Women have a lot of times been the underdog in history. Women artists, for instance, are underrepresented in museums, and women philosophers have also only been researched since the 20th century. Hence, on International Women’s Day, it is good to reflect on an important, yet relatively unknown, female figure in history: Olympe de Gouges. Along with Mary Wollstonecraft, she was one of the leading feminists at the time of the French Revolution.
The daughter of a butcher and a servant, Marie Gouze married the much older Louis-Yves Aubry against her will at the age of 16. When he died soon after the birth of their first child, she refused to bear her husband’s name. She resolved never to marry again. She changed her name to Olympe de Gouges and left for Paris. There she told everyone that her father was the writer Jean-Jacques Lefranc, marquis de Pompignan. In the village she came from, this story had been going around for quite some time. As the daughter of a respected lawyer, her mother had had a lot of contact with Jean-Jacques Lefranc and was even going to marry him, were it not for the fact that Jean-Jacque Lefrancs’ family did not consider her a suitable candidate because she was not of nobility. Lefranc then left the village but returned just before De Gouges was born. Be that as it may, in Paris she could make good use of these rumours as an entry point to Paris’ elite. Read more
International Students Day celebrates its annual debut on 17 November. The reason for its introduction was the constant reminder of the student protests in Prague against the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939, which were, however, violently put down. Students Day has always served to recognise all the difficulties faced by students and young people around the world.
On 30 June 2022, we celebrate the annual World Social Media Day. The introduction of the holiday honours the impact of social media platforms on people’s global communication, and not without reason.
On 26 April 2022, the ECJ ruled in Case C-401/19 that the disputed Art. 17(4)(b) and Art. 17(4)(c) last sentence of Directive (EU) 2019/790. c, last sentence, of Directive (EU) 2019/790, which regulates the use of so-called upload filters and which Poland sought to have annulled, does not violate the right to freedom of expression and information enshrined in Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.
On 26 April we celebrate the annual World Intellectual Property Day. The event was launched in 2000 by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to “raise awareness of the impact of patents, copyrights, trademarks and designs on daily life” and to “celebrate the creativity and contribution of creators and innovators to the development of societies around the world”.
The International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP), celebrated annually on 6 April, is an opportunity to celebrate the positive role of sport and physical activity in communities and in the lives of people around the world.
International Women’s Day is just around the corner. On 8th March of each year, women around the world are celebrated and paid tribute to the struggle and emancipation of women.
The Anne Frank manuscripts case: Geo-blocking is a suitable means of safeguarding copyright