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VIDEOS OF THOMAS SANKARA
Thomas
Isidore Noël Sankara (21 December 1949 – 15 October 1987) was a Burkinabé revolutionary and President of Burkina
Faso from 1983 to 1987. A Marxist–Leninist
and pan-Africanist, he was
viewed by supporters as a charismatic and iconic figure of revolution and is
sometimes referred to as "Africa's Che Guevara"
A
group of revolutionaries seized power on behalf of Sankara (who was under house
arrest at the time) in a popularly-supported coup in 1983. Aged 33, Sankara
became the President of the Republic of Upper
Volta. He immediately launched programmes for social, ecological and
economic change and renamed the country from the French colonial
name Upper Volta to Burkina Faso
("Land of Incorruptible People"), with its people being called
Burkinabé ("upright people").
His
foreign policies were centred on anti-imperialism, with his government eschewing
all foreign aid, pushing for odious debt reduction, nationalising all land and
mineral wealth and averting the power and influence of the International
Monetary Fund and World Bank. His domestic
policies were focused on preventing famine with agrarian self-sufficiency and
land reform, prioritising education with a nationwide literacy campaign and
promoting public health by vaccinating 2.5 million children against meningitis, yellow fever and measles.
His
revolutionary programmes for African self-reliance made him an icon to many of
Africa's poor. Sankara remained popular with most of
his country's citizens. On 15 October 1987,
Sankara was assassinated by troops led by Blaise Compaoré,
who assumed leadership of the state shortly after having Sankara killed. A week
before his assassination, Sankara declared: "While revolutionaries as
individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas".
Videos of Thomas Sankara
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
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