Will you become communist and proceed to spread the revolution to the rest of Latin America?
Possibly. Right now Rio Grande do Sul lacks a proletarian class(actually some craftsmen are immigrating but they become farmers instead due to lack of industrial jobs). Hopefully a state capitalist party will win the elections and fix such lack of industrialization.
What are the requirements for that land claim in the events?
As you'll see in the coming update, they are quite high for such a small country regarding the required prestige they take.
You defeated Brazil with Rio Grande?
This is more of a Clockwork Knight AAR, as he is from Rio Grande do Sul. I live in the exact opposite side of the country.
I wouldn't call it total victory. As you'll see in this update, I'm almost certain the other BR revolts are also represented in POPDemand, but by generic rebels rather than separate countries, because there is no other reason for Brazil to have not sent their entire army at once against the Farrapos, and for so long to have taken for them to finally show up and prove that their defeated and encircled forces weren't even the majority of their entire army.
This update is quite big, and because of that, it will be the last one in this first page.
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War, Peace and Multikulturalism
This song has nothing to do with but with another war of secession this but it is cool IMO
After the legendary victory at Dourados, Mato Grosso, many of the most important moralist figures in the young Republic began to proclaim this war as a crusade against the corrupt and decadent empire of Brazil, accusing it of being an artificial construct forged by immorality and corruption, mentioning with a strong bias the very origins of such independent larger nation in the hands of a reputed drunkard and womanizer prince, something common in propaganda leaflets of the country claiming the only reason Pedro I proclaimed the independence of Brazil was to continue living closer to his Brazilian lover outside marriage, rather than any true political ideal like that which drove the United States of America to become what it is today.
Bento Gonçalves believed that this wasn't over yet, even as the Republic approached São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. He believed that the only reason there was not an even larger force immediately in position to attack them was that the rest of the Brazilian Army has been busy quelling revolts in northern Brazil, but now it would be only a matter of time before they arrived. Thus they had to conquer as much as possible in the meanwhile to have enough leverage to negotiate at least white peace.
In July 5 he was proven right, as a large Brazilian army of twenty-one thousand men marched from the north, presumedly having just crushed the Cabanagem revolt in Para, and now the remaining Republican forces were too small to stand a chance, instead, they were ordered to avoid engaging such army at all costs, and to instead carry on through a Long March and to, if necessary due to this war lasting way too long than what would be desirable, head northwestwards towards the Amazon Rainforest and secure a position, while hopefully allying with the survivors of the crushed Cabanagem movement.
Dourados was also secured, and Brazil was playing a dangerous game by continuing this war. No matter how good censorship was, they couldn't hide the truth of how their struggle against the South was disastrous, and such rumors could spawn something far worse than mere separatism: it could spawn a full-fledged reenactment of the French Revolution there. Yet, they remained unwilling to negotiate anything other than unconditional surrender and annexation, something which will not be accepted.
Fortunately their large army hurried to retake Sorocaba rather than to attempt crushing the dispersed armies of the Republic, they clearly feared a total revolution and civil war, thus more successful occupations had to happen, hopefully before their now obviously larger army could crush the dreams of Rio Grande do Sul.
Most of southern Brazil has already been secured, while they were still to retake control of Sorocaba. Hopefully they weren't much far from achieving enough for the Regency Council of Brazil to agree with a white peace, because with the arrival of the reinforcements, it became clear that those dreams of a Brazilian Republic were indeed too high, and the best they could hope to achieve now was peace as an independent State. In September 5th, two days before the independence day of Brazil, Bento Gonçalves led the largest cavalry force to hunt their isolated forces in Minas Gerais and he knew that if this war lasted much longer they would lose. In the next months their entire future would be decided.
Another victory, but of little significance again. Brazil was far more than capable of reinforcing the losses they took there, and considering their numerical superiority it was far from a major victory. Nevertheless, it helped buy time and disrupt their response.
Eventually Sorocaba fell, and the massive Brazilian army began to hunt for the much smaller Riograndense force that was trying to take control of the very important city of São Paulo, they immediately retreated towards the only direction that would allow them to escape in time, but eventually it became clear they had nowhere to run. On the morning before the coming battle, upon seeing the battle-weary gauchos of this small army now gathered in the secured neighborhoods of the harbor town of Santos and having a breakfast, their commander said:
"Gaúchos! Comam bem, porque esta noite nós jantaremos no Hades!"
