Story at a glance
- The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the highest humanitarian awards for work addressing conflict and promoting peace.
- A Norwegian politician has nominated the Black Lives Matter movement for the award.
- The winner will be selected by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in October.
A Norwegian politician has reportedly nominated the Black Lives Matter movement for a Nobel Peace Prize, awarded by a committee appointed by the Norwegian Parliament.
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“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,” Norwegian MP Petter Eide said in nomination papers, according to The Guardian. “Black Lives Matter has become a very important worldwide movement to fight racial injustice. They have had a tremendous achievement in raising global awareness and consciousness about racial injustice.”
In the United States, the Black Lives Matter movement has become synonymous with civil rights and racial justice causes. Last summer, when the police killing of George Floyd reignited protests across the country, between 15 million to 26 million people were estimated to have participated, making it perhaps the largest movement in U.S. history.
While the movement itself is decentralized, organizations such as the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation have taken on the mantle of organizing against state and vigilante violence against Black people. The movement originated on social media in 2013 in response to the acquittal of the man who shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager.
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The peace prize is awarded to “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses,” according to the will of Alfred Nobel, who the prize is named after.
Both individuals and organizations are eligible for the Nobel Peace Prize. Last year’s winner was the World Food Programme “for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.”
Any member of a national assembly or government can submit a nomination, in addition to members of academia and certain organizations. The deadline to submit nominations is Feb. 1 and the Norwegian Nobel Committee is expected to choose the winners through a majority vote in October.
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