J. Scott Orr runs m.America.gov, a version of the America.gov website designed for cell phones and other mobile devices.
Fireworks are a common way of celebrating independence days around the world.
The fireworks were hailing over Montevideo the other night, capping a celebration of independence earned 185 years before when Uruguay decided to break away from Brazil.
The day was also marked in Washington, where Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton congratulated Uruguay on its independence and its commitment to individual freedoms and democratic ideas.
“Happy Independence Day, Uruguay. On August 25th, the United States joins you in celebrating your many accomplishments this past year,” she said in videotaped message.
Such independence-day greetings are a lot more common than you might think. Why, just one day earlier Clinton toasted 19-years of Ukrainian independence. On August 19 it was Afghanistan’s Independence Day; August 15, India’s; August 14, Pakistan’s. In July, there was Benin, Peru, Colombia, the Bahamas, Argentina, Venezuela and, of course, the United States.
This is the height of the global independence day season, which occurs each year July through September when celebrations of national freedom occur at the dizzying pace of more than 20 per month. Compare that with the independence-day-challenged months of January and April that have a mere four celebrations each.
The calendar’s top independence day? That would probably be September 15, the date in 1821 when El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Costa Rica all gained their independence from Spain. This is a big year for independence days in Africa, where 17 countries are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their freedom from colonial rule. Most of those became independent with the 1960 collapse of the French colonial empire.
Independence day celebrations are important, and not just because parades and pyrotechnics are fun. They remind us of our shared heritages, the struggle and sacrifice it took to secure these freedoms and the shared responsibilities of defending them. Independence days also highlight the common principles that link the world’s diverse democracies.
On August 1, Clinton was congratulating Benin on the 50th anniversary of its independence when she noted that the United States and the tiny African nation have in common a “shared respect for the fundamental principles of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.”
Want to know who’s celebrating their independence today? Wikipedia has a list.