Gauchos! Eat hearty, for tonight we dine in Hades!
Even more Brazilian armies were coming, their capability of outnumbering them now clear. Bento didn't think twice when he ordered for everyone to regroup southwards, the war was coming to an end, an decisive end, while a not particularly decisive, if dramatic and hopeless battle for one of the sides, was about to begin.
As the Battle of Santos raged on, with the gauchos fighting bravely despite aware they stood no chance, in an attempt to save their lives, Bento Gonçalves tried to negotiate peace, but the talks went nowhere, and thus, the two thousand men would meet their fate.
They resisted for several days, their captain having sworn he'd fight to the death, but they knew all along, that there was no hope. The 2078 of Santos would become to Rio Grande do Sul like the 300 of Thermopylae, even if not as absurdly outnumbered: men who resisted for an unbelievably long time and fought with great determination despite the awareness of their doom.
Their deaths however would prove themselves not in vain, as after another successful occupation, instability was increasing over Brazil, and they were now on a tough situation for even if technically they could eventually defeat the Republic, to do so while they are endangered internally could still spell the end of their monarchy.
Thus, against all odds, in November 2nd 1836, the war was finally over, the Battle of Paracatu being the last battle of this conflict. But it was obvious this was not yet the end of this.
Immediately after the end of the War of the Farrapos, Rio Grande do Sul forged a new alliance with neighboring states with the goal of ensuring its continued survival. Although Brazil accepted peace for now, they will never give up and will definitively try to retake Rio Grande do Sul again.
It is a good thing the war is over, for had it lasted a few months longer, the Republic would definitively go bankrupt, and steep tariffs and taxes were still needed to keep it afloat, although in time this would change, allowing for less heavy taxation of the people who fought so hard for this great victory of democracy in South America.
Due to the needed cuts on the military, leadership has grown weaker, while a surge of conservatives marked the Upper House in 1837.
The new year was just beginning when a question was raised on whether it was really a good idea to form an alliance with Paraguay, the exhausted Rio Grande do Sul however had enough honor to not be a coward and run away from the duties this mutual protection pact gave, and thus they declared war on Argentina.
There are three major political parties in Rio Grande do Sul: the conservative Republican Party *cough*Kwanstain ripoff*cough*, the Liberal Party and the reactionary Gaucho Party. Due to its stand as a bastion of democracy, social mobility and human rights in a continent marked by dictatorships, monarchy and entrenched aristocracies, Rio Grande do Sul gradually draws more and more liberals towards the country. Unfortunately the same liberals support a laissez-faire ecomony, which could be very bad for the future of this small country by delaying industrialization as such, being a high-risk enterprise in a still agrarian country, is not something that the gauchos can count upon the "invisible hand" for, while the government could give a greater push for industry if the current party supported the idea of state capitalism, something only the reactionary Gaucho Party does, and unfortunately, on the other hand, the Gauchos are stringent against the wave of multikult and unrestricted immigration that led to a massive population growth in the last months, and wish to impose mandatory cultural assimilation and restrict citizenship to Brazilians only.
In February an over thirty-thousand strong Argentinian army was spotted, and upon realizing Paraguay stood no chance at all, even with their help, Bento Gonçalves found them more than willing to agree to a white peace with his country, fortunately. Hopefully Paraguay won't resent them for this, but there was nothing they could have done to help them.
The tariffs and high taxes were hurting the people, and repaying their debts was also important, which is why the decision to disband all forces but the cavarly was done, for the growing population of the country would eventually allow for mobilization to replace a standing army of infantry. The all-cavalry standing army, reputed for its glorious victories and decisive role in ensuring their independence in the war, was just too strong to be dismissed, and too expensive to rebuild again later.
By the mid of 1837 the social theories of Malthus were fully understood in Rio Grande do Sul, and thus, to further improve their education, together with the natural positive side effect on literacy of countless of highly educated Europeans migrating to the country, mitigated only by the equally significant amount of Eastern European immigrants, further research of social sciences continue, this time towards a new concept: Positivism, something a French named Comte came up with and suggests the existence of an essence, like the clockwork of machinery, behind all human societies, and how certain behaviors can be instilled and promoted.
