Black Lives Matter Movement Nominated for 2021 Nobel Peace Prize

• Norwegian parliament member Petter Eide nominated the Black Lives Matter movement for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.
• Eide acknowledged the movement as the “strongest global force against racial injustice.”
• The BLM movement grew last summer as nationwide protests erupted following George Floyd’s death.

The Black Lives Matter movement has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. 

The nomination was announced on Friday by Norwegian parliament member Petter Eide, who nominated the organization.

In a statement to USA Today, Eide praised the movement for carrying forward a fight for racial justice and spreading it to other countries. “Black Lives Matter is the strongest force today doing this, not only in the U.S. but also in Europe and in Asia,” he continued.

“For the Nobel Prize Committee, this is not unusual to link a fight for (racial) justice… with peace. There will be no peace without justice,” Eide declared.

In 1960 and 1993, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Albert Luthuli and Nelson Mandela, respectively, for their role in South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement. In 1964, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Martin Luther King Jr. for his leading role in the civil rights movement.

Eide’s written nomination, obtained by The Guardian, stated in part: “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.”

The movement acknowledged the nomination in a Twitter post that promised they were “only getting started.”

“People are waking up to our global call: for racial justice and an end to economic injustice, environmental racism, and white supremacy,” they declared.

Nominations were available for submission from politicians and academics, among others, until Feb. 1. A shortlist is expected by March.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee will then select a winner in October, with an award ceremony tentatively scheduled for Dec. 10.

The 2020 peace award was given to the UN World Food Program (WFP), a well-known humanitarian organization focused on feeding the hungry.

Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi founded the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013. This was prompted by George Zimmerman’s 2012 acquittal after his fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin.

Last year also marked the growth of the movement, sparked by the death of George Floyd during police custody. Police brutality and systemic racism were further brought to light as nationwide protests broke out and inspired other countries to spread awareness.

BLM founders Cullors, Garza, and Tometi were included in TIME‘s 100 most influential people in 2020. The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation also won Sweden’s 2020 Olof Palme human rights prize on Friday.

The Olof Palme Memorial Fund for International Understanding and Common Security declared that seeing millions raise their voice so strongly all over the world “shows that this in essence is about global threats to human dignity and fundamental human rights: BLACK LIVES MATTER!”

Source: People