The Black Lives Matter movement has been nominated for a 2021 Nobel peace prize for the way its call for systematic change has spread around the world. In his nomination papers, Norwegian MP Petter Eide said the move had forced countries outside the US to engage in racism within their own associations.
“I find that one of the main challenges we have seen in America, but also in Europe and Asia, is the growing form of conflict based on inequality. The case of Black Lives has become a very important worldwide movement in the fight against racial injustice, ”said Eide. “They have made a tremendous achievement in raising global awareness and awareness of racial injustice.”
Eide, who has nominated human rights activists from Russia and China for the award, said that one other thing that influenced him about the Black Lives Matter movement was the way “they have been able to move people from all walks of life. a group of society, not just African -Americans, not just oppressed people, it has been a widespread movement, in a way that has been different from what they were before. “
The Black Lives Matter movement was founded in 2013 in response to the man who shot Trayvon Martin in the USA. It gained wider recognition in 2014 following complaints about the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, and was the source of a series of global protests in 2020 following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Entries for the Nobel Peace Prize are accepted from any politician serving at national level, and are only allowed 2,000 words to express their case. The deadline for this year’s application is 1 February, and before the end of March the committee will prepare a shortlist. The winner is chosen in October and the awards ceremony is scheduled for 10 December. More than 300 were nominated for last year’s award, which eventually won the World Food Program.
The committee rewards the WFP for its aim to “turn the eyes of the world to the millions of people who suffer from or oppose hunger”, but it may be the last year’s most famous announcement for former US president Donald Trump.
Trump was nominated for a second time by another Norwegian MP, Christian Tybring-Gjedde. The most outspoken MP has named Trump’s role in normalizing relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates under the Abraham Accords, although Eide said he had “some difficulty defending that nomination” following the Capitol riot on January 6 when a pro-Trump storm hit U.S. Congress buildings and five people died.
Eide, however, said he did not want his nomination for the Black Lives case to be seen as an opinion on U.S. domestic politics. And he dismissed criticism from right-wing voices that the group had been behind violence in U.S. cities. “Studies have shown that most of the shows organized by Black Lives are peaceful. Of course there have been incidents, but most of them are caused by the action of either the police or anti-protesters. “
Data collected by the Military Conflict Situation and Incident Data project in September 2020 showed that 93% of Black Lives case demonstrations did not involve any serious harm to people or property.
The 61-year-old politician, who has represented the leftist socialist party in parliament since 2017, has named predecessors of the Oslo-based Nobel laureate committee recognizing the battle against racism. Albert Luthuli and Nelson Mandela received the award in 1960 and 1993 respectively for advocating racial discrimination in South Africa, and Martin Luther King received the award for combating anti-racist violence. race in the U.S. in 1964. Mandela shared his award with FW de Klerk, the man who ordered the ANC leader to be released from prison.
“There’s a tradition to do this,” Eide said. “It is a strong link between anti-racism and peace movements, and recognizing that there will be no peace and stability in society without this kind of justice.”
His statement reads: “Awarding the peace prize to Black Lives Matter, as the world’s strongest force against racial injustice, sends a powerful message that peace is based on equality, intimacy. friendship and human rights, and that all countries must respect these fundamental principles. . “