Thomas Sankara

[NKVD]

Tribute to this brilliant comrade!

VftR9vOn8xE



Thomas Sankara.Born on December 21, 1949, in Upper Volta, formerly Burkina Faso; died Oct 15,1987 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Captain Thomas Sankara was the leader of the Burkinabe Revolution. In the former Upper Volta known today as Burkina Faso, a group of men decided to launch a revolution that would enable the country "to accept the responsibility of its reality and its destiny with human dignity". Thomas Sankara belongs to the group of African leaders who wanted to give the continent in general and their countries in particular a new socio-political dimension.He was the hope of the African youth before being coldly murdered by his best friend Blaise Compaore.

Born in Yako, Upper Volta now Burkina Faso,on December 21,1949 was a charismatic left-leaning leader in West Africa. He was sometimes nicknamed "Tom Sank". He was considered by some to be an "African Che Guevara".

A captain in the Upper Volta Air Force, he was trained as a pilot. He was a very popular figure in the capital of Ouagadougou. The fact that was he was a decent guitarist and liked motorbikes may have contributed to his charisma.

Sankara was appointed Secretary of State for Information in 1981 and became Prime minister in 1983. He was jailed the same year after a visit by Jean-Christophe Mitterrand ; this caused a popular uprising.

A coup d'Etat organized by Blaise Compaore made Sankara President on August 4, 1983, at the age of 33. The coup d'Etat was supported by Libya which was, at the time, on the verge of war with France in Chad .

Sankara saw himself as a revolutionary and was inspired by Cuba and Ghana's military leader, Flight Lt. Jerry Rawlings. As president, he promoted the "Democratic and Popular Revolution" (RDP Revolution Democratique et Populaire).

His government included large number of women. His policy was oriented toward fighting corruption, reforestation, averting famine, and making education and health real priorities.

Improving women's status was one of Sankara's explicit goals, that was unprecedented in West Africa. His government banned female circumcision, condemned polygamy, and promoted contraception.

The Burkinabe government was also the first African government to claim that AIDS was a major threat for Africa.

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.

On October 15, 1987 Sankara was killed in a coup d'Etat organized by his former colleague Blaise Compaore

A week prior to his death Sankara addressed people and said that "while revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas."

[Bud Struggle]

Oh THAT Thomas Sankara. ;)

[NKVD]

Oh THAT Thomas Sankara. ;)

Is there another Thomas Sankara?

[Bud Struggle]

Is there another Thomas Sankara?

Yea--a banned poster on Revleft that makes lots and lots of bothersome socks.

[NKVD]

Yea--a banned poster on Revleft that makes lots and lots of bothersome socks.

Too bad the real Thomas Sankara couldn't make lots and lots of bothersome ghosts. :lol:

[balaclava]

Tribute to this brilliant comrade!


Indeed he did a lot of good things but didn’t he also ban unions and control the media.

A good man in many ways but is he the best African can produce? Burkina Faso has one of the lowest GDP per capita in the world. The question is, was it lower when he took over and was it higher when he was taken out?

[NKVD]

Indeed he did a lot of good things but didn’t he also ban unions and control the media.

Banning reactionary counter-revolutionaries is a good thing.


A good man in many ways but is he the best African can produce? Burkina Faso has one of the lowest GDP per capita in the world. The question is, was it lower when he took over and was it higher when he was taken out?

It grew dramatically during his years in power.

[Dimentio]

The guy was in power for four years.

Either, he could have continued to be a guy with the heart in the right place, or have descended down into tyranny. As for whatever his ideology was, judging by what he did while in power, he was ten thousand more times a friend of the people than some other leaders who have uphold the teachings of for example Mao.

[L.A.P.]

Yea--a banned poster on Revleft that makes lots and lots of bothersome socks.

We should all really start referring to him by the username he had before he got banned, Adi Shankara because it not only gets confusing but it's annoying when users use the exact names of historical figures.

[NKVD]

We should all really start referring to him by the username he had before he got banned, Adi Shankara because it not only gets confusing but it's annoying when users use the exact names of historical figures.

lol. Adi Shankara is a historical figure too.

