Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu President Thomas Isidore Noel Sankara would have turned 70 on the 21st of December 2019. At the tender age of 37, however, he was felled by bullets from soldiers loyal to his best friend, Blaise Campaore. Thomas Sankara’s passion was Africa’s advancement; his experimental field was Burkina Faso. What President Sankara wanted to…
Category: Burkina Faso
Thomas Sankara: Speech Before the General Assembly of the United Nations
Delivered: In French, at the United Nations General Assembly, in New York City, on 4 October 1984. Source of the Translation into English: United Nationas (1984), United Nations General Assembly Official Records, 20th Plenary Meeting, Thursday, 4 October 1984, at 10.40 a.m., New York, (A/39/PV.20), pp. 405-410. This edition: Marxists Internet Archive, January 2019. I…
Message from Mariam Sankara on the Commemoration of the 31st Anniversary of the Assassination of President Thomas Sankara
Ladies, ladies, gentlemen, dear friends, The 31st anniversary of the assassination of President Thomas Sankara comes in a context where Burkinabè are particularly concerned by the prevailing insecurity in the country. They also hope, among other things, for the reconciliation of all the daughters and sons of Burkina Faso after the resolution of the current…
Thomas Sankara: A Film by Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda
Liberation School-AfroMarxist Leader of the Burkinabe Revolution, Thomas Sankara was a Marxist and Pan-Africanist revolutionary who became president of Burkina Faso in August 1983 at the age of 33. Transcription: Burkina Faso, formerly known as Upper Volta, is one of the poorest nations in the world. It won its independence from France in 1960. In…
Thomas Sankara: “Debt is a cleverly managed reconquest of Africa”
Thomas Sankara: A United Front Against Debt Paula Akugizibwe Thomas Sankara, former leader of Burkina Faso, was the apparent opposite of everything we are often told that success should look like. Mansions? Cars? Who? What? Get out of here. As Prime Minister and later as President, Sankara rode a bicycle to work before he upgraded,…
Thomas Sankara: The Ideas and Actions of a Man of Integrity
CIIP (Inter-People Information Centre) Thomas Sankara came to power following a coup in a context of popular insurrection, and was President of Burkina Faso for only 4 years, until his assassination, but he had a strong impact on his country. His key actions and ideas remain highly topical: a break with neo-colonialism and dependence on…
Thomas Sankara and the Revolutionary Birth of Burkina Faso
Mamadou Diallo In 1983, 23 years after its independence and the succession of several neo-colonial regimes, the Upper Volta was one of the most materially destitute countries in the world. 98 percent of its population was illiterate and its GDP per capita was just over 100 dollars of the time. Out of the seven million…
Thomas Sankara: African Liberation Leadership in an Era of Neoliberalism
Comments on “Thomas Sankara: The Upright Man” Abayomi Azikiwe Internationalist 360° Pan-African News Wire Editor’s Note: The following are excerpts from comments made at the Liberation Film Series held monthly at the Dr. Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit. On March 9, 2013, Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire,…
Thomas Sankara: The Upright Man
Thomas Sankara: The Upright Man is a 2006 documentary film about Thomas Sankara, former president of Burkina Faso. Sankara was known as “the African Che”, and became famous in Africa due to his innovative ideas, his devastating humor, his spirit and his altruism. With a gun in one hand and Karl Marx’s works in the…
A United Front Against Debt
Thomas Sankara “Debt is also the result of confrontation. When we are told about economic crisis, nobody says that this crisis didn’t come about suddenly. The crisis had always been there but it got worse each time that popular masses become more and more conscious of their rights against exploiters.” Thomas Sankara’s Speech on Foreign…
Who Killed the Lion King?
Thomas Sankara.Born on December 21, 1949, in Upper Volta, formerly Burkina Faso; died Oct 15,1987 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Why do we always betray those that fight for Afrika’s freedom? ‘I would like to leave behind me the conviction that if we maintain a certain amount of caution and organization we deserve victory… You cannot…
