What does Holla Forums think of Burkina Faso's great president Thomas Sankara? He's gotta be one of the Top 5 African leaders of the 20th century, and it's a shame someone with his brilliance was condemned to lead in one of the worst countries in Africa, until the French neocolonialists killed him.
What does Holla Forums think of Burkina Faso's great president Thomas Sankara...
Michael Bailey
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Andrew Cruz
absolutely based imo, criminally underrated. more competent than stalin or mao. it's a shame his achievements aren't more well known. guess that's how it is when you only get to rule for four years
Andrew Martin
Sankara is love, Sankara is life.
Hudson Sanchez
I have fascist leanings and even I think he's #3 behind Gaddafi and Amin.
Eli Flores
A really awesome guy. I like to make classcucks read about him, as it's very clear that he was legitimately solving his country's problems before he was screwed over by direct foreign intervention of imperialist powers. Even his bourgeois Wikipedia article can barely find anything bad to say about him.
Logan Ross
Even my classcuck, right-wing, Kasich-worshipping friend found his story and the documentary they did on him inspirational and fascinating.
Caleb Cruz
also what happens when you are a brilliant african socialist, the corporate media totally whitewashes your existence
Jordan Jones
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Joshua Lee
Which documentary is this?
Cooper Wood
Jeremiah Gutierrez
Also recommended his book Thomas Sankara Speaks.
Austin Kelly
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Angel Richardson
That isn't idpol newfriend
Justin Carter
second best after Gaddafi
Alexander Taylor
Ghaddafi was spooked from libiya to alaska and back.
Have you ever read green book?
Lincoln Phillips
nazbol, buddy
Jose Hill
dosen't change that he was the best leader.
Justin Rodriguez
Oliver Baker
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Nathaniel Foster
I love him and I loved the thread on here when it was his birthday
Evan Cooper
Gaddafis was better
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William Brooks
I guess I have somewhat mixed feelings about him. I think his rule is the most archetypal historical example of Blanquism, and a good demonstration of its limitations. I call him a Blanquist because he took power in a military coup and not a revolution (regardless of how popularly supported the coup was at the time), and mostly ruled from the "top-down."
Essentially, he was a benevolent dictator a la Fidel or Tito. He was a very intelligent and sincere person (almost a saintly one, really) committed to socialism and the popular welfare over any kind of personal gain. But even the most well-intentioned autocracy is not the same thing as a proletarian democracy, as everyone from Baldy to Rosie would tell you. A healthy revolution would not collapse with the death of a single leader, but the immediate resistance to Compaore's coup was fairly limited from what I understand. Granted, that was not completely his fault, but an important factor in it was that public confidence in the government's program had started to wane at that point, thanks to increasing authoritarian measures like curfews and the degeneration of the initially positive Revolutionary Tribunals. Measures like punishing "lazy workers" or immediately surpressing organic movements like the Anarcho-syndicalists instead of trying to build an alliance with them, and breaking the teachers' strike to the great detriment of the education system show a disconnection from and even a measure of haughtiness over the working class, the very group the revolution should be controlled by. Though his assassination was obviously a tragedy and Compaore was worse in every possible way, I honestly have some doubts about how successful the revolution would have been had it continued, especially with the inevitable difficulties that would have emerged after '89.
This is of course not to denigrate in any way his laudable reforms in areas like gender equality, or his fight against the tribal/landlord elites and imperialism. Nor is it to ignore the fact that he was up against an almost impossibly difficult situation, with corrupt bureaucracy and military, a poorly educated population, and powerful international enemies. His ideas on Neocolonialism and African self-sufficiency and solidarity were very on-point and should be a central focus for third-world movements dealing with the same problems today, and I hope that more Burkinabe will look back to his legacy for inspiration as they move on from the Compaore era.
Overall, he was still one of the greatest African leaders, and socialists in Africa and the rest of the world should learn from both his successes and mistakes. Sorry for getting so wordy here.
Jackson Jackson
He hated anarchists.
Asher Wright
Gaddafi had some pretty cool ideas, and then went utterly loopy. Like so many "socialists".
Sebastian Phillips
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