International

Black Lives Matter movement nominated for Nobel peace prize

Published

10 months ago

February 1, 2021

Staff Writer

The Black Lives Matter movement has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel peace prize by Norwegian member of parliament Petter Eide.

We hold the largest social movement in global history. Today, we have been 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. We're only getting started ✊🏾 pic.twitter.com/xjestPNFzC
— Black Lives Matter (@Blklivesmatter) January 30, 2021

Eide said he nominated the organization because it is “bringing forward a new consciousness and awareness about racial justice,” according to the official nomination papers.

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

Eide told ABC News that he has received threats and hateful messages since the nomination announcement but has no plans to rescind the nomination.

“This weekend I have received so many negative responses from individual Americans telling me that Black Lives Matter is a violent and aggressive organization, that they are deliberately using violence as a political communication tool and that nominating them for the Nobel Peace Prize is quite insane,” Eide said in an interview with ABC News.

Eide, who has represented the Socialist Left Party in the Norwegian parliament since 2017, said he researched the protest movement thoroughly before nominating it for the award that also includes a $1 million prize.

“We found studies showing more than 90% of the demonstrations in the U.S. were peaceful. Most of those incidents of violence was based on either aggressive police behavior or counter-demonstrations,” he said. “I’m quite convinced that Black Lives Matter is a peaceful organization.”

The Black Lives Matter movement was co-founded in 2013 by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi in response to the acquittal of the man who shot Trayvon Martin. In 2014 the movement gained a strong following after the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. In 2020, BLM became a widespread movement following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

Eide’s nomination papers concluded, “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 winner of the Peace Prize is selected in October and the award ceremony is scheduled for Dec 10.

Follow Annaliese Levy on Twitter @AnnalieseLevy

International

Taliban Holds Parade for 250 Newly Trained Soldiers with American-Made Weapons Left Behind

As the result of an ill-prepared withdrawal that went horribly wrong, the Taliban now holds a large stock of weapons and equipment left behind.

Published

2 weeks ago

November 16, 2021

Staff Writer

On Sunday, Taliban forces held a very bone-chilling parade showing off their captured American-made armored military vehicles and Russian helicopters. The act was “a display that showed their ongoing transformation from an insurgent force to a regular standing army” writes CNN.

The Taliban are no longer terror insurgents fighting against American forces that had once freed Afghanistan from the Taliban. As the result of an ill-prepared withdrawal that went horribly wrong, the Taliban now holds a large stock of weapons and equipment left behind.

The parade was part of a graduation for 250 newly trained Taliban soldiers, said defense ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khwarazmi. CNN reports, “The exercise involved dozens of US-made M117 armored security vehicles driving slowly up and down a major Kabul road with MI-17 helicopters patrolling overhead. Many soldiers carried American-made M4 assault rifles.”

Tragically, much of the weaponry taunted in the parade by Taliban forces were supplied by the United States to the American-backed government in Kabul during the past two decades. The equipment was to aid an Afghan national force and make it capable of fighting the Taliban.

As forces fled Afghanistan, some of the military equipment provided by western forces was flown into Central Asian Countries in an attempt to avoid it landing in the hands of the Taliban. It remains unclear exactly how much of what did end up in Taliban control is still operational.

American troops destroyed over 70 aircraft and dozens of armored vehicles, as well as disabled air defenses before flying out of Kabul during the frenetic evacuation. CNN reports “Taliban officials have said that pilots, mechanics and other specialists from the former Afghan National Army would be integrated into a new force, which has also started wearing conventional military uniforms in place of the traditional Afghan clothing normally worn by their fighters.”