Pakistan beat the odds last week and held relatively peaceful elections. But was the Taliban the real winner? 

Pakistanis voted last Saturday after five years of civilian rule, paving the way for a first ever democratic transition in the country as politicians are poised to take the helms of the government.

The elections were unprecedented given the country’s history of rampant military takeovers and abrupt ends to civilian rule on charges of corruption and mismanagement.

The run-up to the election was marked by some bizarre events. Just a few days before the vote, upstart candidate and former cricket star Imran Khan tumbled from an elevated platform during a campaign event, suffering head injuries. A few days earlier a white tiger used as a prop in frontrunner Nawaz Sharif’s campaign rallies died of heat exposure, creating a minor scandal.

And then, of course, there were numerous attacks by the Pakistani Taliban on political rallies and offices of more liberal political parties.

The militants targeted President Asif Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party, the Karachi-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the secular Awami National Party in the northwest region.

Conservative parties, like Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf, were free to campaign.

These factors had cast doubts if the elections would be fair if all parties are not given a level-playing field to mobilize their voters.

On top of that, there was the fear that polling stations would come under Taliban attack would force voters to stay indoors on the election day.

Supporters of the MQM party rally in Karachi in 2009. MQM rallies were targeted by Taliban attacks during the run-up to this year’s election. (Photo by Alex Stonehill)

However, people turned out in large numbers with a reported more than 60% turnout—the highest so far in Pakistan’s history. Liberal parties like the PPP argued they lost their seats because of not being able to freely campaign. But the fact is they had spent five years in power and did not solve the problems of common Pakistanis.

Now that the elections are over, the country is replete with optimism.

But the results have brought the problems of Pakistan and its relations with its neighbors and allies at the forefront.

Contrary to hype in the local and international media and predictions of many political pundits about Imran Khan’s chances, his Tehrik-e-Insaaf (Movement for Justice) party failed to win a sizeable majority needed to form the government.

Instead, the two-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League secured a simple majority and enough of a mandate to form a government.

Sharif ruled Pakistan from 1990 to 1993 and later from 1997 to 1999 before military general Pervez Musharraf overthrew his government. Sharif and his family lived in exile in Saudi Arabia for years, before returning to the country in 2007.

Sharif’s victory has come as a disappointment to many Pakistani youth who turned out in huge numbers to support Khan. Youth from the elite classes, commonly known as ‘mummy-daddies’ because of their Westernized lifestyle (and tendency to call to their parents using the English words ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’ rather than Urdu), were unequivocal in their support for Khan.

Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) political party, casts his vote for the general election at a polling station in Lahore last week. (Photo by REUTERS/Mohsin Raza)

So were religious conservatives because of Khan’s anti-American rhetoric.

Many Pakistani expats also showed tremendous interest in the politics of their country of birth. According to some media reports, many expats had flown to Pakistan for this election to support and vote for their leaders.

Munir Rizvi, a Boeing engineer and former President of Pakistan Association of Greater Seattle, says he did not support any particular political party but did follow the elections on radio and Internet. “I hope everything goes well,” he says. “Pakistan needs stability.”

Rizvi believes young people coming out and voting was a big change in Pakistan’s politics. “They are the people with hopes that new faces will change the country,” he said

One among many diehard supporters of PTI in Seattle area is Raza ul-Mustafa, who teaches computer science at Seattle University.

“I am not satisfied with the results, but at the same they are encouraging,” says ul-Mustafa, citing some news reports about complaints of rigging. “They should be addressed so that the confidence of people in electoral process is restored.”

Indeed, complaints of vote rigging and mismanagement prompted the election commission to reopen voting stations in Karachi almost a week after the polls had initially closed.

Ul-Mustafa believes that, despite the fact that he didn’t win, the improved results for Khan’s party bode well for it’s emergence as a third political force in the country.

Khan has gone through somewhat a dramatic metamorphosis. As a cricketing celebrity, he was considered a playboy and remained heartthrob of many Bollywood actresses of his time. Later on he married Jemima Khan, a British national with half Jewish ancestry.

Cricket start turned politician Imran Khan, whose PTI party failed to meet lofty expectations in the elections.

But today’s Khan has a more religious outlook than anyone would have ever expected 20 years ago. He has tried to capitalize on Pakistan’s growing hatred for the West, particularly the US, and promised that he would shoot down US drones once in power.

His party failed to gain enough seats to come through on that promise. However, PTI did secure majority in the provincial legislature of the country’s conservative northwest region that borders Afghanistan, where the US conducts drone strikes against Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Nawaz Sharif, winner of the elections, isn’t the flip-side of Imran Khan either. He was the protege of military dictator General Zia ul-Haq who introduced Islamization in the country in the 80s. During his second tenure as prime minister, Sharif tried to introduce Sharia Law in the country and has close affiliation with the Saudi royal family. It was during Sharif’s governments when Saudi Wahibists gained significant ground in Pakistan’s religious and social polity.

His liberal opponents accuse that Sharif is soft on the Taliban and also has ties with Pakistani terrorist groups who conducted Mumbai attacks in 2008.

So what does this all mean for the US and the coalition forces scheduled to leave Afghanistan in 2014? Sharif has said he would ensure the withdrawal is smooth. But Pakistan’s ongoing relations with the Afghan Taliban still remain a question. Were the Taliban in Pakistan’s attacks on liberal parties calculated to take them out of the government so that a conservative government in Islamabad would safeguard their interests once the US leaves?

