On May 10, supporters, scholars and students from over a dozen countries celebrated the one-year anniversary of the genocide sentence. The worldwide day of action brought together communities to support the survivors’ decades-long struggle for truth and justice in Guatemala. People across the world read the sentence aloud, participated commemorative events and shared personal reflections. In Guatemala City, the one-year anniversary was celebrated in the Central Park with videos from the genocide trial, readings from the sentence and live music. The day prior, a conference titled “Dignifying the People’s Truth” invited Ixil witnesses and experts involved in the trial to reflect on their experience and the importance of the process. NISGUA participated in the worldwide action by inspiring our grassroots network to organize events across the United States.
Below is a selection of videos of community actions held for the genocide sentence across the world.
From the Ixil region in Guatemala, members of the Ixil Ancestral Indigenous Authority and other community members talk about the importance of the sentence to them and to their people:
From Australia, university students read from the sentence:
From the Radical Americas Network and a number of English universities, students and professors comment on the importance of the genocide sentence and read excerpts:
Thanks to Skylight Pictures, we can also relive the genocide sentence word-for-word as read by Judge Yassmín Barrios on May 10, 2013:
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