Thomas Sankara, political leader of Burkina Faso in the 1980s, was born on December 21, 1949 in Yako, a northern town in the Upper Volta (today Burkina Faso) of French West Africa. He was the son of a Mossi mother and a Peul father, and personified the diversity of the Burkinabè people of the area. In his adolescence, Sankara witnessed the country’s independence from France in 1960 and the repressive and volatile nature of the regimes that ruled throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

From 1970 to 1973, Sankara attended the military academy of Antsirabe in Madagascar where he trained to be an army officer. In 1974, as a young lieutenant in the Upper Volta army, he fought in a border war with Mali and returned home a hero. Sankara then studied in France and later in Morocco, where he met Blaise Compaoré and other civilian students from Upper Volta who later organized leftist organizations in the country. While commanding the Commando Training Center in the city of Pô in 1976, Thomas Sankara grew in popularity by urging his soldiers to help civilians with their work tasks. He additionally played guitar at community gatherings with a local band, Pô Missiles.

Throughout the 1970s, Sankara increasingly adopted leftist politics. He organized the Communist Officers Group in the army and attended meetings of various leftist parties, unions, and student groups, usually in civilian clothes.

In 1981, Sankara briefly served as the Secretary of State for Information under the newly formed Military Committee for Reform and Military Progress (CMRPN). This was a group of officers who had recently seized power. In April 1982, he resigned his post and denounced the CMRPM. When another military coup placed the Council for the People’s Safety in power, Sankara was subsequently appointed prime minister in 1983 but was quickly dismissed and placed under house arrest, causing a popular uprising.

On August 4, 1983, Blaise Compaoré orchestrated the “August Revolution,” or a coup d’état against the Council for the People’s Safety. The new regime which called itself the National Council for the Revolution (CNR) made 34-year-old Thomas Sankara president. As president, Sankara sought to end corruption, promote reforestation, avert famine, support women’s rights, develop rural areas, and prioritize education and healthcare. He renamed the country ‘Burkina Faso,’ meaning, “the republic of honorable people.”

On October 15, 1987, Thomas Sankara was killed with twelve other officials in a coup d’état instigated by Blaise Compaoré, his former political ally. He was 37 at the time of his death.

THOMAS SANKARA.net sankara-bass

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    • GinAndJuche
      ·
      edit-2
      11 months ago

      Especially is the word I was looking for lmao, Twitter is attracts a certain type of leftist. One who prefers short form to in depth. The weird Twitter legacy of the online left is our original sin

      … unless I’m full of shit and wrong. That’s always possible

      • autismdragon [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        11 months ago

        One person on there that i thought would be a cool ML i could get along with without having to tolerate weird Ultraism OR Hazite brainworms ended up getting angry at me and blocked because i suggested that pedophiles that havent yet commited a crime 1. Exist 2. Shouldnt be preemptivly be executed and should be treated instead. So.

        • GinAndJuche
          ·
          edit-2
          11 months ago

          So the bloodthirsty type? Yeah, twitter has a lot of those. How did they go about that even lol? "Yeah its like Tom Cruise in Minority Report, but they shoot everyone in a trench coat that walks past a playground. "

          • autismdragon [he/him, they/them]
            ·
            11 months ago

            Yeah, i also thought of the Minority Report comparison.

            Its also noteworthy to me, i think, that nonoffending pedophiles being unable to seek treatment without being killed for it would just lead to more victims, since they would just go untreated and probably eventually commit a crime.

            So its hardly a pro-victim stance, despite her screaming at me for apparently hurting victims.

            • GinAndJuche
              ·
              11 months ago

              Ouch, I wouldn't have made light if I knew it qualified as "screaming" and going for low blows like "hurting victims". Twitter can be cruel, even before the guard rails got removed. For what it's worth, I think you make a good point.

              • autismdragon [he/him, they/them]
                ·
                11 months ago

                Nah dont worry its not a trauma or anything. A bit upset because she seemed cool (even recomended her hexbear lol) and i thought maybe there was a potential twitter buddy there so that breaking down sucked. But the making light didnt bother me.

                • Comp4 [she/her]
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                  edit-2
                  11 months ago

                  Maybe Im not serious enough as a person but unless you are like a racist or a nazi there is a good chance I will get along with you. (Yes that does include libs with brainworms). If I dont befriend them their brainworms will only get worse.

                  • autismdragon [he/him, they/them]
                    ·
                    11 months ago

                    Depends if politics comes up really. I have liberal friends but we mostly either dont talk poliitics much or only the things we agree on (lgbt rights and abortion and shit). Or occasionally i bring up something i know will get to them like Biden continuing the wall.

                    On twitter tho its pretty much all politics all the time so even someone I agree on on most things like an MLM the contradictions are enhanced.

    • Frogmanfromlake [none/use name]
      ·
      11 months ago

      Twitter is filled with NATO leftists who would start a struggle session every other day over Russia and China.

      • autismdragon [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        11 months ago

        Doesnt even have to be China. A lot of the ones I see will write off the DPRK and Cuba as revistionist, Castro as not a communist, post Stalin USSR as social imperialist, ect