Africa Speaks Reasoning Forum

We have had very good leaders in Africa! Thomas Sankara was a great Pan Africanist who was set to guide Africa on a developmental path, rather than the path of subservience and menial production as mapped out by the IMF, World Bank and US Imperialism. Dr Kwame Nkrumah was such a leader, Patrice Lumumba, Steve BIKO and the late Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso were credible and great leaders in my opinion.


Bantu Kelani.

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Thomas Sankara
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Thomas Sankara (December 21, 1949 - October 15, 1987), born in Yako, Upper Volta now Burkina Faso, was a charismatic left-leaning leader in West Africa. As head of Upper Volta's government and later President, he changed the name of Upper Volta to Burkina Faso and undertook major reforms to eliminate poverty. Sometimes nicknamed "Tom Sank", he was considered by some to be an "African Che Guevara".

Born into a Catholic family, Sankara was a Silmi-Mossi, belonging to an ethnic group that originated with marriage between Mossi men and women of the pastoralist Fulani people, the Silmi-Mossi are among the least advantaged in the Mossi caste system.

His family wanted him to become a Catholic priest. According to some sources, Sankara never lost his Catholic faith despite his Marxist convictions.

After basic military training in secondary school in 1966, Sankara began his military career at the age of 19, and a year later he was sent to Madagascar for officer training at Antsirabe where he witnessed popular uprisings in 1971 and 1972. Returning to Upper Volta in 1972, in 1974 he fought in a border war between Upper Volta and Mali.

He became a popular figure in the capital of Ouagadougou. The fact that was he was a decent guitarist (he played in a band named “Tout-à-Coup Jazz”) and liked motorbikes may have contributed to his charisma.

In 1976 he became commander of the Commando Training Centre in Pô. In the same year he met Blaise Compaoré in Morocco. During the presidency of Colonel Saye Zerbo a group of young officers formed a secret organisation "Communist Officers' Group" (Regroupement des Officiers Communistes, or ROC) the best-known members being Henri Zongo, Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani, Compaoré and Sankara.

Sankara was appointed Secretary of State for Information in the military government in September 1981, journeying to his first cabinet meeting on a bicycle, but he resigned on April 21, 1982 in opposition to what he saw as the regime's anti-labour drift, declaring "Misfortune to those who gag the people!"; ("Malheur à ceux qui baillonnent le peuple !").

After another coup (November 7, 1982) brought to power Major-Doctor Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo, Sankara became prime minister in January 1983, but he was dismissed (May 17) and placed under house arrest after a visit by the French president's son and African affairs adviser Jean-Christophe Mitterrand. Henri Zongo and Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani were also placed under arrest; this caused a popular uprising.

A coup d'état organised by Blaise Compaoré made Sankara President on August 4(1), 1983, at the age of 33. The coup d'état was supported by Libya which was, at the time, on the verge of war with France in Chad(2) (see History of Chad).

Sankara saw himself as a revolutionary and was inspired by the examples of Cuba and Ghana's military leader, Flight Lt. Jerry Rawlings. As President, he promoted the "Democratic and Popular Revolution" (Révolution démocratique et populaire, or RDP).

The ideology of the Revolution was defined by Sankara as anti-imperialist in a speech of October 2, 1983, the Discours d'Orientation Politique (DOP). His policy was oriented toward fighting corruption, promoting reforestation, averting famine, and making education and health real priorities.

The government suppressed many of the powers held by tribal chiefs such as their right to receive tribute payment and obligatory labour. The CDRs (Comités de Défense de la Révolution), were formed as popular mass organizations and armed. In some areas they deteriorated into gangs of armed thugs. Sankara's governement also initiated a form of military conscription with the SERNAPO (SErvice NAtional et POpulaire). Both were a counterweight to the power of the army.

In 1984, on the first anniversary of his accession, he renamed the country Burkina Faso, meaning "the land of upright people" in Mossi and Dyula, the two major languages of the country. He also gave it a new flag and wrote a new national anthem (Une Seule Nuit).

Sankara's government included a large number of women. Improving women's status was one of Sankara's explicit goals, an unprecedented policy priority in West Africa. His government banned female circumcision, condemned polygamy, and promoted contraception. The Burkinabé government was also the first African government to claim that AIDS was a major threat for Africa.

Sankara had a high sense of advertising he had some spectacular initiatives that contributed to his popularity and brought some attention from the international press on the Burkinabé revolution :

He sold most of the government fleet of Mercedes cars and made the Renault 5 (the cheapest car sold in Burkina Faso at that time) the official service car of the ministers;
He formed an all-women motorcycle personal guard.
In Ouagadougou Sankara converted the army's provisioning store into a state-owned supermarket open to everyone (the first supermarket in the country).
In 1985 Burkina Faso organised a general population census. During the census some Fula camps in Mali were visited by mistake by Burkinabé census agents. On Christmas Day 1985, tensions with Mali erupted in a war that lasted five days and killed about 100 people (most victims were civilians killed by a bomb dropped on the marketplace by a Malian plane in Ouahigouya). The conflict is known as the "Christmas war" in Burkina Faso.