Many in the border with Brazil were restless, sympathizing with the young Republic. However, they were afraid of the consequences of giving any public support to their ideal, until they could prove to them they had what it takes to achieve a permanent victory against Brazil, through immense prestige.
In August 1837, thanks to the constant stream of immigrants from countries where the industrial revolution brought as much progress as unemployment, or simply from countries where they were persecuted and oppressed, Rio Grande do Sul has grown stronger, and now has passed the 1 million mark in its total population, although the details are sketchy, due to how rapid the population has been increasing lately making the census office overburdened despite the administrative budget of the country, like the education budget, being at their maximum. The Republic was becoming so far a successful kind of multiculturalism. Not only this migrants expanded its economy, but on average they were actually better educated than the local population, and slowly but surely they were increasing the literacy rate of the nation, which already came up from 10 to over 16% in little more than one year. Of course the high investment in education had a lot to do with it as well, but if they survive, Rio Grande do Sul could have the potential to become the most developed and technologically advanced country of South America.
How can a country as large as the Russian Empire go bankrupt? Those Russian immigrants that came to Rio Grande do Sul, and there is certainly a lot of potato around, they weren't bank robbers moving in with a lot of gold for sure. Must be the massive corruption, inefficiency and decadence of their monarchy, even worse than those of Brazil, for who could believe that country still is by and large feudal? It is truly no surprise so many serfs, who were just at a slightly better situation than slaves despite being white men, illegally fled from Russia to seek a new life as free men in Rio Grande do Sul. Meanwhile, based upon the Malthusian school of sociology, the Church has improved their Sunday Schools.
Keeping external debts is never a good thing. Actually high debts are some of the symptoms of Thirdworldia, and thus if they ever hope to reach the 1st World, they must ensure a sound economy, and thus, once the government accumulated enough money, in September, they finally repaid the debts acquired during the War of the Farrapos, eliminating the interests from their daily expenses. The high taxes however remained, for there were great plans in mind, great public works and projects which would require lots of money but would bring prestige, security and industrial development to the country.
Although communal pastures, sharing of properties and farms never existed in any significant manner over Brazil and Rio Grande do Sul, marked like all former Portuguese and Spanish colonies by mostly large plantations cultivated by slave labor, in a step to just keep up to modern times, laws of inclosure were enacted just for the sake of it.
The British Empire was the cradle of the Industrial Revolution, and from some of its thinkers new ideas were being imported and applied over the young country, ideas which would lead it to increased progress and a better future. Meanwhile, the growth of LIBERALS over all social classes, from the wealthiest to the poorest, had a marking impact on the Upper House as the year of 1838 began.
In 2nd of May, a gaucho baker began to visit several local banks in Porto Alegre to ask for investment loans to fund his idea of establishing a factory of canned charque(which might or not be similar to spam) and bread in Rio Grande do Sul, but unfortunately nobody wanted to risk lending him money to see if his factory would succeed and pay off later. Another proof the "free market" simply does not work when the goal is to bring progress to a nation. The hand of the government however, despite dormant, could do something depending on the party that will win the elections of 1840, and eventually this man sold his project details and blueprints to the government for a relatively generous sum after he realized he stood no chance of becoming one of the first capitalists around. With this such kind of industry could be established, and the canned food industry would be particularly interesting considering the amount of cattle raised around, even if it required other sources of food as well to be completely autarkic in its inputs.
In the same year, the exhuberant coronation of Queen Victoria happened in Great Britain. In the mind of the average gaucho, only one thing can be worse than a monarchy:
A monarchy ruled by a woman.
Thanks to how the economy was growing and improving lately, finally it was possible to eliminate all tariffs, something incredibly appreciated because many products had to be imported from other countries, and the poor people were given a break, even if a relatively small one, in the heavy taxes they had to endure together with everyone else.
Together with the growing popularity of LIBERALS, In February 1839 a major "Marcha pela verdadeira democracia" (Rally for true democracy) happened in Porto Alegre, demanding universal suffrage in special, and also the end of press censorship and several other political rights, mostly led by gauchos with "Hanz" and alike in their names, because the poor immigrants from Germany in particular were mostly literate and far more educated and politically driven than the locals. Aware that doing such could provoke disillusionment, the Republic did not violently suppress the protest, which drew the hearts of even more people towards liberalism.