Sharif has also promised to maintain good ties with the US. Relations between the two countries have been fraught with tension since the raid that killed bin Laden inside Pakistan in 2011. Realistically, it’s the military that calles the shots in Pakistan when it comes to foreign policy. Sharif can do too little to help better relations with the US, or India for that matter, unless the military is brought under civilian purview. Given the way that Sharif’s last stint as prime minister ended, with him deposed by the military, he may not be the man for the job.

Soldiers lower the Pakistani flag in Karachi. (Photo by Alex Stonehill)

Like many Pakistanis who turned out in large numbers on Saturday’s elections, Rizvi and ul-Mustafa believe that in the big picture, democracy can solve Pakistan’s problems.

“Democracy is the key thing for any nation. Without democracy, Pakistan cannot prosper,” Rizvi said. “Initial stages are hard but eventually we’ll get through with time. People will start to realize that democracy can change the country and bring openness.”

Since its inception, Pakistanis have struggled to balance their country’s religious identity with aspirations for democracy. These elections have brought some hope for a better Pakistan, and despite all the violence and irregularities, the transition from one democratically elected government to another will truly be milestone.

The 17th annual Seattle Sister Cities reception last week brought people from all around the globe to Seattle City Hall to celebrate diversity and cross-cultural relationships.

Whether they wore sleek suits or traditional African garb, high heels or brightly colored veils, those who came to the Seattle Sister Cities reception shared a truly international experience.

This was the organization’s 17th annual reception, which took place on May 9 at Seattle City Hall.

Those with name tags showing Seattle’s Sister Cities: Chongqing, China; Limbe, Cameroon; Perugia, Italy; Tashkent, Uzbekistan, were celebrated as special ambassadors.

But just because these four particular cities were highlighted, that doesn’t mean the Seattle Sister Cities Association didn’t extended a warm welcome to all of its 21 partnering cities—and anyone else who chose to come.

Lucy Wu of Nanjing, China, represents Seattle Sister City Chongqing, China with her musical performance by playing the jinghu, a two-stringed Chinese-style fiddle at the 17 Annual Seattle Sister Cities reception. (Photo by Christian Zerbel)

The welcome included traditional foods from around the world and special cultural performances representing art forms from each of the featured cities.

Seattle mayor Mike McGinn spoke at the event to recount his 2012 visit to Chongqing, China with the Seattle Sister City delegation.

“I gained such a deep understanding of how important the Sister Cities are to building, deepening cultural understanding, and expanding the horizons of everyone in Seattle,” McGinn said.

“The aim [of the organization]  is to increase the diversity of people interested in learning more about a region in which they probably know very little about,” said Mike Peters, International Programs Director for the 2013 reception.

According to Peters, the receptions are one of the largest sources of revenue for the organization. The largest sponsors for the event included Boeing, catering company Seasoned in Seattle and the Port of Seattle. This year, tickets ranged from $15 to $30 and the event raised $5,500 with over 350 tickets sold.

“Each of the different cities—we have 21—has a separate nonprofit associated with it,” Peters said.

Sister City relationships generally promote educational exchanges, cultural exchanges—such as the Daejeon Yeonjeng orchestra from Korea having been invited to play at the Benaroya Hall in April—and opportunities for trade, according to Peters.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower laid the groundwork nationwide for the Sister Cities program in 1956, “to increase the chance of peace and reduce chance for conflict in the world,” Peters said.

Dilbarkon Akhmedova sings a traditional Uzbek folk song and represents her hometown of Taskent, which is shares a Sister City relationship with Seattle. (Photo by Christian Zerbel)

Just one year later, in 1957, Seattle and Kobe, Japan sparked a sistership. The cities celebrated their 55^th anniversary last year.

Co-president of the Tashkent, Uzbekistan delegation and Seattle-area resident Diana Pearce, got involved with the Sister cities program shortly after her Fulbright scholarship in 1996.

She said the Seattle Sister Cities association has helped her to develop democratic institutions in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. In 1973, the Tashkent and Seattle sister city relationship became the first between a U.S. and Soviet city.

Seattle-area residents Benita Horn and Kikora Dorsey, members of the Mombasa, Kenya delegation, recall their trip to Mombasa.

“We were treated like royalty because of the sister cities connection,” Dorsey said.

For more information on how to get involved with the Seattle Sister Cities Association visit https://www.seattle.gov/oir/sistercities/.

Editors’ Note: The original version of this story mistakenly referred to Mike Peters as Mike Peterson. The error has been corrected.

With 447 films from 85 countries, deciding what to see at the Seattle International Film Festival, May 16-June 9, can be daunting.  So let us give you a hand!

SIFF has some great options for browsing by program, country, genre, or venue, as well as by mood. You can also try out SIFFTER, that wonderful invention that allows us to make a puzzle of the selection process.

But even then the options are staggering. Here are my picks of the Global films in this year’s festival.

After the Battle (Egypt) 

After footage of men riding horses and camels into the crowds of protesters in Tahrir Square played on screens around the world, the men themselves became the object of near universal condemnation.

But in After the Battle, Egypt’s foremost working director, Yousry Nasrallah, explores the story of one of the men in question to craft a more nuanced portrait of a society in upheaval.

Showtimes

The African Cypher (South Africa) 

Embrace the physicality of the dance; the awe of a body flowing through space, flipping, spinning, and snaking as if giving birth to a new means of self-expression.

Unique styles emerge from different regions and director Bryan Little harnesses the energy of the extraordinarily diverse performance styles of isiPantsula and sBhujwa to Krump and B-boy. Crime and poverty may be a challenging reality in township life, but the dancers featured describe how their art has enriched their lives with new avenues, and pay it forward by engaging with youth through mentorship and dance training that breaks the cycle of crime and offers hope.