On October 15, 1987 Sankara was killed with twelve other officials in a coup d'état organised by his former colleague Blaise Compaoré. Deterioration in relations with neighbouring countries was one of the reasons given by Compaoré for his action. After the coup and although Sankara was known to be dead, some CDRs mounted an armed resistance to the army for several days.

Sankara was quickly buried in an unmarked grave. A week prior to his death Sankara addressed people and said that "while revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sankara

Good post.

What Pan-African organization are you a member of? I'm a member or the A.A.P.R.P(All African Peoples' Revolutionary Party) The reason I ask is we need to form an African united front with groups of similar ideology. Our ideology is Nkrumah-Tureism. I'm not a cadre yet because I converted from Afro-centrism to Pan-Africanism as my ideology about 3 years ago.(Thanks to Kwame Ture) How long have you been an official Pan-Africanist? (although most of us like minded people have tendancies towards it naturally)

If this information is too personal I would not be offended if you decline to answer. It is just rare I actually run into a fellow Pan-Africanist on an internet site. I always wonder(outside of plain logic), what road leads others to the same destination.

[smiley=smiley.gif]. I'm very pro-African from the bottom of my heart that's all. I'm not affiliated to any Pan-African organization as yet, for the black leaders make it easy for the whites to manipulate their organizations. The "white man" has fomented most of Blacks' issues of political turmoil. So I take my own chances everyday. I open my own eyes and fight. Many Black Nationalists like myself are discovering opportunity to fight for justice through their own ability. However, I admire the ideology of the A-APRP as well, which is derived from the humanist and collectivist principles practiced by our ancestors before the invasions when Africa was at her Zenith. The work of the A-APRP and other political groups and their role in representing the ideology of the African revolution and fighting for the interest of all Black people is a great example of Pan-Africanism.

I totally respect that and I love this organization for that reason. But it's also paramount we rise above the many different black movements. Individuals must work towards the common goals of our group, without being dependent upon leaders and organizations. It has become obvious to me that the movements and struggles that face the opposition of the powerful Caucasian elite end by being infiltrated and diluted to the point that they became powerless and pro-Black/pro Pan-African leaders get killed form within. Self-hatred is at the bottom of EVERYTHING negative in our Black communities, political parties and nations. Individually as collectively we must challenge this stigma or we will continue to be prey-beating people.

I sincerely wish the black Diaspora could organize and become the world changing collective force that the founding fathers of Pan-Africanism tried to bring. We have the potential of becoming but my thing is let's not be too dependable of organizations. When all Black people around the world and in Africa can stand and be proud of their origins and respect each other, then Africans should gear more toward PAN-AFRICANIM (SELF KNOWLEDGE).


Bantu Kelani.

Yall notice how all of the great African leaders were from way back then? Nkrumah, Lumumba, Nyerere, Sekou Toure, Sankara.

Do you see a new wave of these type of leaders? Our continent is really missing out on guys like this. All of these leaders were innovative, they used what was between there heads, they didn't just borrow and borrow and borrow like some of the leaders are now.

Africanprince,

Enlightenment and education can raise Black leadership absolutely.  I'm confident that Black leaders aided by the general populace of Africa and African descent abroad will become united and stop or curtail the Eurocentric influence at one point and time or another. This will happen in our lifetime if there is a concerted move by African leaders and the general populace to make that change. I do believe in the eventual eminence of the 21st century African Nationalist leaders and a collective consciousness of African people! We have the oldest African intellectuals, writers and progressive leader minds in existence because we are the first from creation. We will find a way as a people to transcend our pettiness and see Africa and ourselves in new forward moving ways strident to Pan-African outlook and progressive political thinking.

Bantu Kelani.

As I re-read this article I noticed that there were a few mistakes.  

My friend ex girlfriend is very close to the Sankara family, she knew Sankara's dad very well.  My friend gave me the break down on Thomas Sankara's history.

The article says that Thomas Sankara met Blaise Compaore in 1976 but, according to my friend Blaise and Thomas grew up together.  Blaise's dad wasn't in his life so Thomas's dad raised Blaise like he was his son.  They were like brothers, they even ate from the same bowl which is traditional african culture.

My friend said Blaise was greedy and power hungry.  Blaise  always had a problem with Thomas so when he killed him in the end it wasn't such a big deal.

My friend also recalled the day Thomas Sankara was killed, he was coming back from the market and they broke the news to him that Sankara was killed like a dog. Everybody in his town was crying. All the Burkinabes living in his town just collapsed, he said it was truly a sad sad sad day.

LONG LIVE THOMAS SANKARA AND HIS REVOLUTION!!!