Global movements for justice
The video of Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck traveled from a Minneapolis street to every corner of the world. Black activists in the U.K. spoke of their visceral reactions to the footage, while Floyd’s dying words, “I can’t breathe,” brought back painful memories in France and Australia of Black and Aboriginal people killed while in police custody. The video transcended borders on social media too, sparking solidarity protests in more than 50 nations, from Germany to Thailand, Argentina to Turkey.
Despite COVID-19 restrictions in many countries, hundreds of thousands of protesters turned out in solidarity and to show that racial injustice was not just an American problem. Many voiced frustrations at specific racist and colonial legacies. Statues of slave traders and imperialists became flash points across Europe, while #PapuanLivesMatter trended, highlighting discrimination against natives of West Papua and stirring calls for independence from Indonesia.
But as suddenly as it came, the global summer of Black Lives Matter (BLM) had been building over time. Grassroots activists had pushed for change for years, building movements for
