Black Lives Matter movement nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

The Black Lives Matter movement has been nominated by the Norwegian parliament member Petter Eide for the Nobel peace prize 2021. According to The Guardian, the BLM has been nominated for the way it calls for systemic change and has spreaded worldwide. In his nomination paper, Eide said that movement had forced countries outside the United States to grapple with racism within their societies. 

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The BLM movement was co-founded in 2013 by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi in response to the acquittal in the US of the man who shot Trayvon Martin. It then gained wider recognition in the following years after the organisation protested against the deaths of Micheal Brown, Eric Garner, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. While calling BLM a “very important worldwide movement”, Eide noted that he finds that one of the key challenges the world has seen in America, Europe and Asia is the kind of increasing conflicts based on inequality. 

‘A powerful message to all countries’ 

In his nomination paper, the Norwegian politician added that the organisation have had a “tremendous achievement” in raising global awareness and consciousness about racial injustice. Eide said that one another thing that impressed him about the BLM movement was the way they have been able to mobilise people from all groups of society, not just African-Americans, not just oppressed people, it has been a broad movement, in a way which has been different from their predecessors. 

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Further, Eide noted that he didn’t want his nomination for Black Lives Matter to be seen as a comment on domestic US politics. He also dismissed criticism from rightwing voices that the group had been behind violence in US cities. He concluded that 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. 

It is worth mentioning that the Nobel peace prize nominations are accepted from any politician serving at a national level. The leaders are allowed just 2,000 words to state their case. The decline for this year’s submission is February 1 and by the end of March, the committee will prepare a shortlist. The winner is then chosen in October and the award ceremony is scheduled for December 10. Last year’s Nobel price was worn by the World Food Programmer because it wanted to turn the eyes of the world to millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger. 

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