Showtimes

Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari (Russia) 

From Aleksey Fedorchenko, the director of Silent Souls and First on the Moon (Grand Prize, Venice Film Festival 2001), comes Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari, a wholly original, humorous, colorful, and beautiful folk tale surrounding twenty-two Mari women whose names all begin with the letter O.

They believe in magic birch-trees and in shamans, in the power of spells and the wisdom of nature.

Showtimes

The Cleaner (Peru) 

In this unsettling and intimate dystopian tale, a mysterious epidemic has taken its toll on Lima, Peru, forcing a group of people to become custodians of the dead, cleaning up their lives upon their untimely passing.

While clearing out a recently deceased woman’s apartment, forensic cleaner Eusebio (Victor Prada) stumbles upon her eight-year-old son Joaquin (Adrian Du Bois), untouched by disease and frightened by the pestilence of the outside world. 

Showtimes

Closed Curtain (Iran) 

Internationally acclaimed Iranian director Jafar Panahi (The White Baloon, Crimson Gold, This Is Not A Film) has been under house arrest since 2010 for making “anti-government propaganda” since 2010 and has been officially banned from filmmaking by Iranian officials until 2030.

In response, the defiant Panahi has taken his allegorical meta-filmmaking style to a new level by setting part of Closed Curtain at his own Caspian Sea villa.

Showtimes

The Deep (Iceland)

This real-life survival tale offers a powerful, authentically elemental depiction of an incident that still haunts the Icelandic psyche. When the rusty fishing trawler Breki sets out to sea off the Westman Islands in March 1984, an accident causes the boat to capsize in rough waters.

Gulli miraculously survives six hours in the freezing ocean, ultimately reaching safety. A story told without the use of computer graphics or special effects, The Deep is an Icelandic spin on a classic survival tale, in which hope and perseverance combat brutal, frozen elements.

 Showtimes.

Die Welt (Netherlands)

An audacious hybrid between fiction and documentary, set in contemporary Tunisia shortly after the Jasmine Revolution in 2011, Die Welt portrays a society in the vacuum between dictatorship and democracy.

A clerk in a DVD store, young Abdallah has become increasingly frustrated by the limitations of his life. While the country is looking forward to its first free elections since Ben Ali fled the country, and hopes are high, the troubled economy is prompting many young Tunisians to take advantage of their newly gained freedom, by seeking a better life in Europe.

Showtimes

Fanie Fourie’s Lobola (South Africa)

What happens when an Afrikaans guy and a Zulu girl fall in love and have to navigate their way through the complicated process of lobola, a South African tradition that finds the groom’s family negotiating for the bride’s hand?

Showtimes

The Fifth Season (Belgium) 

Beautifully photographed in a palette of icy blues and cold earth tones, Peter Brosens and Jessica Hope Woodworth’s appropriately chilling contemporary fable draws on traditional peasant folklore to chronicle what happens when Mother Nature turns her back on a small Ardennes village and simply refuses to let winter give way to spring.

Showtimes

The Hunt (Denmark) 

Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen) is well-liked and respected in the suburban town where he grew up and made a life.

The film explores how a lie, especially one of a sexual nature, contaminates perceptions and ruins lives. This probing psychological drama is as gripping and cathartic as any thriller, with a searing performance from Mikkelsen at its core.

Showtimes

I Kori (The Daughter) (Greece) 

A nation imploding into chaos forms the backdrop for a young girl’s desperate actions in this arresting noirish thriller.

When her father (Yorgos Symeonidis) disappears, 14-year-old Myrto (Savina Alimani) searches for him through Athens streets cluttered with rioters angrily demonstrating against Greece’s economic collapse.

Showtimes

Kalpana (India) 

An unsung gem upon its 1948 release, this black-and-white Indian ballet stars writer/director Uday Shankar (brother of Ravi Shankar) as a dance academy proprietor torn between two women.

Stunning restoration by the World Cinema Foundation at Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata.

Showtimes

La Playa D.C. (Colombia) 

When their father is killed in the seaside town of Buenaventura, three teenage Afro-Colombian brothers flee the civil war and land in the capital of Bogotá.

Their mother’s new boyfriend promptly kicks them out and they must fend for themselves. The sounds of local hip-hop fills the streets, where the brothers roam.

Showtimes

The Pardon (Rwanda) 

Manzi and Karemera are best friends who seem inseparable but as ethnic tensions rise in 1994 Rwanda, the forces of history and violence tear them apart. After the death of the president, the country is plunged into an ethnic civil war and Manzi finds his Hutu heritage stronger than his relationship to his Tutsi friend.

Showtimes

Pieta (South Korea) 

Highly acclaimed, and very controversial, Kim Ki-duk is one of the most contentious figures in world cinema. Pieta is the story of Kang-do, a merciless collector for a loan shark. One day, a mysterious woman shows up on his doorstep, claiming to be the mother who abandoned him as a baby.

Showtimes

Redemption Street (Serbia) 

A young lawyer living in the shadow of his law-professor father gets the chance to prove himself while researching his first important case. In this Serbian war crime investigation, Dušan (played by Gordan Kicic, who also produced Redemption Street), is a talented, though inexperienced, lawyer with a pregnant wife.

Showtimes

The Repentent (Algiers) 

Nearly a decade into the country’s civil war, Rashid, a young Jihadi fighter, takes advantage of a national amnesty to leave the mountains and rejoin civil society.

