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.
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Indonesian with a muslim family here, wondering honestly is there any actual difference between Sunni and Shia outside of geopolitical rivalries?? Like seriously from what I know its just differing opinions on who should be Muhammad succesor but only a bunch admitelly extreme fundementalist wants the caliphate back.
Just rambling because like theres people saying stupid stuff like how we shouldnt support palestine because hamas are shia. Thankfully that sentiment got pushback by several local religious scholad whose stance on this js basically "they are fighting to be independent, just like our grandfathers did, who gives a shit if they are Sunni or Shia?"
I think there are differences in the interpretation of Sharia, the approach to saints, approaches towards the more mystical aspects of Islam like Sufism. Lots of cultural differences, but that's as much about being Arab vs being Persian as it is Sunni vs Shia.
I think in many senses you're correct, and for people who are not fanatics and bigots the differences are important, but not important in a way that should divide the ummah. A lot of the division in the modern day is down to geopolitics - western allied Saudi Salafists vs Iran as the primary defender of Shia people. And a lot of it is just Salafists being asshole innovators hell bent on re-making Islam according to their own twisted interpretation no matter how much suffering it causes.