Afrikan Revolutionary Thomas Sankara's Example Lives On

1. RBG Blakademics November. 2010
“Afrikan Revolutionary Thomas
Sankara's Example Lives On”
Scenes from Thomas Sankara: An Upright Man
Thomas Sankara rose to power in Burkina Faso in a popularly supported coup in 1983. To symbolize this
rebirth, he renamed his country from the French colonial Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, Land of Upright Men"
and launched the most ambitious program for social and economic change ever attempted 1 the African
African revolutionary Thomas Sankara's example lives on Page on
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2. RBG Blakademics November. 2010
African revolutionary Thomas Sankara's
example lives on
Text written by Demba Moussa Dembélé
http://links.org.au/node/722
Thomas Sankara was killed in the belief that it
could extinguish the example he set for
African youth and progressive forces across
the continent. They could not have been more
wrong. One week before his assassination on
October 15, 1987, in a speech marking the
20th anniversary of the assassination of
Ernesto ``Che'' Guevara, Thomas Sankara
declared: ``Ideas cannot be killed, ideas
never die.’' Indeed, the history of humanity is
replete with martyrs and heroes whose ideas
and actions have survived the passage time
to inspire future generations.
Their ideas, courage and sacrifice for the
freedom and dignity of their people have
made these martyrs larger than life. Thomas
Isidore Sankara is one in a long lineage of
African sons and daughters whose ideas and
actions have left an indelible mark on the
history of their continent. That is why 21 years
after his death, Sankara continues to guide
those who are struggling to end the
domination of their continent and the
enslavement of its peoples.
Sankara’s great popularity is in part a reflection of Africans’ disillusionment with corrupt
leaders who are incapable of meeting the basic needs of their peoples and who take
their marching orders from Western capital and institutions like the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF). Sankara’s popularity is also rooted in the profound
sincerity of his commitment to serving his people, his devotion to the cause of the
emancipation of the Burkinabés and all African peoples. His charisma, honesty and
integrity made him a hero for the ``wretched of the Earth'', to coin a phrase from Frantz
Fanon, who was greatly admired by Sankara.
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A great visionary
Above all, however, Sankara’s ongoing popularity is due to
the ideas and values he embodied during his brief time on
the African and international stage. Indeed, if Sankara
arouses as much fervour today as he did 21 years ago, it is
because he embodied and defended causes that still
resonate today among the oppressed in Africa and around
the world. Sankara was a genuine revolutionary and a
great visionary who had the courage to take on the most
difficult challenges and who held great ambitions for his
country and Africa.
Most of the ideas or causes he defended two decades ago
are still at the heart of the struggle for the economic, social
and political emancipation of peoples around the world. He
was an environmentalist ahead of his time in a so-called
``poor'' country that was supposed to have other more
pressing priorities than the environment.
Sankara was one of the first heads of state, perhaps the only one in his time, to
condemn female excision, a position that reflected his unwavering commitment to the
emancipation of women and the struggle against all forms of discrimination against
women.
He was a relentless advocate of gender equality and the recognition of the role of
women in all spheres of economic and social life. In his famous speech of October 2,
1983, he stated: ``We cannot transform society while maintaining domination and
discrimination against women who constitute over half of the population.''
His unrelenting struggle against corruption, long before the World Bank and the IMF
picked up on this issue, made Sankara an enemy of all corrupt presidents on the
continent and of the international capitalist mafia for whom corruption is a tool for
conquering markets and pillaging the resources of the global South.
Sankara rejected the inevitability of ``poverty'', and was one of the first proponents of
food security. He achieved the spectacular feat of making his country food self-sufficient
within four years, through sensible agricultural policy and, above all, the mobilisation of
the Burkinabé peasantry. He understood that a country that could not feed itself ran the
risk of losing its independence and sovereignty.
In July 1987, Sankara, close on the heels of Fidel Castro two years earlier, called on
African countries to form a powerful front against their continent’s illegitimate and
immoral debt and to collectively refuse to pay it.
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4. RBG Blakademics November. 2010
Once again, he understood before others that the debt was a form of modern
enslavement for Africa; a major cause of poverty and deep suffering for African
populations. Sankara famously stated: ``If we do not pay the debt, our lenders will not
die. However, if we do pay it, we will die…''
On the international stage, Sankara was the first African head of state, to denounce the
UN Security Council’s right of veto and to condemn the lack of democracy within the
United Nations system as well as the hypocrisy that characterised international
relations. Today, all of these ideas have become self-evident truths and are at the heart
of popular resistance movements, including the World Social Forum that has become
one of the most powerful major rallying points.
Children "pioneers" of the Revolution, donning starred beret's like Che.