With the substantial growth of Rio Grande do Sul, a second national focus policy could be enacted, if only they had a second state or were a secondary power to be able to seek a place in the sun of colonialism, bringing DEMOCRACY where there is none, as the most unlikely newcomer to such.
The town and region of Alegrete in particular has become the greatest bastion of Liberalism in Rio Grande do Sul. By the way,
Alegrete means joyous in Latin according to Wiktionary, and an once commonly used synonym for joyous is gay. To put it briefly:
LIBERALS IN A CITY WHOSE NAME MEANS GAY IN LATIN. CALL WCDS IMMEDIATELY!
Fretrider, from the neighboring Uruguay, which also was once a part of Brazil, reads attentiously the news about the new Rio Grande do Sul. It doesn't take long for him to react in the usual way to what is happening so close to his own country:
Perhaps that explains why Uruguay decided to unilaterally break their alliance with the Farrapos.
Later in the same year, finally the first of the mentioned Great Works the Republic was accumulating money for has begun: a massive construction of major fortifications over the entire country, not so different from what the dear leader and greatest statesman of all time, bane of the revisionist and hero of mankind Enver Hoxha did in Albania, and it included even public loans for individuals to build bunkers in their own homes, which might attract certain Australians to the country as well.
Soon the Republic would reach its fourth anniversary as and independent country. It was a struggle unlike any, a legendary victory against all odds, to never be forgotten as they now move towards a much greater future while most of their neighbors seem to stagnate under the nature of their tyrannies. And with this fourth anniversary came the greatest DISCUSS!!! of every democracy too:
Elections were coming. Right now, despite all the protests, only the middle class and the wealthy could vote, and it was in the hands of the middle class in special that the fate of the country lied, as they were obviously much more numberful voters than the rich, and without any significant turnover at all, for they knew quite well what happened in other countries, with many of them being artisans who were growingly unable to compete with mass production. They didn't want to be thrown into poverty, but they knew they were right now in a crossroads of societal change: once the industrial revolution begins could either become rich capitalists, middle class bureaucrats and clerks or poor industrial workers. It was no surprise thus that there was a growing anti-industrial lobby that also wished to impose massive tariffs to make the more expensive products of the artisans competitive, and yet ultimately the liberals were still gainin force by and large.
After the development of Positivism, there was no immediate research project. Instead, the government has waited for the development of new concepts that would strengthen their national resolve and lead them to further plurality. Now, it wouldn't take much time at all for such concept of Ideological Thought to gain a more solid form and be applied to the workings of the government, refining the democratic ideals of Rio Grande do Sul.
In January 18th, Rio Grande do Sul decided to fund a major International Art Exposition of Classical Art, giving also patronage to many local artists, musicians and maestros, allowing countless of tourists from many countries to appreciate their works. It was part of an ambitious plan of being at the forefront of Culture as much as Science and Industry over South America, and it immediately brought much prestige to the nation, but still far from enough for actively pursuing the Juliana Republic, not that they have enough military power to challenge Brazil in a total war and make demands from such, yet.
As the elections were coming, political DISCUSS!!! reached its greatest levels. Many supported the idea of certain individuals in the government, which included the war hero Bento Gonçalves, of "pushing" industrialization to the nation through direct government intervention and construction of State-owned factories, to be later, if convenient, sold to private investors. However, others wanted for the status quo to be maintained, claiming the bureaucracy such State Capitalism would generate would grind the Riograndense economy to terrible inefficiency. The liberals, as usual, refused to DISCUSS!!! this, for they wanted a free market, period.
Looks like some delusional liberals also took the opportunity to argue inanely in favor of total pacifism, the fact there is a very angry and much bigger Brazil as a neighbor wanting to seize their country back seemingly something these LIBRULS are oblivious to, as one of them became particularly charismatic and able in his speeches. Although some Lithuanian immigrants suggested killing him, and one even offered himself for the job, ultimately that would make than no better than the Brazilian and Russian Empires, and instead the government assigned one of their own charismatic and able politicians to counter the arguments against the military and for pacifism, and to reinforce the importance of fighting for the fatherland, because this peace could end at any time, and most likely, once the truce with Brazil is over, they will start another war again, despite some diplomatic efforts towards lasting peace.