Showtimes

A River Changes Course (Cambodia) 

Time is catching up with Cambodia, and its people are bearing witness. Filmed over a period of two years, director Kalyanee Mam’s engrossing and bracingly clear-eyed feature debut achieves a remarkable intimacy with her subjects, delving into their pasts and imagined futures with a respectful yet persistent gaze.

Showtimes

Sadourni’s Butterflies (Argentina) 

First-time feature director Dario Nardi’s Sadourni’s Butterflies is a labor of love that he started as far back as 1998. It took some time to find a producer willing to risk financing a stylized, surrealistic melodrama about a circus dwarf jailed for a crime of passion; released early for good behavior, he finds work dubbing fetish films and quickly becomes besotted with a beautiful fellow voice-over artist and dreams of the operation that would make her attainable.

Showtimes

Sand Fishers (Mali) 

The Bozo people of Mali are famous for their fishing and are often referred to as the “masters of the river.” The Bozos have been finding their pirogues (fishing boats) coming up empty, and in recent years many have transitioned to fishing for sand.

Showtimes

Short Stories (Russia) 

Get ready for five intelligent, stylish, and entertaining short stories. Director Mikhail Segal’s film presents a profoundly humorous glimpse into today’s Russia.

Showtimes

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Wednesday’s GiveBIG fund drive is a great opportunity to support local global health nonprofits with small budgets and low profiles.

Seattle is well-known for having a wealth of international nonprofits tackling a myriad of global health issues. Headquartered here in the Emerald City are Gates, PATH, International Rescue Committee, CARE, and Mercy Corps, to name but a few.

On the other hand, there are numerous small global health nonprofits here that are diligently chipping away at little known, insidious health calamities, often with very few staff and tight budgets.

The Seattle International Foundation (SIF), which was formed as an extension of the Seattle Foundation for the sole purpose of focusing on international philanthropy efforts in the Pacific Northwest, supports small nonprofits working on important global health issues that don’t receive much media attention.

Here are three such local organizations taking on health issues that aren’t widely covered in the media with small budgets, devoted staff and passionate volunteers.

Take a look:

Prosthetics Outreach Foundation

Helping the Developing World Walk

Schnailove, a Prosthetics Outreach Foundation beneficiary in Haiti. (Photo courtesy POF)

The Prosthetics Outreach Foundation (POF) was started in 1989 by a Seattle-based surgeon, Ernest Burgess, to improve the mobility and independence of physically disabled children and adults. Burgess was an army surgeon in World War II, where he first became interested in the rehabilitation of amputees.

POF has since expanded its work to the countries of Sierra Leone, Haiti, and Bangladesh.

The four main causes of loss of mobility are: wars (deliberate amputations and landmines); work and transportation accidents; birth defects and diseases (polio, cerebral palsy, and clubfoot); and natural disasters.

Inadequate and inaccessible health care and untreated infections frequently end in forced amputations.

POF focuses on three program areas: providing prosthetics, treating clubfoot, and performing surgery to correct limb deformities.

Each of these program areas emphasizes training and partnerships within communities to mobilize and strengthen local capacity to deliver services to clients.  People with disabilities are trained to make and maintain prosthetics and in so doing, are empowered to be self-sufficient. Local doctors and surgeons are trained on techniques to improve clubfoot and correct deformities. POF is currently working on strategies to establish sustainable solutions for manufacturing prosthetics locally.

For the last 20 years, POF has helped more than 18,000 children and adults walk again.

“Schnailove, an 8-year-old Haitian girl with a brilliant smile, took her first steps a few weeks ago. Born with a congenital deformity, Schnailove resorted to scooting around on her malformed right foot and left knee for years. She relied on others to carry her long distances. Now Schnailove has a new custom-made ankle brace and prosthetic limb and is able to walk on her own. With her increased mobility and independence, Schnailove dreams of owning and riding her own bicycle.”—Marion McGowan, Executive Director

How you can help:

• Donate during GiveBIG: $400 provides an amputee with a custom-fit prosthetic limb and $250 covers clubfoot treatment for one infant
• Donate used prostheses and crutches
• Volunteer: a small organization like POF can use all the help it can get
• Spread awareness about the obstacles people with disabilities face

Burkitt’s Lymphoma Fund for Africa

Boys receiving chemo therapy funded by the Burkitt’s Lymphoma Fund for Africa at Barack Obama Children’s Hospital in Kisumu, Kenya. (Photo by Jonah Einstein)

When Miriam Sevy traveled to Kenya in 2010, she had the opportunity to visit a clinic which was full of children who were suffering from a cancer causing disfiguring tumors.

She later learned it was Burkitt’s Lymphoma, a rare form of childhood cancer that is easily treatable in the U.S. but is the most common childhood cancer in Africa and is largely unaddressed.

Profoundly affected by the experience, she started the Burkitt’s Lymphoma Fund for Africa.

BLFA is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization which funds programs designed to diagnose and treat Burkitt’s Lymphoma patients in the East African countries of Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya. In partnership with organizations in the U.S. and Africa, BLFA also works to leverage financial and in-kind support to purchase expensive chemotherapy drugs and other resources, thereby ensuring a web of support for patients and their families enabling them to complete treatment successfully.

This type of cancer produces the fastest growing tumors.  Paradoxically, this incredible growth rate (tumor cells double every 24 hours) also makes Burkitt’s very responsive to chemotherapy. However, there are many, many families living in poverty who cannot afford the chemotherapy drugs or have access to the health care centers and as a result, BL is responsible for 50% of cancer deaths for children in East African countries.

In the last two years, 250 children have been treated.

