World Backup Day is a commemorative date celebrated annually by the backup industry and tech industry all over the world. It highlights the importance of protecting data and keeping systems and computers secure.
World Backup Day started with a post on Reddit where a user wrote about losing their hard drive and wishing someone had reminded them about how important it is to backup data. The campaign started by Ismail Jadun in 2011 and every year news outlets write articles about the importance of backing up data on World Backup Day.
Every year on March 31, companies tweet and have podcasts about the importance of backing up data to prevent data loss. On the website WorldBackupDay.com people can make a pledge in ten languages on various social media channels about the importance of backing up their data. The World Backup Day is recognized as National Calendar Day on two national holiday websites.
World Thinking Day, formerly Thinking Day, is celebrated annually on 22 February by all Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. It is also celebrated by Scout and Guide organizations around the world. It is a day when they think about their “sisters” (and “brothers”) in all the countries of the world, the meaning of Guiding, and its global impact.
Most recently, World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts has selected an important international issue as the theme for each year’s World Thinking Day, and selected a focus country from each of their five world regions. Girl Guides and Girl Scouts use these as an opportunity to study and appreciate other countries and cultures, and equally increase awareness and sensitivity on global concerns. Donations are collected for the Thinking Day Fund which supports projects to help Girl Guides and Scouts around the world.
22 February was chosen as it was the birthday of Scouting and Guiding founder Lord Robert Baden-Powell and of Lady Olave Baden-Powell, his wife and World Chief Guide. Other Scouts celebrate it as B.-P. Day or Founders’ Day.
In 1926, at the Fourth Girl Scout International Conference, held at Girl Scouts of the United States’s Camp Edith Macy (presently the Edith Macy Conference Center), the conference delegates highlighted the need for a special international day when Girl Guides and Girl Scouts would think about the worldwide spread of Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting, and of all the Girl Guides and Girl Scouts around the world, giving them, their “sisters,” thanks and appreciation.
It was decided by the delegates that this day would be 22 February, the birthday of both Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout movement, and Lady Olave Baden-Powell, his wife and the World Chief Guide.
In 1999, at the 30th World Conference, held in Ireland, the name was changed from “Thinking Day” to “World Thinking Day”, to emphasize the global aspect of this special day.
World Day of Social Justice (Social Justice Equality Day) is an international day recognizing the need to promote social justice, which includes efforts to tackle issues such as poverty, exclusion, gender inequality, unemployment, human rights, and social protections. Many organizations, including the UN, American Library Association (ALA), and the International Labour Organization, make statements on the importance of social and present plans for greater social justice by tackling poverty, social and economic exclusion and unemployment. The United Nations General Assembly has decided to observe 20 February annually, approved on 26 November 2007 and starting in 2009, as the World Day of Social Justice. The Declaration focuses on guaranteeing fair outcomes for all through employment, social protection, social dialogue, and fundamental principles and rights. Teaching Social Justice DayIdeal topics for teaching students about the need for social justice include (but are not limited to) childhood poverty, global citizenship, human rights, and sustainable development. A series of lessons are available by country with the United Nations and other programs. Oxfam’s food for thought power point which shows students the global food system that then has the opportunity for students to share their thoughts and experiences. The lesson plans and collections available are for students of all ages.
Darwin Day is a celebration to commemorate the birthday of Charles Darwin on 12 February 1809. The day is used to highlight Darwin’s contributions to science and to promote science in general. Darwin Day is celebrated around the world.
HistoryThe celebration of Darwin’s work and tributes to his life have been organised sporadically since his death on 19 April 1882, at age 73. Events took place at Down House, in Downe on the southern outskirts of London where Darwin and members of his family lived from 1842 until the death of his wife, Emma Darwin, in 1896.
In 1909, more than 400 scientists and dignitaries from 167 countries met in Cambridge to honour Darwin’s contributions and to discuss vigorously the recent discoveries and related theories contesting for acceptance. This was a widely reported event of public interest. Also in 1909, on 12 February, the 100th birth anniversary of Darwin and the 50th anniversary of the publication of On The Origin of Species were celebrated by the New York Academy of Sciences at the American Museum of Natural History. A bronze bust of Darwin was unveiled. On 2 June 1909 the Royal Society of New Zealand held a “Darwin Celebration”. “There was a very large attendance.”
On 24–28 November 1959, The University of Chicago held a major celebration of Darwin and the publication of On the Origin of Species, the largest event of the Darwin Centennial Celebration. Scientists and academics sometimes celebrated 12 February with “Phylum Feast” events—a meal with foods from as many different phyla as they could manage, at least as early as 1972, 1974, and 1989 in Canada. In the United States, Salem State College in Massachusetts has held a “Darwin Festival” annually since 1980, and in 2005, registered “Darwin Festival” as a service mark with the US Patent and Trademark Office. The Humanist Community of Palo Alto, California, was motivated by Dr. Robert Stephens in late 1993 to begin planning for an annual Darwin Day celebration. Its first public Darwin Day event was a lecture by Dr. Donald Johanson (discoverer of the early hominid “Lucy”), sponsored by the Stanford Humanists student group and the Humanist Community on 22 April 1995. The Humanist Community continues its annual celebration. Independently, in 1997, Professor Massimo Pigliucci initiated an annual Darwin Day event at the University of Tennessee. The event included public lectures and activities as well as a teachers’ workshop meant to help elementary and secondary school teachers better understand evolution and how to communicate it to their students, as well as how to deal with the pressures often placed on them by the creationism movement.
