The Black Lives Matter movement is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

The Black Lives Matter movement is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

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Norwegian MP Petter Eide names the global movement ‘for their fight against racism and racially motivated violence’, he writes in his official nomination papers, obtained by CNN.

“BLM’s call for systemic change has spread around the world, forcing other countries to struggle with racism in their own societies,” he said.

The Black Lives Matter protest movement, which was rekindled in the days after an unarmed George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis last May, still shines a light on what he calls systemic racism and police brutality from the small American towns to its urban centers.
The group, which started with a hat brand in 2012 after the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida, has grown into a social juggernaut. It has changed the way people talk about police brutality and inequality.
Although there is no way to know exactly how big the movement has become, the organization has branched out with chapters around the world and held rallies, boycotts and other actions across the United States.

Online is what many people have used to spread the message against police brutality. And worldwide, it is used by many people to show solidarity with black people.

A global effort to fight inequality

Eide, who has represented the Socialist Left Party in parliament since 2017, told CNN he sees in Black Lives Matter a “legacy of both the civil rights movement in America and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.”

“The Norwegian Nobel Committee has always recognized a strong link between racial justice and peace,” Eide said

In 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King jr. The award for ‘his non-violent struggle for civil rights for the African American people’, according to the Nobel Prize website.
Other Nobel Peace Prizes have been associated with the South African anti-apartheid movement from the ’60s to the’ 90s, including that of Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk, which was awarded jointly in 1993 for the nation’s transition from a system of racial segregation.
Rioters violated the safety of the American Capitol on Wednesday. This was the reaction of the police when black protesters were in DC streets last year

Eide, who held the position of secretary general of Amnesty International Norway in the 2000s, said he received several emails and messages following his announcement of the nomination.

“People are sending me a message saying that BLM is a violent organization,” he said. “I condemn all forms of violence. However, these arguments were the same when Martin Luther King received the award in 1964, or when Mandela received it in 1993.”

“This is not a strong argument,” he added. “If some elements of the movement could have been violent, there is no reason to blame the whole movement.”

A 2020 report from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project showed that approximately 93% of anti-racial protests in the U.S. have been peaceful and non-destructive since the death of George Floyd.
“We have the biggest social movement in world history. Today we are nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. People are waking up to our global call: for racial justice and an end to economic injustice, environmental racism and white supremacy,” the Black Lives Matter movement tweeted on Friday. “We’re starting first.”

Any politician serving at national level can submit Nobel Peace Prize nominations. They may only allow 2,000 words to state their case.

The deadline for submitting the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 is 1 February. The winner will be chosen in October, with the prize-giving scheduled for 10 December.

CNN’s Leah Asmelash, Sara Sidner and Mallory Simon contributed to this report.

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