“It’s impossible to walk through a Burkitt’s ward in Africa without thinking of your own children. If my son, God forbid, were stricken with cancer, he’d get good, immediate, and effective care.  So when I see these kids—all I can think is that their suffering is so unfair, so unnecessary.”—Margaret Larson, Board Member BLFA

How you can help:

• Donate during GiveBig: Funds go to partner pediatric clinics in each country. $600 will fund the entire cost of treatment for one child in Uganda or Kenya.
• Donate to fund construction of a new clinic in Sota, Tanzania.
• Donate products to promote good hygiene for BL patients: soap, towels, and sheets

Etta Projects

Marta, a health promoter with Etta Projects in Bolivia, cares for a local child. (Photo courtesy Etta Projects)

Sometimes a tragedy like death of a family member provides the spark that is needed to ignite the formation of an organization to continue their legacy.

Etta Turner was a 16-year-old exchange student who died in 2002 while traveling in Bolivia. Her family and friends started the Etta Projects soon after her death to tackle some of the fundamental problems created by poverty in Bolivia, which has the second highest maternal, children and infant mortality rates in the southern hemisphere.

The organization focuses on five program areas in the state of Santa Cruz, Bolivia: safe water and sanitation, health, nutrition, leadership, and community outreach.

A big emphasis of the organization is on training of villagers to be community health promoters and also to design community-driven projects involving nutrition.

Women, who are vital members of the community, are trained on leadership and empowerment. These women take on a vital role as advocates with local government.

“As a mother of three in the remote rural village of La Patria, 28 year-old Marta had to deal with her family’s poor health.  When she was elected to be a health promoter and began learning valuable skills to improve health, she learned she didn’t have to be a quiet victim of her circumstances.  She recently returned to school to get her GED, and now plans to continue to go on to nursing school.  She wants to be a nurse at her local health center.”—Katie Chandler, Program Director

How you can help:

• Help support a brother and sister team who will hike the Pacific Crest Trail (they are writing a blog about their experience).
• Donate $2700 to bring running water to 80 families in a Bolivian village
• Donate a car
• Participate in the Seattle to Portland Bike Ride on July 13, 14
• Internships are available in the Tacoma office as well as in Bolivia (must be fluent in Spanish for the Bolivia internship).

Note: The Seattle Globalist is a media partner for the Seattle International Foundation’s Seattle Ambassador Program

Guatemala just set a historic and world-shaking precedent, becoming the first country to convict its own head of state in its own courts for mass killings.

You know how some people say George W. Bush and Bush Cheney should be put on trial for war crimes?

Well, the genocide verdict in Guatemala on Friday was kind of like that, except that the war was within the country instead of outside it.

Even so, the US played a significant role by training and backing Efraín Ríos Montt, Guatemala’s then-president—the man convicted and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison last week.

This was an international victory for justice and human rights, not just as a legal matter, but as a remarkable demonstration of people power. The trial itself never would have happened without years of activism and organizing.

A poster showing solidarity with indigenous Guatemalans who were plaintiffs in the trial against Ríos Montt. (Photo by dignidadrebelde )

A component of those efforts were trips by young Americans to the Guatemalan highlands to accompany genocide survivors and shield them from violent threats.

One of those Americans was Seattle’s Phil Neff, who now works at the immigrants’ rights group OneAmerica. After college, he volunteered in Guatemala in 2008 for ten months, living alongside Maya genocide survivors—many of whom were plaintiffs in the charges brought against Ríos Montt this year—to help protect them from threats to their security.

I asked Phil to answer a few questions about the verdict and his experience in Guatemala:

Talk about the grassroots efforts that led up to the trial.

The trial is the result of more than 13 years of a grassroots movement for justice. The lawsuit that led to Rios Montt’s conviction for genocide and crimes against humanity began in 2000. The survivors and their lawyers have worked really hard during that time to move the case forward despite years of delays and the reigning impunity for both crimes of the past and present in Guatemala.

What was the US government’s role in the genocide? What was its stance on the Rios Montt trial?

The US is responsible for overthrowing Guatemala’s democratically-elected government in 1954 and backing the ensuing succession of dictatorships. It trained and equipped the Guatemalan military and intelligence apparatus and even developed the National Security Doctrine which defined “internal enemies” as the primary target of Latin American militaries.

In Guatemala those “internal enemies” included not only leftist guerrillas but union members, academics and students, and indigenous communities. Declassified documents show that the US was aware that the Guatemalan military was indiscriminately targeting civilians, and that it identified the Ixil Maya ethnicity as a military target.

The Reagan administration gave millions of dollars in military aid to Rios Montt’s government and denied reports of human rights violations. Today the US vocally supports trials for crimes of the past. Ironically, the successful prosecution of past human rights abuses could contribute to lifting current restrictions on direct US aid to the Guatemalan military.

Can you briefly describe the time you spent in Guatemala in 2008? What were you there to do?

I spent 10 months in Guatemala living alongside Maya genocide survivors participating in the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR), the organization which is one of the plaintiffs in the trial of Ríos Montt. I was a volunteer international observer with the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala’s (NISGUA) Accompaniment Project.

Groups like the AJR asked for international accompaniment as a protective measure against the possibility of retaliation for their work. The idea was that an international presence alongside local activists would discourage threats. I spent a lot of my time living in rural indigenous communities with genocide survivors, and traveling with local leaders for meetings and events. I also accompanied indigenous communities as they organized against the Xalalá dam project, which would have displaced them.

In 2010-2012 I went back to coordinate the Guatemala Accompaniment Project, during which the precedent-setting Dos Erres massacre trial and the first arrests for genocide took place.

