ANANDHAPRIYAN M.
Thomas Sankara, popularly referred to as the “African Che Guevara”, was born on December 21, 1949. He was a military officer and later became the president of Burkina Faso (formerly known as Upper Volta) in 1983 after a coup. At a young age, in 1970, he was sent for military training at Madagascar, where he saw a rebellion of workers and students that successfully overthrew the Madagascar’s government. In 1972, he attended the French parachute academy, where he was familiarised with left-wing political ideologies. In the 1980s, there was a series of military coups and labour strikes at Burkina Faso. Before 1983, decades of French colonial rule made the territory one of the poorest and under developed countries in Africa. It was a minor possession for the French, with few resources such as the land to grow cotton and the cheap labour. Thousands of people were sent to work at other French colonies. There was no proper support for economic development, health and education of the people. Military feats and his leadership skills made Sankara a popular choice for politics in the country. He was selected as the prime minister of the newly formed Council for the Salvation of the People (CSP) in January 1983. This appointment made him aware of international politics. Sankara’s anti-imperialist view triggered the conservative elements in CSP, including the president Ouédraogo. Sankara was removed as prime minister and was arrested. In August 1983, Sankara’s close friend, Blaise Compaoré, gathered a militant group that toppled the government, freed Sankara, and the National Council of the Revolution (CNR) was formed with Sankara as its president. The CNR and its cabinet was a mixture of representatives from various societal sectors. CNR attracted active and strong support from the poor and the young revolutionaries.
Sankara was open about his political beliefs and identified himself as a Marxist. He often framed his revolutionary process more as “anti-imperialist” in nature. Sankara’s objectives as president were essentially concerned with the eradication of corruption, environmental degradation, women empowerment, education and health care, with the ultimate aim of taking down the imperial dominance. Sankara successfully executed programs that greatly boosted literacy rates, brought down infant mortality, and increased the number of women postings in the government. He was also very conscious of the environment. Hundreds of water wells were constructed, reservoirs were built to save water efficiently, and millions of tree saplings were planted to combat desertification. He renamed the country as Burkina Faso, which means “land of the upright people” in their native language. For the citizens of Burkina Faso, Sankara’s brief term from 1983 to 1987, was a period when many solutions were made for their country. While the citizens were most receptive of his government’s achievements, people throughout the world were attracted by Sankara’s camaraderie with oppressed people of the global South. Sankara made it clear that they were not interested in making just a few minor changes at the top. They wanted to transform the country fundamentally. Besides restructuring the military, judiciary and other institutions, his government was strictly against corruption. The salaries of the ministers were reduced and their luxuries were taken away. Sankara declared all his assets to the public and he asserted his fellow comrades to do the same. He sent his own children to public school and he refused relatives who sought government jobs.
Burkina Faso’s policies inspired anti-imperialist, revolutionary, and radical nationalist movements across the global south. Several foreign policy ideas emerged from Sankara’s speeches at international gatherings, including those of the United Nations, Organization of African Unity and Non-Aligned Movement. To the world, he conveyed clearly that Burkina Faso no longer required orders from Paris or Western capitals. He asserted relations with countries in the world that were considered unfriendly to the West, such as China, Cuba, North Korea, Soviet Union, etc.. He insisted the need to unite with the oppressed people in the revolutionary movements across the globe. Sankara was persistent with the idea of genuine pan-African solidarity, and he believed that it can be achieved only through realisation of the African governments. Sankara had only a few allies among the other African governments, who supported the idea of Pan-Africanism. He greatly criticised the non-allied governments for being ignorant about the suffering of their people. During his meetings, he constantly urged the ignorant governments to support Africa’s liberation movements. A few days before his assassination, he hosted a pan-African anti-apartheid conference in Ouagadougou. Practical means to support the Southern Africa’s revolutionary fighters and to reprimand the pro-apartheid governments were discussed. Sankara highlighted the fact that due to excess foreign debt, the economic development was crippled in Africa. In 1987 meeting of the Organisation of African Unity, he appealed the African leaders to refuse to pay the debts, and he proposed the formation of a united front of African countries to support the resistance. But the OAU did not supported Sankara’s advice. While a number of leaders in Africa were irritated by Sankara’s popularity and criticisms, a few more openly opposed him.
Despite the great progress, there was growing dissatisfaction in the country, primarily because of the opposition from conservatives. He gradually lost support and the conflict within his government grew bigger. Later, on October 15, 1987, he was killed in a coup led by Compaoré and two others. A variety of factors played into the coup. The factors like Sankara’s strong anti imperialist views, his measures of expropriation of landlords and big capital intimidated imperialist powers, anticorruption measures capable of exposing those indulged in illegal dealings, and influence from abroad, including France and Côte d’Ivoire, to weaken the country’s anti-imperialist views, strengthened the attack on Sankara. French imperialism decided that the revolutionary regime posed a most serious threat to its interests in the region because Sankara tried export revolution to other African states which intimidated their interests. Thus, in collaboration with French imperialism and the regime of the Ivory Coast, Compaoré one reactionary wing of the regime carried out the coup of 15 October 1987 in which Sankara and 12 other members of the government were killed.