[Spawn of Stalin]

Indeed he did a lot of good things but didn?t he also ban unions and control the media.

A good man in many ways but is he the best African can produce? Burkina Faso has one of the lowest GDP per capita in the world. The question is, was it lower when he took over and was it higher when he was taken out?
GDP was low before, during, and after his presidency. But food production doubled in just two years, thanks to Sankara the country went from relying on food aid to being almost entirely self sufficient. Also regarding unions and free press it is worth taking into consideration that the French had many means of influencing these and actively sought to get rid of Sankara from the day he took power. Given the tremendous advancements made for workers and peasants I think that these things can be easily forgiven.

[Rafiq]

Indeed he did a lot of good things but didn’t he also ban unions and control the media.

A good man in many ways but is he the best African can produce? Burkina Faso has one of the lowest GDP per capita in the world. The question is, was it lower when he took over and was it higher when he was taken out?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5kPUFxXYLs&feature=related

"Ban Unions and Control the Media"

Who is your source? French Imperialists..?

[bricolage]

I thought it was pretty well known that be banned trade unions.

[RGacky3]

He's like Castro, an idealistic dictator with his heart in the right place, a guy who can seize power and not let it get to his head and honestly do what is best for the country, and honestly he did do great things for his country, made it self-sufficient with food (by giving it to the peasents, he trippled the production, effectively disproving once againt capitalist arguments), he also threw off french control.


That being said, you would be insane to support a dictator just betting that hopefully he'd be a nice guy. I would take slow democracy over a fast and friendly dictator any day of the week.

[Ele'ill]

NKVD has fallen right into someone's trap (likely just disregard this)

[ComradeMan]

He's like Castro, an idealistic dictator with his heart in the right place, a guy who can seize power and not let it get to his head and honestly do what is best for the country, and honestly he did do great things for his country, made it self-sufficient with food (by giving it to the peasents, he trippled the production, effectively disproving once againt capitalist arguments), he also threw off french control.


That being said, you would be insane to support a dictator just betting that hopefully he'd be a nice guy. I would take slow democracy over a fast and friendly dictator any day of the week.

Unless of course it's Pol Pot, Guzman or Mao! ;)

Yeah, I wish people would focus more on people like him, Allende, and so on than this fetishism for Mao-oid or Stalinoid dictators. Fuck, people support Mugabe here too.

[Palingenisis]

Yeah, I wish people would focus more on people like him, Allende, and so on than this fetishism for Mao-oid or Stalinoid dictators. Fuck, people support Mugabe here too.

Mugabe is a democratically elected leader who is hugely popular with his people...Sankara for all his good points came to power by a coup.

:blushing: Oops!

[Spawn of Stalin]

Thing is, Stalin and Mao actually lived long enough to achieve a lot more permanent changes, I mean say what you want about present-day Russia and China, but imagine how these places would look today if it hadn't been for Stalin and Mao. Mind you, the same can be said for Castro so if Sankara had been able to hold off imperialism longer he would have continued the work he started. The fact is there's just not a lot to discuss, he ruled for about three or four years, then got himself assassinated, but I do have a lot more respect for Sankara than Mugabe.

[ComradeMan]

Mugabe is a democratically elected leader who is hugely popular with his people...Sankara for all his good points came to power by a coup.

:blushing: Oops!

Mugabe, in my opinion, is a complete tosser guilty of mini-genocide and an imperialist lackey who's been bankrolled by the West for years. He's the same person who said homosexuals were lower than dogs and most of his elections have been rigged to nth degree... Ooops...:blushing:

[Palingenisis]

Mugabe, in my opinion, is a complete tosser guilty of mini-genocide and an imperialist lackey who's been bankrolled by the West for years. He's the same person who said homosexuals were lower than dogs and most of his elections have been rigged to nth degree... Ooops...:blushing:

Not even his and Zimbabwe's enemies accuse him of having rigged most of his elections.

Mini-genocide???

[gorillafuck]

Not even his and Zimbabwe's enemies accuse him of having rigged most of his elections.
I don't know whether it's true but he has been accused of rigging elections.

