The Black Lives Matter movement has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for mobilising a world-wide fight against racial injustice.
Norwegian politician Petter Eide nominated the BLM movement and in his nomination papers wrote that not only has it been important for African-Americans, but has been important in “raising global awareness and consciousness about racial injustice.”
“I find that one of the key challenges we have seen in America, but also in Europe and Asia, is the kind of increasing conflict based on inequality,” Eide said.
“Awarding the peace prize to Black Lives Matter, as the strongest global force against racial injustice, will send a powerful message that peace is founded on equality, solidarity and human rights, and that all countries must respect those basic principles.”
For context: a singular person doesn’t need to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, last year the award went to the World Food Programme “for is efforts to combat hunger.”
The BLM movement was co-founded by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi in 2013, following a police officer’s acquittal for shooting unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin.
Since then the BLM movement has helped bring awareness to the systemic issue of police brutality in the US.
BLM reignited last year over the unjust killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, which resulted in mass protests around the globe.
Eide also dismissed the criticism that said the movement had been responsible for violence in the US.
“Studies have shown that most of the demonstrations organised by Black Lives Matter have been peaceful,” he said.
“Of course there have been incidents, but most of them have been caused by the activities of either the police or counter-protestors.”
Black Lives Matter has extended from being just a US issue, to spreading awareness about the racial injustices that exist internationally.
In Australia, the movement has helped to shed light on the racial injustices in our own backyard. Hundreds of Black Indigenous lives have been lost at the hands of law enforcement. Since the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, there have been 434 more black deaths in custody, according to The Guardian.
Donald Trump was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for a second time by Norwegian MP, Christian Tybring-Gjedde. Which surely must be a mistake? Maybe he thought he was nominating for the Nobel Pizza Prize?
The Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony takes place on December 10 in Oslo, Norway.