The coat of arms of Burkina Faso under Sankara from 1984-87,
featuring a crossed mattock and AK-47 (an allusion to the Hammer
and Sickle) with the motto "La Patrie ou la Mort, nous vaincrons"
(English: "Fatherland or death, we will win").
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Supporting popular struggles against oppression
Among the great causes passionately championed by Thomas Sankara was his
unwavering support for all popular revolutionary struggles and resistance movements
against imperialist domination and colonial oppression. In his memorable speech before
the UN General Assembly on October 4, 1984, Sankara stated: ``Our revolution in
Burkina Faso is open to the suffering of all peoples. It also draws its inspiration from the
experiences of peoples since the dawn of humanity. We wish to be the heirs of all of the
revolutions of the world, of all of the liberation struggles of the peoples of the Third
World.''
These revolutions and struggles inspired Sankara in his vision and desire to profoundly
transform the economic and social structures in his country as well as the mentalities
forged over centuries of foreign domination and oppression by dominant and
exploitative classes internally and externally. This was the wellspring of his profound
solidarity with the struggles of all oppressed peoples against the forces of domination.
Sankara’s commitment to solidarity was exercised with determination in every
international body, from the UN to the former Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and
the Non-Aligned Movement. Sankara was one of the first heads of state to support the
struggle of the Saharawi people (of Western Sahara) against Morocco’s expansionist
ambitions. He expressed the solidarity of the Burkinabés with the struggle of the Kanak
people (French-controlled Kanaky, or New Caledonia, in the South Pacific) against
French colonialism. During a trip to New York, he went to Harlem to express his support
for the struggle of African-Americans against racism and discrimination.
Above all, the Burkinabé Revolution under Sankara showed its unwavering support and
solidarity for all peoples resisting US policies of imperialist aggression. Before the UN
General Assembly — in the very belly of the beast — Sankara forcefully condemned the
United States’ illegal blockade and permanent aggression against the Cuban people. In
this same forum, he condemned Washington's unconditional support for Zionist Israel’s
state policies of territorial annexation and extermination of the Palestinian people.
Successes of the Burkinabé Revolution
While Sankara came to power in a military coup d’état on August 4, 1983, his revolution
was nonetheless a profoundly popular one. For Sankara, taking political power was a
tool for liberating his country from foreign domination, and above all liberating his people
from the multiple forms of economic, social, political and cultural domination.
In his historic speech of October 2, 1983, he explained that these goals would be
achieved through the destruction of the neocolonial state and the transformation of all
socioeconomic structures and institutions inherited from colonialism, including the army.
And these transformations should lead to the transfer of power to the people for, as he
stated: ``the goal of this revolution is to exercise power by the people.'' This
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6. RBG Blakademics November. 2010
fundamental objective could only be accomplished by placing trust in the people and
mobilising them to become conscious of the issues and sacrifices required.
Sankara believed it was futile to speak on behalf of the people if they could not be
mobilised to become an integral part of the struggle and develop an identity forged in
the fire of action. For Sankara: ``I think the most important thing is to bring the people to
a point where they have self-confidence, and understand that they can, at last … be the
authors of their own wellbeing… And at the same time, have a sense of the price to be
paid for that wellbeing.'’
To a great extent, the Burkinabé Revolution was an original experiment in profound
social, economic, political and ideological transformation. It was a bold attempt at
endogenous development through popular mobilisation.
The pursuit of this objective required extraordinary efforts to emancipate mentalities,
raise consciousness and mobilise the masses in the Committees for the Defence of the
Revolution (CDR) and other revolutionary structures. Despite some of the excesses of
the CDRs and the other revolutionary structures, there is no doubt that one of the major
objectives of the revolution under Sankara was to create the possibility for the people to
speak and express themselves freely, and in so doing build their self-confidence. In this
the revolution was profoundly democratic and popular. Sankara once stated:
``Misfortune will befall those who silence their people.'' This warning reflected the
importance he placed on freedom of expression, an indispensable condition for
encouraging Burkinabés at all levels of society to speak their mind.
Weaknesses and mistakes of the revolution
As in all human endeavours, the Burkinabé Revolution had its ups and downs. Despite
its incontestable achievements, the revolution also had its weaknesses, weaknesses
that ultimately undermined the cohesion of the leadership and even stoked opposition
among certain segments of the population that initially supported it, such as the
intellectual petty bourgeoisie.
One of the weaknesses of the revolution was related to the fact that the social forces
that had a stake in its success — peasants and workers (both manual and intellectual)
— may not have had the ideological tools that would have enabled them to better
understand and support the pace of revolutionary change.
