On October 15, 1987, Sankara was killed by an armed group with twelve other officials in a coup d’état organised by his former colleague Blaise Compaoré. [13] He spent his early years in Gaoua, a town in the humid southwest to which his father was transferred as an auxiliary gendarme. Accompanying his personal charisma, Sankara had an array of original initiatives that contributed to his popularity and brought some international media attention to his government: Thomas knew how to show his people that they could become dignified and proud through will power, courage, honesty and work. As the son of one of the few African functionaries then employed by the colonial state, he enjoyed a relatively privileged position. People of the American Civil War by state, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2018, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2017, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2018, Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, People from Sud-Ouest Region (Burkina Faso), Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, the first military coup d'état in Upper Volta, Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (Burkina Faso), Thomas Sankara and the Burkinabe Women's Liberation Movement, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Burkina Faso Salutes "Africa's Che" Thomas Sankara, https://web.archive.org/web/20190409175723/https://www.britannica.com/place/Burkina-Faso, "What Do the Colors and Symbols of the Flag of Burkina Faso Mean? The Distinguished Guest (Thomas Sankara) from Burkina Faso in the USSR…. The family lived in a brick house with the families of other gendarmes at the top of a hill overlooking the rest of Gaoua. – He refused to use the air conditioning in his office on the grounds that such luxury was not available to anyone but a handful of Burkinabes. Vous pouvez utiliser ce formulaire pour vous inscrire sur notre liste de diffusion, afin d’être informé des mises à jours du site, et des dernières publications. Remembering Thomas Sankara, the EFF’s muse. His revolutionary programs for African self-reliance made him an icon to many of Africa’s poor. He argued that the poor and exploited did not have an obligation to repay money to the rich and exploiting – In Ouagadougou, Sankara converted the army’s provisioning store into a state-owned supermarket open to everyone (the first supermarket in the country). Procedures in these trials, especially legal protections for the accused, did not conform to international standards. Thomas Sankara was born Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara to Joseph Sankara (father) and Marguerite Kinda (mother) on December 21, 1949, in Yako, French Upper Volta.The iconic African leader was born into an average Roman Catholic family of 10 children. After renaming his country to Burkina Faso, heres Thomas Sankaras accomplishments, ONLY 4 YEARS in power (1983-87). [8], The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (Burkina Faso) (Comités de Défense de la Révolution) were formed as mass armed organizations. Facts about Thomas Sankara in Burkina Faso.

We Are Heirs of the World's Revolutions: Speeches from the Burkina Faso Revolution 1983-87 Viewed by supporters as a charismatic and iconic figure of revolution, he is commonly referred to as "Africa's Che Guevara". His father, Joseph Sankara, a gendarme, was of mixed Mossi–Fulani (Silmi–Moaga) heritage while his mother, Marguerite Kinda, was of direct Mossi descent. [7], Other components of his national agenda included planting over 10,000,000 trees to combat the growing desertification of the Sahel, redistributing land from feudal landlords to peasants, suspending rural poll taxes and domestic rents and establishing a road and railway construction programme. A week before his murder, he declared: “While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas.”. Viewed by supporters as a charismatic and iconic figure of revolution, he is commonly referred to as “Africa’s Che Guevara”, – He vaccinated 2.5 million children against meningitis, yellow fever and measles in a matter of weeks. Oui, ajoutez-moi à votre liste de diffusion. His policy was oriented toward fighting corruption, promoting reforestation, averting famine and making education and health real priorities. – He redistributed land from the feudal landlords and gave it directly to the peasants. He immediately launched programmes for social, ecological, and economic change, and renamed the country from the French colonial Upper Volta to Burkina Faso ("Land of Incorruptible People"). For information about how to add references, see Template:Citation. "BURKINA FASO: Coups, 1966–1987".

