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26 November
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Thomas Sankara | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Comrade Sankara | |
| Born | Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara 21 December 1949 Yako, Upper Volta |
| Died | 15 October 1987 Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso |
| Cause of death | Assassination |
| Nationality | Burkinabé |
| Political orientation | Marxism–Leninism African socialism Pan-Africanism Anti-imperialism |
Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara, generally known as Thomas Sankara, was a Burkinabé Marxist–Leninist military officer, revolutionary and political leader who was President of Burkina Faso from 1983 until his assassination in a counter-revolution in 1987. He was often referred to as the "Che Guevara of Africa".[1][2][3][4]
In 1983, Sankara seized power in a military coup d'état, the August Fourth Revolution, and set about eliminating corruption and the influence of the former French colonial empire. This was widely supported by the people.[citation needed] After taking office, Sankara, a socialist and Pan-Africanist, immediately launched a plan to try social and economic changes on the African continent.
One such social change is that he led his country in changing the French colonial name of "Upper Volta" to "Burkina Faso" ("Land of Incorruptible People") to symbolize the country's autonomy and rebirth.[5]
Sankara's foreign policy centered on anti-imperialism and avoidance of imperialist foreign aid and interference, mainly by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. It also promoted the reduction of foreign debt.[citation needed]
Sankara's domestic policies focused on eradication of famine with food self-sufficiency, and land reform. His government gave emphasis to education and public health, carried out literacy campaigns across the country and vaccinated 2.5 million children free of charge. His government also carried out greening projects to curb the growing desertification in the Sahel and advocated women's liberation and freedom, and improvements of women's social status. Sankara performed this work along with the nationalization of land and mineral resources.[citation needed]
In order to achieve radical social changes, he set the premises for a dictatorship of the proletariat which suppressed bourgeois interests, banned trade unions (who were reactionary and a tool of the bourgeoisie in Burkina Faso), and punished corrupt officials and counter-revolutionaries through the People's Revolutionary Courts. He publicly admired Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution.[citation needed]
He was assassinated by his close friend Blaise Compaoré, with possible involvement from the French government and the CIA. A week before his assassination, Sankara declared: "While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas".[6]
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- ↑ Burkina Faso Salutes "Africa's Che" Thomas Sankara by Mathieu Bonkoungou, Reuters, 17 October 2007
- ↑ Thomas Sankara Speaks: the Burkina Faso Revolution: 1983–87, by Thomas Sankara, edited by Michel Prairie; Pathfinder, 2007, pg 11
- ↑ "Thomas Sankara, Africa's Che Guevara" by Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 15 October 2007.
- ↑ "Africa's Che Guevara" by Sarah in Burkina Faso.
- ↑ Hubert Jules Deschamps (2023-06-05). "Burkina Faso" Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 2019-04-09.
- ↑ https://www.reuters.com/assets/print?aid=USL17577712 Burkina Faso Salutes "Africa's Che" Thomas Sankara] by Mathieu Bonkoungou, Reuters, 17 October 2007.