Another weakness lay in the difficulty of building a solid and durable coalition between
Sankara and his comrades on the one hand, and the political parties representing the
intellectual petty bourgeoisie on the other. This undoubtedly explains some of the
mistakes made by the revolution’s leadership that contributed to alienating portions of
the population and exacerbating the contradictions within the leadership when
difficulties started to accumulate.
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7. RBG Blakademics November. 2010
Perhaps, to some extent, activism took the place of the more patient work that was
required to educate the masses so that the social and ideological obstacles to popular
mobilisation could be overcome. Lastly, sabotage by enemies working in the shadows
and the country’s relative isolation in the sub-region, in a similar vein to what occurred in
Ghana and Guinea, put the final nail in the coffin.
Lessons of the Burkinabé Revolution
The Burkinabé Revolution was the last major effort toward the popular and democratic
emancipation on the African continent. Neither the end of apartheid in South Africa, nor
SWAPO’s victory in Namibia brought the same kind of profound and significant
economic and social transformation. The Burkinabé Revolution was an unprecedented
experiment in profound economic, social and political change.
The revolution was a bold experiment in endogenous development with the construction
of infrastructure (dams, railways, schools, roads, etc.) through the intense mobilisation
of the masses powered by the principle of self-reliance.
Indeed, the principle of self-reliance was the basis of Sankara’s denunciation of so-
called foreign ``aid'' which he argued ``produced nothing more than disorganisation and
enslavement …'’ He refused to listen to the ``charlatans trying to sell development
models that have all failed''. Of course, he was alluding to the so-called experts from the
World Bank and the IMF who took control of economic policy in many African countries
to disastrous effect.
Sankara’s position was in stark contrast to that of several African leaders who literally
became beggars who no longer dared raise their voices against the injunctions and
interference of their ``development partners''. Sankara showed that ``poverty'' did not
have to translate into a loss of dignity and an abdication of sovereignty.
The Burkinabé Revolution can also teach us some negative lessons that merit
reflection. One of the lessons is the difficulty of building a sustainable and victorious
relationship between the army and progressive intellectuals. Another lesson relates to
the destiny of military coups: can a coup d’état truly serve as the basis for sustainable
revolutionary change or is it condemned to be a flash in the pan? This question surely
begs others. The point is that African revolutionary forces must study the lessons that
can be learned from this experience in order to better pursue current and future
struggles.
The ideas and principles that guided the Burkinabé Revolution did not vanish with
Sankara’s assassination. They will continue to guide African popular struggles and
resistance movements until foreign domination has been vanquished and Africans have
recovered their sovereignty. The best way to honour the memory of Thomas Sankara is
to continue his fight and promote the values he embodied.
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8. RBG Blakademics November. 2010
In truth, African revolutionaries have a duty not only to remember the Burkinabé
Revolution, but all the African revolutions that inspired it. We forget that Sankara was an
ardent pan-Africanist who did not hide his ideological and political debt to Kwame
Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba and Amílcar Cabral, among others. It is our duty to study
the thinking and works of Sankara and other African revolutionary leaders and thinkers
in order to be able to teach the younger generations. By preserving and developing the
fundamental values and ideas of the Sankarist revolution and other African revolutions,
we will forge the ideological and political tools we need to deconstruct the values and
concepts of the dominant system and build anew from our own concepts based on our
vision of the world and our realities.
Just as Che’s blood has fed the sacred ground of the Americas where worthy
successors of the legendary Argentinean revolutionary are now taking root and pursuing
the dreams of Simón Bolívar and other South American heroes, the sacrifice of Sankara
and his illustrious predecessors will produce other Sankaras who will one day realise
the dreams of Nkrumah and the other heroes and martyrs of the African revolution: to
build an independent, united and prosperous Africa that is the master of its own destiny.
[Demba Moussa Dembele is the director of the African Forum on Alternatives based in
Dakar. This article which first appeared in the French Pambazuka last year to remember
Sankara's assassination. The English translation, which first appeared in Pambazuka
News http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/51193, was translated by
Gwendolyn Schulman, a writer and broadcaster for Amandla, an alternative views and
news show on Africa, on CKUT 90.3 FM.]
Learn more about Sankara
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sankara
Video
 Video Trailer for Thomas Sankara: The Upright Man
 Short Tribute Video with Images from Youtube
 Speech on the United Front Against Debt by Thomas Sankara (Part 1) --- Part 2
at the OAU Summit, July 29, 1987
Articles
 How Imperialist 'Aid' Blocks Development in Africa by Thomas Sankara, The
Militant
 Interview With Aziz Fall On the Assassination of Thomas Sankara October 17
2007
 A Grisly Assassination That Will Not Stay Buried by Howard French, The New
York Times, March 10 1997
African revolutionary Thomas Sankara's example lives on Page 8