Biography of thomas sankara biography
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The 2014 book was based on the life of Thomas Sankara.
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In his famous speech delivered to the African Union (formerly Organization of African Unity) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in July 1987, the Burkina Faso leader took aim at the global economic order. While under house arrest, a group of revolutionaries seized power on his behalf in a popularly supported coup later that year.
At age 33, Sankara became the President of the Republic of Upper Volta and launched social, ecological, and economic programs, renaming the country Burkina Faso ('Land of Incorruptible People') and referring to its people as Burkinabé, the right people.
He resigned from his office in 1982 and condemned the actions of the Committee.
As a result of his charisma and military prowess, Sankara became a popular option for several political positions, but his political uprightness contradicted with the ideologies of successive regimes that came to power. Like other peers, Sankara saw the military not only as a route for professional advancement, but also as one of the few institutions with the capacity to stimulate national development and overcome what they regarded as the archaic features of a largely rural and traditional society.
Despite initially agreeing, he passed the exam required for entry to the sixth grade in the secular educational system. He called those institutions vestiges of colonialism. Sankara was known for appearing at social gatherings, playing the guitar with local bands.
A leftist politician by the 1970s, he played a key role in forming the Communist Officers Group in the army and attended meetings that involved different lefties groups.
Secretary of State for Information
Thomas Sankra briefly served as the Secretary of State for Information, a sub-division of the newly established Military Committee for Reform and Military Progress.
He applied himself seriously to his schoolwork and excelled in mathematics and French. He was singled out and gunned down.
After 27 years in power, Compaoré’s government was deposed in a popular uprising in 2014. Thomas spent his childhood in Gaoua in the southwest and excelled in his secular and Catholic schooling. It was all hands on deck during his presidency, as he sought to lift his citizens from extreme poverty.
Legacy
After more than two decades since his assassination, Sankara finally got the honor that he deserved.
He called a number of women to key leadership roles. Upon completing his first secondary schooling, he was selected for a new national military academy established in Ouagadougou, the capital, by General Sangoulé Lamizana, who came to power on 3 January 1966 amid popular demonstrations against President Maurice Yaméogo (who had governed Upper Volta since its independence on 5 August 1960).
His parents wanted him to become a priest, but he chose to enter the military, which came with a scholarship; Sankara took the entrance exam and passed. During that period, he witnessed a rebellion of students and workers that resulted in the deposition of the Madagascar government.
He later attended a parachute academy in France, where he was introduced to left-wing political ideologies.
He was the third of ten children of Joseph Sankara and Marguerite, née Kinda.
Thomas Sankara: Biography, Presidency, Accomplishments, & Assassination
Best remembered for his bravery, assertiveness and austere lifestyle, Thomas Sankara was an outspoken 20th century anti-imperial political leader.
Aside from his academic and extracurricular political activities, Sankara played the guitar.
In 1970, 20-year-old Sankara pursued further military studies at the military academy in Antsirabe, Madagascar, from which he graduated as a junior officer in 1973. In 1974, he fought in a border war with Mali. He encouraged his soldiers to assist civilians, especially farmers, with their work loads.
He declared that the major focus of his government would be to eliminate corruption, empower women and provide easy access to health care, and quality education.
As part of his Africanization efforts, he changed the name of his country from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, which means “the republic of honorable people.”
A conscientious leader, he reduced his salary to $450 a month, sold off the government’s luxurious cars and named the Renault 5, the least expensive car in the county at the time, the official service car for the ministers of state.
Sankara is revered in Burkina Faso as well as across Africa.
At the age of sixteen, contrary to his father’s wishes, Sankara chose to pursue his secondary education not at a seminary but a public lycée in Bobo-Dioulasso.