried through Ramallah today, already late for a workshop, but I didn't need to look twice to see what was going on. Traffic was horrific; the incompetent policemen had closed off a road or two and ignored traffic lights completely, waving their arms to signal the movement of vehicles. The Muqata'a was busy as Abbasshole made his fighting speech to the masses, namely that the Papers were forgeries and that he has nothing to hide. Around the Manara, a sparse crowd milled about, while some idiot shouted threats to Al Jazeera next to boy, no more than nine years old, holding up this poster:

The bigger crowd were in front of the City Center building, where Al Jazeera's offices are located and had already been broken into and vandalized. I walked on, torn between derisive amusement and irritation. Al Jazeera are no saints. In fact, some of their motives and tactics are questionable. But this is NOT about Al Jazeera, nor is it about the British newspaper The Guardian. This is about the full documentation of years and years of failed collusive negotiations between Israel and the PA. This is about bringing into light what many people have suspected about the PA, from happily offering unprecedented concessions, to killing Palestinians in order to maintain "order", to having previous knowledge-at least 6 months prior-to Operation Cast Lead, to employing their American-trained, Egyptian funded, Jordanian based "security forces" to crack down on any political dissent, etc etc. So for people to come out in support of the PA is an action befitting a gormless ogre. For people to defend the PA is unreasonable and irrational. The stage is set, the dominoes are quivering.

Speaking of which, tens of thousands of Egyptians marched through the streets today demanding the end of Hosni Mubarak's 28 year reign. It is toted as the biggest demonstration in a generation.

"We have never seen anything like this before – it is the first day of the Egyptian revolution," said Karim Rizk, one of those who joined multiple rallies in the capital. Apparently taken by surprise at the size of protests, police initially stood back and allowed demonstrators to occupy public squares and march through the streets, an unprecedented move in a country where political gatherings are strictly outlawed and demonstrations are normally quickly shut down by security forces. "We have taken back our streets today from the regime and they won't recover from the blow," claimed Rizk.

Shouting "down with the regime" and "Mubarak, your plane is waiting," protesters demanded the end of President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year dictatorship and said they were fighting back against decades of poverty, oppression and police torture. The protests had been declared illegal by the authorities and were met with a fierce police response, as tear gas and water cannon were fired into the crowd and rocks were hurled into the air by both demonstrators and security forces.

Central Cairo

Al Jazeera Reveals Failure of Negotiations

At the time of this writing, Saeb Erekat is sweating his tiny balls off on the Arabic Al Jazeera channel, gulping down water and yelling unnecessarily so and accusing the anchors of being unfairly quoted. For over one thousand and six hundred documents have been revealed throughout the twenty year course of "peace negotiations" between Israel and the self-appointed Palestinian negotiators. Only an idiot needs to be convinced by all these documents; the so called peace process, proposed initially at the Madrid conference in 1991, has been a laughing stock from the beginning, full of glaring holes of US-backed Israeli propositions of land for Israel's security (and not peace) and unrequited gaping concessions made by the Palestinian team. The negotiations themselves have been going on about ten years prior to Madrid.

First things first. Who the hell appointed the Palestinian Negotiating Team? What an abrasive autocratic clique of unabashed collaborators. Stand up Ahmad Qurei, Yaser Abdrabo, Mohammad Dahalan (all sequestered to bugger off somewhere else) Salam Fayyad and reigning chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat. In no way at all do they represent the Palestinian people, and by Palestinian we include those in the Gaza Strip and 1948 Palestine, not just the bantustan riddled West Bank. Claiming to speak and act on behalf of the Palestinians is such a grievous insult. In fact, it's purely criminal.

Al-Quds/Jerusalem. The Holy City which the Israelis see as their rightful capital, even if it means evicting every non-Jewish member, demolishing historic neighborhoods, and impudently building illegal settlements with the zealousness and manic energy of the tasmanian devil. It is one of the most sensitive and thorniest issue for those who resolutely insist on hammering along the so-called peace process. The original Jerusalem residents, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian (we'll leave out 'Jewish' since they obviously got the better deal), are under threat of losing their homes, their identity, and their livelihoods by the on-going Judaizing process. Most have. Oh, and then there's all this bother about a third temple for the Jews built beneath the Al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, which in order to be discovered must entail the excavation of the mosque. The old city is part of the occupied Palestinian territories (since 1967) which clearly means that the excavations, the closing down of Arab-owned stores, and the eviction and subsequent replacement of Palestinians with immigrant Jews is illegal.

Enter sweaty Erekat. Back in 2009, he proposed a "creative" solution for the problem of the old city of Jerusalem. Israel gets control of the Jewish quarter and part of the Armenian quarter, which implicitly brings Israel right up to the Haram al Sharif's western compound wall. In other words, the Armistice Line is redrawn 600 meters closer to the very borders of the Haram al Sharif. The Palestinians get control of the Christian and Muslim quarters. And the Haram al Sharif itself can be overseen by an international committee. That's not all folks! The year before, Ahmad Qurei and Erekat offered to concede almost all of East Jerusalem-for nothing in return. This means legalizing all the settlements, except for Jabal Abu Ghneim, and giving up the Arab neighborhoods.

Erekat on al Jazeera, as if to justify himself, shouted that even though this it what was offered to Israel, Tzipi Livni (part of the negotiators back then) adamantly refused to accept. We suppose he's trying to bring up the point of Israel's graciousness, and not the obvious correct reason for its refusal:

THEY
WANT
IT
ALL

So. Does Erekat think that by conceding East Jerusalem for nothing in return will put him in the history books as the most shrewd and calculating negotiator of all time? Or will be be busy papering his bathroom tiles with benjamins?

And you know what, it's not surprising at all. This whole story is only natural, with a few douchebags happily giving away the homeland of Palestinians without second thought and fulfilling their farcical role in...negotiations.


Lastly, this gem of a quote from Shitface: "The only thing I cannot do is convert to Zionism."

D'oh!

Look Ma-I'm on Al-Jazeera!

This is quite spiffing. Or spiffy. And rather prodigious. And we'll leave it at that before we go all self-congratulatory like.