The International Day of Human Fraternity was established by the United Nations General Assembly on December 21, 2020, with resolution 75/200 as a way to promote greater cultural and religious tolerance. With this resolution, which was co-facilitated by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, the United Nations invited all its member states and other international organizations to observe the International Day of Human Fraternity annually on February 4.
Celebrations of the International Day of Human Fraternity include events attended by UN member states, religious leaders and civil society representatives along with the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, which recognizes individuals or entities anywhere in the world for their profound contributions to human fraternity.
Since it was celebrated for the first time on February 4, 2021, the International Day of Human Fraternity has received endorsements from different world leaders. Pope Francis; Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar; and the President of the United States, Joe Biden, have given their support to the initiative.
Pope Francis of the Catholic Church and Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, on February 4, 2019, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, signed the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, also known as the Abu Dhabi declaration. The principles of compassion and human solidarity embodied in this text are the same ones that later inspired the declaration that designated February 4 as the International Day of Human Fraternity, as it has been stated by the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, in different occasions.
To fulfill the aspirations of the Document on Human Fraternity, the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity (HCHF), was established in August 2019. The HCHF, which is constituted by both religious and civil leaders from different countries and creeds, awards the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity among other initiatives.
Finally, the Document on Human Fraternity also influenced the encyclical Fratelli tutti, as Pope Francis acknowledges in the same text by stating that he was inspired to write it by his meeting with Ahmed el-Tayeb in 2019.
World Cancer Day is celebrated on February 4, promoted by the UICC – Union for International Cancer Control – and supported by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Now in its twenty-third edition, the day represents an important call to reflect on what institutions and individuals can do together to fight cancer.
‘Close the Care Gap – Everyone deserves access to cancer care’ is the theme of the 2022-2024 campaign. The slogan calls attention to the importance of understanding and recognizing inequalities in cancer care around the world.
“Cancer is a preventable and curable pathology. We are preparing initiatives to enhance the promotion of cancer screening and at the same time encourage correct lifestyles to reduce risk factors. Prevention is essential and for this reason we want to spread a strong message of promotion of health to the entire population and in particular to young people, starting from elementary schools” declared the Italian Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci.
The World Stroke Organization (WSO) is a non-profit medical association that works to raise awareness of prevention and treatment of stroke. The organization was founded in 2006 from the merging of two organizations previously in existence, the International Stroke Society (ISS) and the World Stroke Federation (WSF). Its membership consists of both professional individuals and organizations that share the WSO’s goals.
Mission The mission of the World Stroke Organization is to “provide access to stroke care and to promote research and teaching in this area that will improve the care of stroke victims throughout the world.” The association also works to “increase visibility and credibility of its activities among stroke clinicians, researchers, other health professionals, international professional and lay organizations, and the general public.”
Activities The WSO hosts a biennial congress that provides skill-building workshops to participants. In the past, congresses have attracted up to 2400 participants. Each year the WSO also endorses several conferences hosted by national regional societies that are members of the WSO.
The World Stroke Organization is responsible for the creation of World Stroke Day and its associated campaigns. World Stroke Day is held on 29 October each year.
The World Stroke Organisation runs the World Stroke Academy, which is the global e-learning platform for stroke education.
Publications The WSO produces the bimonthly International Journal of Stroke, published by SAGE. The journal contains both original contributions and topical reviews, focusing on the clinical aspects of stroke. It has an international focus, with editors from six different regions. The journal was created in 2005 and became the official publication of the WSO with the organization’s creation in 2006.
The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage takes place every 27 October. This commemorative day was chosen by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 2005 to raise awareness of the significance and preservation risks of recorded sound and audiovisual documents (films, sound and video recordings, radio and television programmes). Events are held in many countries, organised by national and regional sound and film archives, broadcasters, museums and libraries, and major audiovisual associations including the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA), International Council on Archives (ICA), International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA), and the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF)).
The main objectives of designating the date of 27 October were listed by UNESCO:
raising public awareness of the need for preservation; providing opportunities to celebrate specific local, national or international aspects of the heritage; highlighting the accessibility of archives; attracting media attention to heritage issues; raising the cultural status of audiovisual heritage; highlighting audiovisual heritage in danger, especially in developing countries. The 2012 and 2013 events were co-ordinated by the Coordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations, through the SouthEast Asia & Pacific Audiovisual Archives Association (SEAPAVAA) and International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA).