The elections underwent without any issues, fortunately, as, within the wealthy and middle classes, both those who support the Republican Party and those against it gather at the booths. Eventually the results will come, and this cannot be understated no matter how inane it looks like for its historical significance: this is the first election for a president in the history of Rio Grande do Sul, a confirmation of democratic ideals, and an important step towards seeking diplomatic recognition of their independence, specially from the United States of Kwa', which is already sympathizing with them for the ideals they stand for despite playing a careful game due to their geopolitical interests in having friendly relations with Brazil. So far only Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina, an old rival of Brazil, formally recognized the independence of Rio Grande do Sul.
The artisans, feeling constantly threatened by the influx of cheap mass-produced imported goods, and being a large part of the middle class, have been very politically active in supporting protectionism, and their cries for such were supported by the Gaucho Party and by the Republican Party, which also publicly supported their interests in this area by declaring that otherwise Brazil would eventually annex Rio Grande do Sul again through economical and political rather than military means, and that the work of their own people must be put first and to buy from local artisans is the duty of every patriotic gaucho.
And patriotism was a very common theme in the speeches before the elections, one where those who wanted to have a very strong military and the will to always fight for the country even if the rest of the world and the LIBERALS thought the country was fighting an unjust war won the DISCUSS!!! strenghtening jingoism and an excessive patriotism almost on par with that of Serbians, Poles and Amerikwans, except it was one built on a national identity formed primarily from living there long enough rather than from mother tongue and country of origin, just like in Kwan where some Irish Americans are even more patriotic than those who descendants came first in the Mayflower.
And speaking of immigrants, those were slowly influencing local culture in a noticeable way, specially culinary. Sauerkraut was becoming as common as charque, for one, and the immense culinary variety of so many immigrants could make Porto Alegre into one of the cities most diverse restaurants in the world, rather than with KFC for niggers and McDonalds, Wendy's and Burger King for the other manboons.
The immigration and the excess of people in the city of Porto Alegre saying "Bonjour", "Guten Tag", "Dóbryj Den'" and so casually eventually proved decisive towards a massive shift near the end of the elections, as together with a large part of the wealthy landowners, many gauchos became reactionary as they accused the government of actively undermining the national identity and culture in a sorry attempt to completely seek a total cultural segregation from Brazil, and demanded for strict laws against multikulturalism that would incentive these people to "speak fucking Portuguese!" and assimilate culturally instead of this "enormous Babel Tower" as they called the capital of the country, where right now dozens of different languages were spoken daily in different neighborhoods thanks to the Full Citizenship and multikult policy of the Republican Party. Disregarding of course the fact most of these immigrants were white people and far more literate than the locals, even among the rich, which might mean at least a part of this shift can be associated with jealousy and butthurt for receiving immigration of übermensch and realizing they are less able than the newcomers, just like when an Internet forum filled with shitposters gets an influx of newbies more intelligent and educated than the oldfags gets a massive internetdrama. Nevertheless, their worries about the destruction of cultural identity weren't exactly far-fetched when almost half of the country speaks casually other languages than Portuguese, even though there was enough diversity for no minority to actually be big enough to influence the culture of the country single-handedly, and instead, from eating sauerkraut to croissants, Rio Grande do Sul was slowly absorbing small pieces of near every European culture.
A second DISCUSS!!! on the matter of which is the better capitalism and why happened, and once again State Capitalism won, giving near total popularity to the Gaucho Party, which was expected to win while the Republican Party, not wanting to risk being alienated from politics in the next 4 years, decided to form a coalition with the Gauchos.
A paternalistic sense was growing among the more conservative individuals of the population, with leadership figures seen as fatherly figures. It was this feeling that would later enable populist demagoguery over South America, but right now, it was more good than bad, and it didn't threat the democratic foundations of the country.
In 19th of June, with the elections in Rio Grande do Sul about to begin, an enourmous diplomatic crisis erupted in South America shortly after Bolivia declared independence from the Peru-Bolivian Confederation after a victorious war against Peru. Brazilian spies were trying to create a forgery to give them justification to conquer a part of Bolivia, and they were caught with their hands dirty, leading to immediate cessation of all diplomatic activities between the two countries, and to the possibility of futurely establishing an alliance with this Bolivia as well, to secure lasting peace for the Farrapos Republic.