[Spawn of Stalin]

He was notably accused of rigging the election in 2008, following intensive land reform talks which didn't turn out the way the MDC wanted them to, a new constitution had also just been drafted. Coincidence?? Why should I believe a damn thing the imperialists tell me about Africa anyway? They supported white minority rule in more countries than just Zimbabwe, of course they are going to lie about them nasty blacks standing up for themselves.

[ComradeMan]

Not even his and Zimbabwe's enemies accuse him of having rigged most of his elections.

Mini-genocide???

I suggest you inform yourself better.

Genocide:

Gukurahundi- the mass murder of over 20,000 Matabele citizens of Zimbabwe in 1983 and 1984. (Matabele is the name of the other main ethnic group in Zimbabwe, Mugabe is Shona)


On being bankrolled by "western, colonialists, imperialists" etc.... LOL!!! Have a look at these articles.

The Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/zimbabwe/4808007/Zimbabwe-British-ministers-bank-propped-up-Robert-Mugabe-says-Foreign-Office.html)

By Christopher Hope, Whitehall Editor 9:03PM GMT 25 Feb 2009

Internal Whitehall emails seen by The Telegraph show the concern at the Foreign Office about the involvement of Standard Chartered Bank in Zimbabwe.

Lord Davies of Abersoch was chief executive and then chairman of the bank until last month when he became a trade and investment minister. Standard Chartered is among a handful of foreign banks operating in Zimbabwe. It employs 860 people and has 24 branches there.

However, an internal Foreign Office briefing document accuses Standard Chartered of diverting money to the Mugabe government.

The Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/zimbabwe/1912146/Barclays-Bank-accused-of-aiding-Robert-Mugabe-regime.html)

Another article.

The Sunday Times Online (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2848046.ece)

....The British bank lent £750m to the country’s new landowning elite in the first half of this year, mostly through a government scheme to boost farm productivity...

There are quite a few if you look for them.

Election rigging:

I'm not going to post the numerous articles and links because I find it quite astonishing really, did you watch the news a couple of years ago? Do you not keep up-to-date with what goes on? Election rigging... :lol:

Here's one you can find in which apparantly dead people were allowed to vote, of course for Mugabe no doubt- have a look here (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article3646402.ece).


Homophobia:

BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/143169.stm)

Homosexual and hated in Zimbabwe


Extract: The upsurge in anti-homosexual activity started four years ago, when GALZ applied to take part in Zimbabwe's prestigious international bookfair, bringing this previously unnoticed organisation to the attention of the government. President Mugabe was provoked enough to make a speech describing homosexuals as "worse than pigs and dogs" and "a scourge planted by the white man on a pure continent." When the association took part in the next book fair, a year later, they were attacked by a group of young men, mostly university students, who destroyed the GALZ stand.



*GALZ is the association of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe.



Oops... :blushing:

[Milk Sheikh]

I can't believe there are people here, leftists at that, who support Mugabe! That man has done more for white supremacy - yes, I said white supremacy - than anyone else. How? By ruining his country with diabolical policies, he's given white supremacists the world over an excuse to point a finger and say, "Hey look at Zimbabwe, we were right all along. Left to themselves, people of color can't manage their resources. We are superior, bla bla bla."

As a person of color myself, I am ashamed of men like Mugabe, who do more for the cause of white supremacy, albeit indirectly, than white supremacists themselves.

[ComradeMan]

I can't believe there are people here, leftists at that, who support Mugabe! That man has done more for white supremacy - yes, I said white supremacy - than anyone else. How? By ruining his country with diabolical policies, he's given white supremacists the world over an excuse to point a finger and say, "Hey look at Zimbabwe, we were right all along. Left to themselves, people of color can't manage their resources. We are superior, bla bla bla."

As a person of color myself, I am ashamed of men like Mugabe, who do more for the cause of white supremacy, albeit indirectly, than white supremacists themselves.

It's not about white supremacy, Mugabe is not white, it's about capitalist supremacy and Mugabe is in the "club",

According to this article...

