I say niche, because otherwise we're all going to say Lenin. I'm interested to learn about some new historical figures.

But also...

Sorry to be a ghoul. I've baited you. I'll be honest, I'm applying for an internship scheme at an archive, and they've asked me :

'name a change maker who has inspired you... how you would reach 18-24 year olds on TikTok with their story?'

It's a youth engagement in archive material sort of thing. Their other posts are stuff like Chappell Roan's medieval VMA performance superimposed over a piece of tapestry from their archives.

Another is 'looking for a man in finance? 😀 - here's Eggwald Boggington, the so and so rich eccentric guy from our archives.

I'm thinking of choosing Thomas Sankara. But I'd like to hear your suggestions - whether it's related to my post, or not!

  • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    2 days ago

    As I was just talking about in another post; Lucio Urtubia was a spanish bricklayer turned communist turned anarchist during Spain's Franco years. Urtubia got his start robbing banks with another famous resistance figure Francisco Sabaté. Urtubia went from robbing banks to forging passports, payroll checks, and eventually his big score was Travelers Cheques, in which he basically brought Capital One edit:City Bank to their knees. It's not widely known, but Urtubia played a major roll in financing leftist movements across the globe for decades.

    Also, as I was saying in the other post this morning, this is what I think is largely missing from modern day leftist movements. We don't have a fundraiser, we've got grassroots, but there's no one out there that we know of building strike funds and resistance war chests.

    I very much recommend the documentary I linked in that post trailer: Lucio (2007 and apparently there's a VERY DRAMATIZED movie on Netflix based on him called A Man of Action, which I'm gonna need to watch tonight.

    Sankara is awesome too though! The Upright Man

    • MaoTheLawn [any, any]
      ·
      2 days ago

      Aye, I saw you talking about that in the other thread. Very cool.

      I'll defo give that one a watch. I watched The Upright Man a while ago - it's a good Sankara primer but unfortunately the commentary is very western, even if it is sympathetic at points. The classic 'good man goes too far' sort of thing.

      • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        2 days ago

        it's a good Sankara primer but unfortunately the commentary is very western, even if it is sympathetic at points. The classic 'good man goes too far' sort of thing.

        Totally agree! Watched it with my, now defunct, study group and we all agreed that they compartmentalized the protests to the revolution and totally erased the existence of a bourgeois counter-revolutionary movement. You'd think the western powers were just sitting on their hands if that doc was all you had to go by.

        https://youtu.be/FSLyaePPH7U watching it on YouTube did lead me to find this though. cat-vibing