What did you hear from people about the genocide? How are people coping with the tragedy today?

I heard harrowing personal testimony from eyewitnesses to massacres and survivors of displacement. I also heard inspiring stories of communities’ peaceful resistance and process of rebuilding after the war.

Above all I was impressed by the survivors’ commitment to seeking justice for themselves and their loved ones who were killed. The violence is still very present. Many people commented that the basic conditions of racism, inequality, and militarization which made the genocide possible have not been overcome, and are even intensifying as industrial development increases pressure on land and the environment.

Communities are working to change these conditions by organizing and asserting their rights, challenging harmful government policies and bringing lawsuits for human rights abuses of both the past and present.

Finally, what is the significance of the verdict and imprisonment of Rios Montt, both for Guatemala and the world?

Amazingly, Guatemala, a country infamous for violence and impunity, has become a world leader in domestic prosecutions for past human rights violations. Milestones like the imprisonment of Rios Montt (unfortunately he’s already been transferred out of prison and into a military hospital—convictions tend to be hard on the health of former dictators) for genocide and crimes against humanity contribute to a global culture of accountability that will forestall future human rights abuses.

The most profound significance, however, is for the victims and survivors who have given so much of themselves to make this verdict possible, and who may find a measure of peace in Rios Montt’s conviction. In the long term, we can hope that the recognition and punishment of genocide will help to erode entrenched racism in Guatemalan society and contribute to the construction of a more democratic society.

New satellite images are a jarring reminder of the massive transformations humans have made to the planet. 

Google partnered with TIME, NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to create a tool that compiles 28 years of satellite images. The Timelapse Project, which lets you search any spot in the globe and scroll through nearly three decades of Earth’s history.

Using Google Earth Engine technology to comb through about 900 terabytes of imagery, Google picked and polished the best satellite images—one for every year—at every single location in the world.

Then the company chose handful of some of the most jarring changes and created GIFs.

They may lack the laughs of your typical GIF’s showing pet antics. But the prolific visual information is a great tool to educate the public about just how much impact human activity is having.

“We also hope it can inform the global community’s thinking about how we live on our planet and the policies that will guide us in the future,” Google said on its official blog.

Urbanization in Las Vegas, deforestation in the Amazon and the retreat of the Columbia Glacier in Alaska are just some of the most visually jarring examples provided by Google.

Timelapse’s ability to visualize human interaction with Earth on such a massive scale is a great educational tool for environmentalists. But it’s also great way to spend 30 minutes satisfying your curiosity. Make sure to click on “Explore The World” within the Timelapse interface, there you can direct your own timeline—the changes right here in Seattle are quite interesting.

For more information about the process, visit Timelapse and for all 7 of the Google GIFs visit the +Google site.

For the 41 veterans who of the Soviet Union’s “Great Patriotic War” who live in Washington state, World War II is more than just a history lesson.

Exactly 68 years later, the tears of happiness still roll down veterans’ cheeks when they remember the end of the Great Patriotic War on May 9^th, 1945. Fascism had been defeated and the Soviet flag was placed upon the Reichstag.

“I remember I received a phone call at around 5:30 a.m. and the voice on the other side told me ‘Victory! The war is over,’” said Nadezhda Savitskaya, 89, an honored veteran of WWII. “I was guarding the police station from bandits at the time and I had grenades and a rifle in my office. All I remember is grabbing the rifle, running outside, and fire the entire magazine into the air. People got afraid, it was early morning and they thought they were being attacked but I just kept crying and screaming ‘Victory!’”

The celebration in Moscow’s Red Square on the first Victory Day in 1945.

Victory Day over Nazi Germany is celebrated every year on May 9^th in former USSR countries to preserve the memory of unbearable suffering and great courage of the Soviet people. Over 20 million had lost their lives for their country and for their families.

And 68 years later, many of the survivors are still alive to tell the tale of the Soviet experience in World War II.

Washington has 41 Soviet veterans who fought at the front, 13 survivors of the Leningrad blockade and 10 veterans of labor who worked in the rear during the years of war.

They came together on Thursday to celebrate Victory Day with the Association of Veterans of the War and Labor from Eastern Europe in Washington at the Super China Buffet in Shoreline.

Veterans were greeted with red carnations, traditional flowers associated with that day, and live accordions playing familiar melodies from those years. Local Russian dancers and singers were on hand to congratulate veterans for their victory. Guests included the General Consul of the Russian Federation and regular sponsors of the association such as the Jewish Family Services organization.

Association member Boris Grinshtat and Nadezhda Savitskaya have been married for over 67 years but you can still feel the warmth between them. Both born in 1924, so they were just 17 when Hitler’s army had set foot on Soviet soil.

Nadezhda Savitsina and Boris Grinshtat both veterans of the “Great Patriotic War” who moved to Seattle in 1997. (Photo by Valeria Koulikova)

Savitskaya lived just outside of Minsk, Belarus and was coming to the city on June 21, 1941 to see the opening of an artificial lake when war was suddenly declared on June 22. She didn’t make it back home to her family. She was evacuated from the area and ended up the leader of a police station in and area of Ukraine freed from the Nazis.

“My family never knew where I was for all these years since I left for Minsk,” she said. “Only once the war was over I was able to send the letter and let them know I was still alive.”

Her husband Grinshtat had just finished ninth grade when it all started. The Germans were getting closer and together with his family he had to evacuate to Saratovskaya Oblast. He was drafted and trained for six month in 1942. After graduating, he was sent to the 62^nd army under General Chukov near Stalingrad, whose troops were weakening. In April of 1943, his left arm was severely injured in a battle and almost got amputated, but the doctors were able to save it. Going back to the front after this was impossible. Among the painful memories of the war, there is one that changed his character.