[8] Sankara also emphasized the production of cotton and the need to transform the cotton produced in Burkina Faso into clothing for the people. When most African countries depended on imported food and external assistance for development, Sankara championed local production and the consumption of locally-made goods. }} [citation needed] 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 2 October 1983, the Discours d'orientation politique (DOP), written by his close associate Valère Somé. [36], Sankara's body was dismembered and he was quickly buried in an unmarked grave[8] while his widow Mariam and two children fled the nation. – A motorcyclist himself, he formed an all-women motorcycle personal guard. Compaoré's dictatorship remained in power for 27 years until it was overthrown by popular protests in 2014. Nous préférons un pas avec le peuple que dix pas sans le peuple ! [1], His revolutionary programmes for African self-reliance made him an icon to many of Africa's poor. Sankara focused the state’s limited resources on the marginalized majority in the countryside. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. I sense the rumble of their storm and feel the fury of their revolt.”, “Imperialism is a system of exploitation that occurs not only in the brutal form of those who come with guns to conquer territory. May my eyes never see and my feet never take me to a society where half the people are held in silence. After another coup (7 November 1982) brought to power Major-Doctor Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo, Sankara became Prime Minister in January 1983, but he was dismissed (17 May) and placed under house arrest after a visit by the French President's son and African affairs adviser Jean-Christophe Mitterrand. ", https://web.archive.org/web/20190517210039/https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-do-the-colors-and-symbols-of-the-flag-of-burkina-faso-mean.html, "BBC NEWS – Africa – Burkina commemorates slain leader", http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7045029.stm, https://books.google.com/books?id=hGDGBAAAQBAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions, "Décès de Joseph sambo père du Président Thomas Sankara - Ouagadougou au Burkina Faso", http://www.ouaga-ca-bouge.net/Deces-de-Joseph-sambo-pere-du.html, https://books.google.com/books?id=39JMAgAAQBAJ&dq=, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Sankara, https://books.google.com/books/about/African_Political_Thought.html?id=rqYEhtONIBgC, http://www.cpgb-ml.org/index.php?secName=proletarian&subName=display&art=1069, "Africa`s Che Guevara and Burkina Faso - African Agenda – A new perspective on Africa", http://africanagenda.net/africas-che-guevara-and-burkina-faso/, "Thomas Sankara: an endogenous approach to development - Pambazuka News", http://www.pambazuka.net/en/category/features/89307, "Echoes of Revolution: Burkina Faso's Thomas Sankara: Part I: Interview with Aziz Fall - The Dominion", http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/1599, "Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1986", http://www.ecoi.net/local_link/239057/348288_en.html, "Establishing Revolutionary Vigilance in Cuba", https://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/archive/castro/1960/09/29.htm, "Revisiting Thomas Sankara, 26 years later - Pambazuka News", http://www.pambazuka.net/en/category/features/89359, Sankara 20 years Later: A Tribute to Integrity, "US freed Taylor to overthrow Doe, Liberia's TRC hears", http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-08-27-us-freed-taylor-to-overthrow-doe-liberias-trc-hears, "Thomas Sankara remains: Burkina Faso begins exhumation", https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32875048, "Thomas Sankara: Body of Africa's Che Guevara riddled with bullets, autopsy reveals three decades after death", http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/thomas-sankara-body-africas-che-guevara-riddled-bullets-autopsy-reveals-three-decades-after-1523905, https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sankara?oldid=5215620, He sold off the government fleet of Mercedes cars and made the.
What remains above all of my husband is his integrity.
Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. He spent his early years in Gaoua, a town in the humid southwest to which his father was transferred as an auxiliary gendarme. During the presidency of Colonel Saye Zerbo, a group of young officers formed a secret organisation called the "Communist Officers' Group" (Regroupement des officiers communistes, or ROC), the best-known members being Henri Zongo, Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani, Blaise Compaoré and Sankara.

He played in a band named "Tout-à-Coup Jazz" and rode a motorcycle. [10] While there he witnessed the first military coup d'état in Upper Volta led by Lieutenant-Colonel Sangoulé Lamizana (3 January 1966). He could be seen casually walking the streets, jogging or conspicuously slipping into the crowd at a public event.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. In Ouagadougou, Sankara converted the army's provisioning store into a state-owned supermarket open to everyone (the first supermarket in the country).