Compaoré’s takeover led to outright collapse of the country. His regime ruined most of the progressive policies of Sankara. He established close relations with the governments of France, Côte d’Ivoire and other Western powers. By the support of financial aid from France and other powers, Compaoré was able sustain a regime and lasted for 27 years. During his period, despite regular elections, he withheld his political authority by electoral frauds, constitutional manipulations and corruptions. Despite Compaoré’s success in crushing formal opposition in the electoral arena, rebellion began and protests happened recurrently from the late 1990s onward. It was marked by the formation of a variety of small political parties, student associations and other mass organisations that were inspired from the ideas and achievements of Sankara’s revolutionary era.
Briefly, the collapse of Sankara’s government made it extremely difficult for the citizens of Burkina Faso to openly uphold his legacy. But significantly, several pan-African activists helped circulate Sankara’s ideas outside Burkina Faso. Researchers also played a vital role in dissemination of the history of the Sankarist revolution. A number of books recounting the history of Sankara and his revolution were also published. The people of Burkina Faso were inspired by Sankara for varied reasons. Some adored his anti-imperialism ideology and dedication to national unity, some commended his ideas for social and economic growth of the country, and many were inspired by his measures to eradicate corruption. By the rise of opposition inspired by the goodness of Sankara, the regime of Compaoré slowly started to break down. When he stood for re-election once again in 2013, the country reacted in anger and outrage. Already provoked by increased poverty and corruption, people demanded Compaoré to leave from power. When he ignored the public and proceeded against the will of the people, mass rallies and general strikes were declared all over the country, and the opposition parties, mass organisations and trade unions united to organise a coordinated struggle. Compaoré ruled Burkina Faso for a long term, until the popular unrest made him resign in 2014.
In October 2014, due to the stubbornness of Compaoré, the public demonstrations developed into insurrection at the country. Compelled by the fatal unrest, Compaoré escaped the country with the help of French special forces. An interim government was formed with the necessity to carry out essential reforms and to conduct new elections. The cabinet of the transitional parliament included people from diverse backgrounds and among them several were Sankarists. In November 2015, elections were successfully held and representatives were chosen to form the new government. However, the Sankarists in the government were ideologically conscious but were not influential in practical politics, because they were randomly dispersed in several parties and organisations.
In 2021, after several years, 14 people were charged for Sankara’s assassination. When the verdict was announced in April 2022, Compaoré, Kafando, and Gilbert Diendéré were sentenced to life in prison, while eight defendants got lesser sentences and three of the defendants were not found guilty. Compaoré, who was living in exile in Côte d’Ivoire, was tried in-absentia. The court issued an international arrest warrant against him, but the Ivorian government of Côte d’Ivoire refused to respond.
In the meantime, the government of the elected President Marc Roch Christian Kaboré faced an insurgency led by groups associated with Al-Qaida and the Islamic State. By 2022, large parts of the northern and eastern borders of Burkina Faso lost government control, and the tolls of civilian murders increased. The inability of Kaboré government to protect the nation instigated a military coup in January 2022. The new leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, took measures such as popular immobilizations to strengthen their own political legitimacy. The officials of the current government repeatedly refer to Sankara’s legacy. They tend to work towards transforming the visions of Sankara into concrete actions. Political activists and Sankarists welcome the official support for Sankarism at Burkina Faso.
Though it has been 75 years since his birth, Sankara’s ideas are still fresh amidst the people who yearn for a battle against the global crisis of capitalism. Thomas Sankara observed the problem of imperialism at a young age. As a young military officer, he had the option of choosing a luxurious life, but he chose the difficult revolutionary path. He understood the bad influence of capital powers and the exploitation of poor nations, globally. Being strong in Marxist philosophy, he gained the support of the common people through anti corruption measures, to develop a country through expropriation of landlords and foreign capital,repudiation of foreign debt imposed by IMF and World Bank.
Globally, several events and phenomena constantly remind us that capitalism is in deep crisis. At any time it may collapse and put humanity at risk. The only practical solution available is to understand the reality of the crisis and to unite as international citizens. Only when all sorts of human barriers, from religion, race, etc. to the level of nations are broken, a permanent solution for all the societal and economic problems will be attained. Sankara’s Burkina Faso could have possibly evolved as a model nation for the other small nations to equalise and unite without any economic dominance. Such a unity could have led to the unification of several nations, then several groups of nations and so the entire world, in due course of time. Thomas Sankara’s feat for anti-imperalism, which rose to pan-Africanism, should have surely given way for proletarian internationalism.During his birth centenary let us strengthen our resolve to fight against capitalism and Imperialism.