“When the Nazis were pulling back they burned everything behind them,” he remembers. “When we had freed Verkhnyaya Kuban’, Russia my company had found a dugout and there were about 18 Russians together with little kids, hungry and cold. They heard Russian speech and with tears in their eyes started screaming ‘Russians! It’s Russians!’ We fed and took care of them. Since then, I made a promise to myself to take care of helpless children.”

The couple moved to U.S. in 1994 when their grandson needed surgery that could only be done there. Their first destination was Philadelphia but they moved to Seattle in 1997.

The Soviet flag is placed upon the Reighstag, Berlin on May 9, 1945

When asked how they feel about American perspective on who won the war, the soft smile faded from Boris’ face. Their own grandson once came from school after a history lesson and said that Americans had defeated Fascism.

“Objectively, I would say that the Soviet Union had won the war with the help from U.S. and Great Britain,” he said.

“It’s incorrect and not serious to say that U.S. had won. They were not the ones who suffered millions of losses, they were not the ones walking and crawling through the dirt to Berlin fighting off the Nazi scum. U.S. and Britain helped a lot by sending food, planes, and steel to make the weaponry and we are very grateful. But the second front was opened almost too late. Stalin kept writing letters to President Roosevelt and Churchill asking for help. We lost millions waiting.”

It is hard to imagine how these real-life heroes kept their spirits alive through the dark years of war.

“Patriotism!” Buzya Shapovalova, 88 said, with over 30 medals and awards hanging on her chest. “For Motherland! For Stalin! We were raised with great sense of patriotism and were defending our land with all our hearts.”

Young Buzya Shapovalova (center) with fellow Russian Army soldiers.

Buzya had volunteered to join the forces. In 1942, she went after her sister to be trained as a signaler. She was part of the 18^th army of the first Ukraine front. Buzya marched with her army all the way from Russia to Germany where she had celebrated the first Victory Day. It was in Breslau when she heard over the radio that Germany capitulation was signed.

“Everyone ran outside,” she said. “They were crying and screaming from happiness. I still remember the big house across the road from our hotel where the captured Nazi generals were held hostage. They were on the balcony watching us and we just wanted to show them how happy we were. It was a glorious day.”

The Soviet Union had won but the country was in ruins. There was little food, clothing or shelter left and it was hard to get back to a normal life. The Cold War didn’t make it easier.

“We were finally hoping for a better relationship with the U.S.” Grinshtat said. “We felt great dislike toward us and propaganda played its part. The Cold War only made things worse because all the money went into military spending on both sides.”

Buzya Shapovalova, now 88 years old, at the Victory Day celebration last Thursday. (Photo by Valeria Koulikova)

Now, they feel that relationship toward Victory Day from the U.S. side is improving. During his visit to Russia, John Kerry was the first Secretary of State to lay a wreath in honor of the WWII soldiers. They hope this will change American’s perspective and honor those veterans who now live in the U.S.

Victory Day defines Russia and other former Soviet republics. Massive military parades take place all over the country, St. George’s ribbon is proudly pinned on people’s chests, and the music from the Great Patriotic War plays on the streets.

“It’s really an incredible celebration,” said Andrei Yushmanov, the Consul General of Russian Federation in Seattle at the veteran’s dinner. “[Veterans] saved the country, saved the world from Fascism. [Their] heroism is an example for all of us.”

Motivated by her own complicated pregnancy, Heidi Breeze-Harris founded One by One, a Seattle-based organization working to wipe out obstetric fistula in Africa.

When Heidi Breeze-Harris realized she was going to be laid up for most of a very complicated pregnancy, she worried about how she would pass the time.

But the answer arrived in the first month. Breeze-Harris was in bed, watching an episode of Oprah, when she first learned about the birthing injury obstetric fistula.

“It’s a hole in the body where a hole doesn’t belong,” says Breeze-Harris describing how long, obstructed labors can tear the bladder or rectum. “The woman is left with a hole through which she will leak her waste uncontrollably.”

Fistula is almost nonexistent in the United States. Women here usually have cesarean sections to relieve obstructed labors, or it is immediately repaired through surgery. But in poor parts of the world, fistula, and the constant leaking waste that accompanies it, can have horrifying consequences.

“They are at the end of the line,” says Breeze-Harris, explaining that women with fistula — many of whom lost their baby in the labor that injured them — are unable to work or socialize, often shunned by their communities and even believed to be cursed.

“This is considered by many aid workers to be modern-day leprosy.”

It’s difficult to determine how many women live with fistula worldwide, but there is estimated to be 2 million existing cases — with as many as 100,000 new cases every year.

After learning about fistula, Breeze-Harris, armed with a laptop and some free time, was moved to action. Her first thought was “This should go away.” Her second thought was “Well, I’ve got a big mouth, I’m going to make a website.”

Her goal was to raise awareness about the problem and raise money for a recently formed United Nations campaign to end fistula.

One by One, a local NGO founded by Heidi Breeze-Harris (right) to fight fistula, a birthing injury that is devastating if it goes untreated. (Photo courtesy Seattle International Foundation)

Then, almost unbelievably, she found herself in a hospital bed experiencing an obstructed labor, the kind that in another country could have resulted in the death of her baby and an unrepaired fistula.

She had an emergency cesarean section instead.

“Totally coincidence,” says Breeze-Harris. “After 8 months of building partnerships…. [and] figuring out where I wanted the resources we gathered to go, I almost died in childbirth here.”

