Sous la direction de Thomas Sankara, le gouvernement révolutionnaire du Burkina Faso en Afrique de l’Ouest a mobilisé les paysans, les travailleurs, les femmes et les jeunes pour mener des campagnes d’alphabétisation et de vaccination; creuser des puits, planter des arbres, construire des barrages et des logements; combattre l’oppression des femmes et transformer les relations d’exploitation á la campagne; se libérer du joug impérialiste et pratiquer la solidarité internationale.
Dans ce recueil de 3 discours et entrevues, Thomas Sankara parle comme un remarquable dirigeant révolutionnaire des travailleurs, des agriculteurs et des jeunes du monde entier.
Also available in English (ISBN: 9780873489867)
“Ses vues sur le nécessaire rééquilibrage entre villes et campagnes, sur l’importance cruciale de l’émancipation de la femme ou encore sur la réduction du train de vie de l’Etat – histoire de gouverner par l’exemple – sont en parfaite syntonie avec les revendications des populations africaines actuelles.” —Le Monde Diplomatique
Thomas Sankara (1949–1987) was the central leader of the popular, democratic revolution in the West African country of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) from 1983 to 1987.
Sankara entered military school in 1966. Continuing his training in Madagascar in the early 1970s, he was introduced to Marxism by students who had been part of the May 1968 upsurge in France.
In Upper Volta’s army, Sankara linked up with other soldiers opposed to the conditions in the country perpetuated by the imperialist rulers in Paris and elsewhere, with the support of local landlords and businessmens.
He was jailed briefly in 1982 after protesting the regime’s repressive policies. In the wake of a coup, he was appointed prime minister in January 1983. In May 1983 he and some of his supporters were arrested by President Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo.
In August 1983, the Ouédraogo regime was overthrown in a popular uprising. Sankara became president of the new National Council of the Revolution, opening four years of revolutionary activity by peasants, workers, women, and youth. He was assassinated and the revolutionary government was overthrown in a coup by Blaise Compaoré on October 15, 1987.
Sankara’s speeches and writing are collected in:
Thomas Sankara Speaks (1988)
Women’s Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle (1990)
We Are Heirs of the World’s Revolutions (2002)
