Voices of Liberation: Thomas Sankara

Sankara’s legacy, unclear as it may be, still lives and he remains immensely popular. If you travel through Africa his image is unmistakable. His picture, with beret and broad grin, is pasted on run-down taxis and is found on the walls of local bars. Internationally Sankara is often referred to as the ‘African Che Guevara’ and like his South American counterpart; it is his perseverance, dedication and incorruptibility that appeal to the imagination. Voices of liberation: Thomas Sankara starts with a comprehensive timeline covering Thomas Sankara’s life and major events in the history of the continent and region. His Life section provides the most critical and fraternal assessment of the 1980s radical experiment within the broader history of the country, the region and continent. His Voice section succinctly provides a selection of Sankara’s speeches, broadcasts and interviews and gives us insight to his outlook on the world. His Legacy section combines an almost poetic tribute to the flawed through heroic period of Sankara’s ‘revolution’ with an incredibly relentless and honest analysis. This is done through the story of last year’s uprising against Compaoré – with haunting lessons for South Africa.

Timeline: Events in and related to the life of Thomas Sankara

His life

Introduction

Sankara and French West Africa

Colonisation

Towards decolonisation in Upper Volta

Independence until 1980: A strange freedom

Mining and industry: Fragile beginnings

Class and independence

The first republic

Trade unions

1966–80: Increasing tension within the state

1980–83: Prelude to revolution

Sankara takes the stage

Factions find form

The revolutionary years

Society and its contradictions

Revolutionary paralysis

Taking on vested interests

The unions

His voice

Struggle for a bright future

The political orientation speech

Our White House is in black Harlem

Dare to invent the future

Save our trees, our environment, our lives

The revolution cannot triumph without the emancipation of women

We can count on Cuba

You cannot kill ideas: A tribute to Che Guevara

His legacy

Remembering Sankara: The past in the present – Jean-Claude Kongo

The Sankara touch inside Burkina Faso: Homeland or death!

Sankara’s revolution seen from the outside

The ghost of Sankara eclipses Blaise Compaoré

After Blaise Compaoré: The clashes and hopes of the political transition

Unpicking revolution: Sankara’s elusive revolution – Leo Zeilig

Ideological clarity

Conclusion

Postscript: From Sankara to popular resistance – Leo Zeilig and Jean-Claude Kongo

Select bibliography

Books on Thomas Sankara’s speeches

Films and documentaries on Thomas Sankara

Books on Thomas Sankara

Web articles on Thomas Sankara

Websites

Authors’ biographies

Index

Jean-Claude Kongo is a leading radical writer and activist from Burkina Faso. He works as a journalist in Ouagadougou and has covered some of the country’s most important events. During last year’s revolution he was a direct participant, active in the October events that overturned the regime of President Blaise Compaoré. Kongo was also an eye-witness and enthusiastic supporter of Sankara’s during his years in power.

Leo Zeilig is a writer and researcher on African politics and history, he looks at experiments at radical transformation and change on the continent since independence.