But that coincidence kicked her into high gear. Soon after the birth of her son, now 8, she was working 70 hours a week from her little basement office, her new baby in a cradle next to her desk.

She visited homes and churches and hosted giving circles. In less than a year she had raised $150,000 — “mostly $30 at a time.”

Today Breeze-Harris is Founder and CEO of One By One — a Seattle-based organization aimed at eradicating fistula in a section of Western Kenya.

“Before you have perfect roads, or a perfect ministry of health, can you … just make it go away?” she asks, hitting the conference table in her Ballard office with the side of her hand, “Pick a spot and just make it go away?”

Breeze-Harris believes you can. Her organization has trained 30 One By One representatives on the ground in Kenya.

Most of them are fistula survivors themselves.

These health workers educate communities and identify other women living with fistula.

Those women are taken to a clinic for surgical repair, then encouraged to join One By One support groups that facilitate medical follow-ups and social reintegration — often a challenge after long periods of isolation.

In the past two years, the organization has provided surgeries to 360 women.

“Start imagining a woman who cannot control her own urine or feces … you sit there and it just pours out,” says Breeze-Harris. After the surgery, “then, they change, like overnight.”

Breeze-Harris is aware that taboos against discussion of the female anatomy and human waste make it hard to raise awareness about fistula, both in Kenya and the United States. But she is motivated by a belief that someone would raise awareness for her if the tables were turned.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat what’s true for a whole bunch of people,” she says.

Because as hard as it is to hear about, imagine living with it.

Nurtured by the Seattle scene, R&B singer JusMoni has come into her own, and is ready to lift up a new generation of local music and activism.

JusMoni (aka Moni Tep) exemplifies the fusion of art and activism.

She’s a musician, storyteller, community organizer, grassroots educator, and all around advocate for LGBTQ people, youth, people of color, and women, along with everyone standing at the intersections of these identities, as she does herself.

“Intersections mean figuring out where things connect. Figuring out how one thing affects another.” JusMoni says, reflecting on how mixed gender, racial and cultural experiences have influenced her. “My identity helps me reach audiences and communities of vast demographics. There are no rules at the intersections, so why make them.”

JusMoni’s Queen Feel EP, a collaboration with producer WD4D aka Waylon Dungan, dropped last July, and was followed up with a remix LP in February.

The duo will be performing at Washington Hall this Saturday, with special guests Dave B, DJ Same, and Gift Uh Gab.

The show is ushering in new renaissance at this hall that is known for the cultural fusion of immigrants and people of color since 1908 with jazz, music, art, culture, activism, and community.

In many ways, Moni Tep embodies the essence of what this historical Central District building is all about.

JusMoni’s music invites audiences to join her on her life’s adventures; from being born Cambodian refugee mother and Black father, growing up in the Central District and SouthEnd, surviving traumas, seeing many friends die at a young age, being a single and resourceful mother, coming out as queer and gender fierce, and ultimately using her stories, identities, and experiences to advocate for herself and other youth.

Moni Tep began her career at the age of 12, singing the Black National Anthem at the Annual Martin Luther King March & Rally. By age of 17 she had sold out Chop Suey on Capitol Hill with friends, family, community, fans, and supporters.

How did she achieve such success so quickly?

Moni cites her involvement in multiple communities and their belief and support in all her endevours.

She was involved in Seattle Young People’s Project (SYPP) as an organizer, YouthSpeaks Seattle as a finalist that performed at Brave New Voices, Communities Against Rape and Abuse (CARA) supporting programs like Ladies First, and Powerful Voices.

Within these community organizations she became a fierce organizer, workshop and group facilitator, and produced multiple shows to draw her peers forth into social change.

She cites Hidmo, where she did outreach, worked on projects, and produced shows, as “most monumental supporting organizations” that have influenced her music career. She’s also been heavily influenced by other local musicians.

“My biggest influences locally would have to be the artist formally known as Khingz, now Kalil,” Moni says. “He and Gabriel Teodros were an essential part of my beginnings and relationship to hip-hop. He was one of the first artists I was able to build with on a personal level, and one of the first people to invest in me as a person and artist.”

JusMoni and WD4D’s new video for “A Limit”

Was Seattle ready for all the things JusMoni would bring to the Seattle music scene?

In the beginning, Moni says, it was hard for people to take her seriously or professionally.

She says that as a young queer woman of mixed heritage, on the petite, yet curvy side, she didn’t fit the typical mold of the hip-hop scene in Seattle.

“They don’t expect that story and that voice to come out of this body,” she says.

But ultimately she has gained respect in her eight plus years of performing for workshops, community spaces, and sold out art & music venues. People now respect her music, as well as her business mind, and often invite her to be a guest on their tracks.

At the same time she is lifting other artists up with her.

“When you dedicate yourself as an artist, then you have responsibility to share,” she says.

She advocates for the next generation, because she felt invested in and encouraged through her own struggles as a young person.

“Look at everyone who died trying… Look at whose shoulders you stand on,” Moni says. “[Youth] are waiting for people to be invested in them and see them as extraordinary.”

If you do come out on Saturday night, you will not be disappointed. JusMoni and WD4D make audiences smile for joy, come to peace with their pasts, heal through beats and vocals, and tell a story of pain, struggle, and ultimate triumph through art,  and community.

JusMoni and WD4D perform with Dave B, Gift Uh Gab and DJ Same, 8pm Saturday, May 11th at Washington Hall, $10 All Ages

Lead illustration by Kristina Griffith, from a photograph by Nicole Wegner Mercado