Zimguardian.com (http://www.zimguardian.com/?p=1012)

Extract:
...However, Switzerland has proposed to donate funds stolen by despots to aid agencies instead of repatriating them back to the countries of origin. In other words, Zimbabwe gets aid, Mugabe pilfers it, and his wife Grace secretly banks the loot with help of Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono in numbered Swiss bank accounts.

[balaclava]

judging by what he did while in power, he was ten thousand more times a friend of the people than some other leaders who have uphold the teachings of for example Mao.

Indeed, I take back my initial cynical observations, I think I had Mugabe in my head, Sankara looks to have been one of the better examples of African leader.

[balaclava]

Mugabe is a democratically elected leader who is hugely popular with his people!

I presume that is said 'tongue in cheek?'

I spent some time in Zimbabwe a few years back and I spoke to lots of ordinary (black) people and they all told me that if they could swap Mugabe for Ian Smith they'd do it in a heart beat.

Do the comrades here consider Mugabe to be a left wing revolutionary promoting a 'communist' ideology or simply a lunatic megalomaniac?

[Palingenisis]

I don't know whether it's true but he has been accused of rigging elections.

I meant no one accuses of rigging most of the elections...Just the latest one.

[Palingenisis]

Being Irish ComradeMan I dont really consider the Torygraph and the Murdoch press trustworthy sources.

[ComradeMan]

Being Irish ComradeMan I dont really consider the Torygraph and the Murdoch press trustworthy sources.

When in doubt, denounce things as bourgeois propaganda.

The papers would not publish stuff about banks that they didn't feel were fairly accurate enough for risk of heavy libel cases.

We also have the Zimguardian.

None of these facts are particularly obscure either---

Sorry, you've been shown up for having a superficial knowledge of an issue and all that, but you need to get informed about people and groups before you go around supporting them.:o

[Revolution starts with U]

I like how someone asked "is this the best africa can offer?"

Uhh... Ramses, Moses, Akhenaten, Shaka Zulu, Cleopatra, the one black Ceaser (can't remember name), the long history of ethiopia, Morrocoo was a world's cultural and learning center for centuries....

racists crack me up :laugh:

[Milk Sheikh]

the one black Ceaser (can't remember name),

Could be Septimius. Also St. Augustine was a Moroccan, possibly of black origin.

[ComradeMan]

Could be Septimius. Also St. Augustine was a Moroccan, possibly of black origin.

There were no "black African" Caesars- although some claim Caracalla was "black"- Caracalla had Phoenician, Berber and Syrian stock and was of Roman decent. He was born in Lyon, France.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Caracalla.jpg/250px-Caracalla.jpg (http://www.revleft.com/wiki/File:Caracalla.jpg)

Septimus Severus was born in N.Africa
Lucius Septimius Severus was born in Leptis Magna in 146 CE and died in York, 211 CE. He was of Roman and Phoenician descendency.


Statue at British Museum.

http://0.tqn.com/d/ancienthistory/1/7/y/2/3/SeptimiusSeverus (http://0.tqn.com/d/ancienthistory/1/0/y/2/3/SeptimiusSeverus)

[La Comédie Noire]

I like how someone asked "is this the best africa can offer?"

Uhh... Ramses, Moses, Akhenaten, Shaka Zulu, Cleopatra, the one black Ceaser (can't remember name), the long history of ethiopia, Morrocoo was a world's cultural and learning center for centuries....

racists crack me up :laugh:

I think they meant "Is this the best Africa has to offer for leftist leaders?"

[Revolution starts with U]

Hey, I never said anything about any of them being black (which would be irrelevant anyway). Merely that there has been many great world leaders and cultures to come out of africa.

[NKVD]

I like how someone asked "is this the best africa can offer?"

Uhh... Ramses, Moses, Akhenaten, Shaka Zulu, Cleopatra, the one black Ceaser (can't remember name), the long history of ethiopia, Morrocoo was a world's cultural and learning center for centuries....

racists crack me up :laugh:

Thomas Sankara.

[ComradeMan]

the one black Ceaser

Revolution starts with U.

Well, I took the above as asserting that. I also found some groups talking about the black Emperor Caracalla.

[Revolution starts with U]

Whoops, my bad. I thought I said african. Apologies all around.