Wasting no time, Bento Gonçalves began to seek improving the relations of Rio Grande do Sul with Bolivia to appoint where they might agree with a mutual defense pact, seeing as both are being targeted by the Empire.
A new proposal was slowly gaining support among radicals, specially in the poor strata. An still disassociated idea which would later become one of the cornerstones of a new revolutionary ideology, the idea that a democratic government is the best for deciding and managing the economy of the country, that capitalism should be abolished. It was a radical one, and the gaining of support for such brought no influence over the election results, because such concept of a government planned economy so that the economy could be ruled by the people and for the people was way too ahead of its time, but those who stood for such still undefined, crude concept would probably serve as the foundation of gaucho socialism.
Finally, the elections were over! With full support of the Republican Party, the Gaucho candidate, Getulio Souza de Freitas, won with a platform promising the bringing of a new industrial era of unprecedented prosperity through state intervention in the economy, the protection of the artisans and of the local economy against foreign interests, the reaffirmation of their cultural identity and promotion of assimilation to cut off on the multikult while still keeping their doors opens provided the immigrants are willing to embrace local culture and learn and speak Portuguese, and the maintenance of the army as a glorious and mighty force ready to fight for Rio Grande do Sul, and to even take the Juliana Republic from Brazil.
And thus began the Industrial Revolution through the strong hand of the State rather than then fickle "invisible hand" of the market. Now it is a good time to review the overall situation of Rio Grande do Sul:
Those opposing multikult had good reasons for such, for while immigration has almost quadrupled the population of Rio Grande do Sul, now approaching 2 million inhabitants, the Brazilians or those assimilated into Brazilian, and to be more specific, gaucho culture, were still majority, but not by far. After them, the second largest population was that of JEWS, fleeing from Russia and other hotspots of hatred and pogroms mostly, and making over 6% of the Riograndense population, while those of Jewish religion were an even more significant minority at over 8%. Then, perhaps in an arguable incline these immigrations brought, the niggers, now a much smaller part of the entire population, and as the second largest immigrant population, the French, which is quite curious.
And to further add to this cauldron of MULTIKULT, by order of larger to smaller minority: Ukrainian, Czechs, Romanians, North Germans, South Germans(who together formed the second largest immigrant group, and if the Jews from Germany are added, Krauts are then definitively the largest immigrant population), Occitans(together with French would be the second largest) and then in less than or close to 1% proportions here a few of those listed as "others": Serbians, Turks(who somehow haven't started killing each other in an ethnic war, yet), Russians, Poles, more potato, some Siberians etc etc.
Yet remember they pay taxes and improve the economy, and most importantly most of them aren't towelheads or niggers, but literate Europeans.
Of all these immigrants, none are more educated and literate than the Germans, who indeed are bringing much incline to the country, whose literacy rate increased almost doubled in only four years, even if arguably there is a lot to be done to ensure they can write in Portuguese as well as in German. Nevertheless, it is easy to understand why many opposed such Full Citizenship idea of giving full rights immediately to every immigrant. It was the arguably far-fetched fear that eventually those who speak Portuguese would become a minority, then maybe a kraut gets elected president, rename the country to Süd Großflussand declare German as the Official Language, becoming some kind of mini-Austria, that drove the signing of the policy that demanded assimilation and residency for citizenship rights to be granted, that ensured this victory of the reactionaries. On the good side for the immigrants, this meant the craftsmen from other countries would soon get jobs instead of wallowing in unemployment, while the other rights granted to all regardless of being born there or out of there would hopefully still draw a lot of immigrants, even if not as much as full citizenship did.
Economically, the country is much better than in 1836, to the point everyone can now enjoy relevant tax cuts while subsidies were given to essential products Rio Grande do Sul does not produce or is unable to produce in sufficient quantity to supply all the demand, further pleasing everyone. Education and admnistrative funds are at their maximum to support the continued transformation of the country into the best and most advanced of the subcontinent, while the Defense budget is at 50%, the minimum the Jingoist party that just got in would consider acceptable.
And thus began the 1840s, a decade when Rio Grande do Sul strived to become the most industrialized country of South America, rather than only the most MULTIKULT country of the entire continent in an arguably good than bad way. The Industrial Revolution has begun.
TO BE CONTINUED ON PAGE 2