Thomas Sankara

[Eleutheromaniac]

I'm not able to post the link, but type in "Thomas Sankara" on YouTube and watch The Upright Man, if you haven't already. I just want to know what everyone thinks about what this man did for Burkina Faso. I've been reading a lot about Che Guevara, but I think TS is just as, if not more, impressive. :thumbup1:

[Let's Get Free]

I'd say Sankara was kinda like Castro- an idealistic dictator with his heart in the right place. Unfortunately, he was murdered by the traitorous Blaise Compaoré and his gang of henchmen with the help of the Belgians, who aborted any revolutionary gains his government had made and reinstated the neocolonial state of indignity. But this wasn't all that surprising. Sankara came into power by a coup, so it only makes sense that he would have to be taken out of power by another one. Socialism comes from the masses, not well meaning dictators.

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

He was a great man, but as Marxists we don't worship great men like Gladiator said above.

I've done a bit of research on the subject though and personally I prefer him over Castro, though Cuba is far more democratic than Sankara's rule was.

[Die Neue Zeit]

Thomas Sankara: a People's History Caesar of the 20th Century? (http://www.revleft.com/vb/thomas-sankara-peoples-t148288/index.html)

Positives:


Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara (December 21, 1949 – October 15, 1987) was a Burkinabé military captain, Marxist revolutionary, Pan-Africanist theorist, and communist President of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987.[1][2] Viewed as a charismatic, and iconic figure of revolution, he is commonly referred to as "Africa's Che Guevara."

Sankara seized power in a 1983 popularly supported coup at the age of 33, with the goal of eliminating corruption and the dominance of the former French colonial power. He immediately launched "the most ambitious program for social and economic change ever attempted on the African continent." To symbolize this new autonomy and rebirth, he even renamed the country from the French colonial Upper Volta to Burkina Faso ("Land of Upright Men"). His foreign policies were centered around anti-imperialism, with his government eschewing all foreign aid, pushing for odious debt reduction, nationalizing all land and mineral wealth, and averting the power and influence of the IMF and World Bank. His domestic policies were focused on preventing famine with agrarian self-sufficiency and land reform, prioritizing education with a nation-wide literacy campaign, and promoting public health by vaccinating 2.5 million children against meningitis, yellow fever and measles. Other components of his national agenda included planting over ten million trees to halt the growing desertification of the Sahel, doubling wheat production by redistributing land from feudal landlords to peasants, suspending rural poll taxes and domestic rents, and establishing an ambitious road and rail construction program to "tie the nation together."[6] Moreover, his commitment to women's rights led him to outlaw female genital mutilation, forced marriages and polygamy; while appointing females to high governmental positions and encouraging them to work outside the home and stay in school even if pregnant

Questionable:


In order to achieve this radical transformation of society, he increasingly exerted authoritarian control over the nation, eventually banning unions and a free press, which he believed could stand in the way of his plans and be manipulated by powerful outside influences. To counter his opposition in towns and workplaces around the country, he also tried corrupt officials, counter-revolutionaries (and) "lazy workers" in peoples revolutionary tribunals. Additionally, as an admirer of Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution, Sankara set up Cuban-style Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR's).

[Sankara1983]

The CNR did not last long enough to institutionalize its rule with a constitution, elections, etc.

[GoddessCleoLover]

Less democratic than Fidel Castro? Banned labor unions? Tried "lazy workers" before "people's tribunals"? :glare: Beginning to see why he failed to solidify a base of support sufficient to maintain power.

[Jack]

Less democratic than Fidel Castro? Banned labor unions? Tried "lazy workers" before "people's tribunals"? :glare: Beginning to see why he failed to solidify a base of support sufficient to maintain power.

He was couped by French backed imperialists.

As for the banning of labor unions, while I'm sure in theory we can say it's anti-leftist, we're speaking with limited knowledge, unless someone has inside knowledge on the trade union movement within Burkina Faso at the time. I can tell you that labor unions have been used as forces of reaction in Chile and Guyana through US intelligence funding, who knows what the French may have had going on in Burkina Faso.

We just need to look at the full picture before hastily jumping to conclusions.

[Prometeo liberado]

Thomas knew that not any kind of lefitst org. is always right. Still he had too many enemies, From the people who would bring us to our knees.
Hurray for Thomas Sanakara, Hurray for Peter PumpkinHead.

[Geiseric]

Are there actually any examples of U.S. intelligence using labor unions as forces of reaction in south america?

[Tim Cornelis]

Are there actually any examples of U.S. intelligence using labor unions as forces of reaction in south america?

Yeah, in Chile against Allende (presumably elsewhere as well), but how is that even remotely related to the topic?


In October 1972, Chile saw the first of what were to be a wave of confrontational strikes led by some of the historically well-off sectors of Chilean society; these received the open support of United States President Richard Nixon. A strike by trucking company owners, which the CIA supported by funding them with US$2 million within the frame of the "September Plan," began on October 9, 1972.[15][21] The strike was declared by the Confederación Nacional del Transporte, then presided by León Vilarín, one of the leaders of the far-right paramilitary group Patria y Libertad.[21] The Confederation, which brought together 165 trucking company business associations, employing 40,000 drivers and 56,000 vehicles, decreed an indefinite strike, paralyzing the country.

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

[GoddessCleoLover]

My reading of the article indicates that the strike was called by the owners, who were bourgeois or petit-bourgeois. Any indication that proletarians supported this action or were they coerced by the owners?

[blake 3:17]

The basic problem that the people of Burkina Faso face is being incredibly poor in a land locked country.

[GoddessCleoLover]

The basic problem that the people of Burkina Faso face is being incredibly poor in a land locked country.


They also face the basic problem of being ruled by a despot who does the bidding of the imperialists. My question about Sankara was whether he was just another Mengistu or was he something better.

[blake 3:17]

They also face the basic problem of being ruled by a despot who does the bidding of the imperialists. My question about Sankara was whether he was just another Mengistu or was he something better.

Is anything but despotism possible under these circumstances?

[GoddessCleoLover]

Is anything but despotism possible under these circumstances?

The are degrees of despotism. IMO Mengistu and his cohorts disgraced themselves and the Revolutionary Leftist movement. I don't know much about Sankara so I was using Mengistu as a point of reference.