National Day (Chinese: 国庆节; pinyin: guóqìng jié; lit. ‘national celebration day’), officially the National Day of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国国庆节), is a public holiday in China celebrated annually on 1 October as the national day of the People’s Republic of China, commemorating the formal proclamation of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China on 1 October 1949. The Chinese Communist Party victory in the Chinese Civil War resulted in the Kuomintang “retreat” to Taiwan and the Chinese Communist Revolution whereby the People’s Republic of China “replaced” the Republic of China.
Although it is observed on 1 October, another six days are added to the official holiday, normally in lieu of the two weekend breaks around 1 October, making it a de facto public holiday comprising seven consecutive days also known as Golden Week (黄金周; huángjīn zhōu) with specifics regulated by the State Council. Festivities and concerts are usually held nationwide on this day, with a grand military parade and mass pageant event held on select years. The parade held on 1 October 2019 marked the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) defeated the incumbent Kuomintang (KMT) nationalist government of the Republic of China in the Chinese Civil War that took place from 1927 to 1950 except for a brief alliance against Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War. In its aftermath, the internationally recognized government of China withdrew to the island of Taiwan, previously a prefecture of the Qing Empire that was ceded to Japan under its colonial rule from 1895 to 1945.
The People’s Republic of China was founded on 1 October 1949, with a ceremony celebrating the forming of the Central People’s Government taking place in Tiananmen Square in its new national capital of Peking (previously Peiping) on the same day that year. The first public parade of the new People’s Liberation Army took place there, following the address by the country’s first Chairman Mao Zedong officially declaring the formal establishment of the Republic. The Central People’s Government passed the Resolution on the National Day of the People’s Republic of China on 2 December 1949, and declared that 1 October is the National Day.
National Day marks the start of the only golden week (黄金周) in the PRC that the government has kept. Removing one of the Golden Weeks caused controversies when it happened in 2007.
The day is celebrated throughout mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau with a variety of government-organized festivities, including fireworks and concerts, as well as sports events and cultural events. Public places, such as Tiananmen Square in Beijing, are decorated in a festive theme. Portraits of revered leaders, such as Mao Zedong, are publicly displayed. The holiday is also celebrated by many overseas Chinese.
The International Music Council (IMC) was created in 1949 as UNESCO’s advisory body on matters of music. It is based at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris, France, where it functions as an independent international non-governmental organization. Its primary aim is to facilitate the development and promotion of international music-making.
The IMC currently consists of some 120 members, divided into four categories (National Music Councils, International Music Organisations, Regional Music Organisations, National and specialized organisations in the field of arts and culture). It is represented by regional councils in Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Their task is to develop and support programmes specifically tailored to the needs of the IMC members and partners in their region.
The International Music Council advocates for access to music to all, through a set of values which are at the basis of the action of both the International Music Council and its regional councils. Those core beliefs have been gathered under the name of Five Music Rights.
The Five Music Rights were first proclaimed in Tokyo during the International Music Council’s General Assembly of 2001, and have since been promoted by the International Music Council and related bodies, through advocacy activities, programmes and other initiatives (such as the Music Rights Awards and the appointment of the ” Music Rights Champions”).
The principles contained in the Five Music Rights (originally written in English) have been translated into French, Spanish, Arabic, and Mandarin Chinese.
IMC undertakes many initiatives within the music ecosystem – such as developing projects, organizing conferences, awarding prizes, etc. Projects are international, regional and sometimes local and are often supported by international, intergovernmental and supranational organizations.
International Rostrum of Composers One of the IMC’s regular activities is the annual International Rostrum of Composers, a forum offering representatives of national broadcasting organisations the opportunity to exchange and publicize works of contemporary classical music.
The IMC UNESCO Music Prize The IMC UNESCO Music Prize was awarded from 1975 until 2005 by the International Music Council, as of 1978 in cooperation with UNESCO. The Prize was addressed to both musicians and musical institutions, in alignment with the purposes of the United Nations Charter and UNESCO’s Constitution. The Prize was assessed by four categories: composition, musicology, pedagogy, and performance. The last laureate of the IMC UNESCO Music Prize was Mikis Theodorakis.
African Music Development Programme The African Music Development Programme, launched in 2014 by the International Music Council, took place in nine African countries.
The 3-years-long project was implemented with the financial support of the European Union and the technical assistance of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP), and aimed at supporting the music industry through a series of targeted actions.
Advocacy The main arena for IMC advocacy is UNESCO, specifically the 1980 Recommendation concerning the Status of the Artist, the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.
Some advocacy actions are carried out in alliance with other international organisations such as the #Culture2030Goal campaign for the inclusion of culture among the Sustainable Development Goals.
International Music Day The International Music Day was initiated in 1975 by Yehudi Menuhin, former president of the IMC. It is celebrated worldwide on October 1.
° BLOG ° Gabriele Romano 