BURKINA FASO'S PEOPLE ARE ITS BIGGEST RESOURCE

In 1983, in what was then known as Upper Volta—now Burkina Faso—a revolutionary 33-year-old military captain known as Thomas Sankara (1949-87) rose to power through a popular coup d’état that shaped the trajectory of the country for years to come. Sankara’s radical leadership inspired millions worldwide in just four years as president. Many Africans see him as the gold standard for an African leader. 

In this clip, Milton Allimadi, journalist, author, and co-founder of US-based newspaper Black Star News, explained why Sankara still commands respect decades later.

For example, Thomas Sankara's literacy campaign increased the literacy rate from 13 per cent in 1983 to 73 per cent in 1987. Plus, his government planted over 10 million trees and built roads and railways. Furthermore, he recruited women into government and reduced public servant salaries and government expenditure on luxuries. His anti-corruption campaign was so firm that he rode a bicycle to work and, upon his death, Sankara only had $350 in his bank account.

French-backed assassins k*lling Sankara helped revert Burkina Faso to a neo-colonial state under Sankara’s comrade-turned-enemy, President Blaise Compaoré. A 2014 popular uprising forced him to step down, and nearly a decade of instability followed.

However, since 30 September 2022, the state in Africa’s arid Sahel region appears to be back on the tracks Sankara set it upon under the leadership of Ibrahim Traoré, who came to power in a people-backed coup d’état. Severing military cooperation ties with France and opposing Western aid from the IMF and World Bank have placed the country on the path of liberation and self-sufficiency.

Sankara had asserted that ‘he who feeds you controls you,' a philosophy shared by Congo's revolutionary leader, Patrice Lumumba (1925-61), who declared that meaningful political independence must be 'accompanied by rapid economic and social development.' Unfortunately, the Congo veered off Lumumba's charted course following his brutal assassination by Belgian-, UK- and US-backed Congolese forces.

Sources:

https://www.thomassankara.net/facts-about-thomas-sankara-in-burkina-faso/?lang=en

https://www.thenation.com/article/world/thomas-sankara-trial/

https://hoodcommunist.org/2023/03/02/the-homeland-or-death-accomplishments-of-the-traore-government-in-burkina-faso/

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2014/10/31/burkina-faso-ghost-of-africas-che-guevara

https://africacenter.org/spotlight/understanding-burkina-faso-latest-coup/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/23/timeline-burkina-faso-unrest

https://africacenter.org/spotlight/understanding-burkina-faso-latest-coup

https://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/lumumba/1960/08/31.htm