Waitangi Day marks the signing in 1840 of a treaty between representatives of the British Crown and over five hundred Māori chiefs. Claudia Orange explains that: Most chiefs signed a Māori-language version of the treaty. The English- and Māori-language versions held different meanings, and Māori and Europeans therefore had different expectations of the treaty’s terms.… Read More »Waitangi Day
Today we remember twenty three year old asylum seeker Reza Barati who was killed in riots at the Regional Processing Centre (RPC) on Manus Island. A Senate Committee inquiry later found that the Australian Government had failed in its duty to protect him, and other asylum seekers, from harm. Here is an extract from the… Read More »2014: Murder of Iranian asylum seeker Reza Barati in offshore immigration detention on Manus Island
Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day is sometimes known as ‘Bikini’ Day because it marks the anniversary of the US ‘Bravo’ nuclear bomb detonation at Bikini Atoll in 1954. The explosion gouged out a crater more than 200 feet deep and a mile across, melting huge quantities of coral which were sucked up into the… Read More »Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day
In the USA, the Reboot Network initiated the National Day of Unplugging to encourage people to unplug, unwind, relax and do things other than using digital technology, electronics and social media for twenty four hours beginning at sundown on the first Friday in March. It builds on the Sabbath Manifesto which draws on and adapts… Read More »International Day of Unplugging
On this day an earthquake and tsunami in Fukushima Prefecture in Japan killed 18,500 people. Damage to a nuclear power plant in this event caused widespread contamination and the displacement of thousands of people. Reflecting on these events, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Japan called for the abolition on nuclear power: We, the Catholic Bishops’… Read More »2011: Fukushima Earthquake and Tsunami
Today we remember the students who were killed in Tiananmen Square while protesting for democracy. For last year's anniversary, Hong Kong Catholics organised an exhibition so that younger generations may gain insight into what happened. Find our more here. Learn about the iconic image of a lone unarmed man confronting a row of tanks here.… Read More »1989: Tiananmen Square Massacre, Bejing
On this day in 1945 Blessed Peter To Rot was martyred in Papua New Guinea. Find out more about his life here.
This day was created by Emojipedia to celebrate the use of emojis. An emoji is a small digital image or icon used to convey an idea or emotion. They are different from emoticons which use characters rather than images, for example the smiley face emoticon is :). Emojis are commonly used in text messages and… Read More »World Emoji Day