Biography of thomas sankara wikipedia
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Image: Thomas Sankara – President of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987
Early Years
The son of a Peul father and a Mossi, mother Thomas Sankara was born in 1949, in Yako, French colonial Upper Volta. The Mossi are the largest ethnic group in Burkina Faso, and they adhere to a strict, traditional, hierarchical social system.[53] At the top of the hierarchy is the Morho Naba, the chief or king of the Mossi people.
During this period he first read the works of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, which profoundly influenced his political views for the rest of his life.
Returning to Upper Volta in 1972, he fought in a border war between Upper Volta and Mali by 1974. 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.
It provided the press with a series of documents on supposed atrocities intended to feed articles against him.[71]
Sankara set up a program of cooperation with Cuba. Under his leadership soldiers split into small groups and employed guerrilla tactics against Malian tanks.[66][67]
Immediately after hostilities began, other African leaders attempted to institute a truce.
The country's relatively poor performance in the conflict damaged the domestic credibility of the CNR. Some Burkinabé soldiers were angered by Sankara's failure to prosecute the war more aggressively and rally a counteroffensive against Mali.
The conflict also demonstrated the country's weak international position and forced the CNR to craft a more moderate image of its policies and goals abroad.
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. Sankara viewed this arrangement as an obstacle to national unity, and proceeded to demote the Mossi elite.
This probably explains why he steered away from the extravagant lifestyles his predecessors lived.
However, Sankara was criticized by his opponents for muzzling the country’s press and civil societies. In 1974, he fought in a border war with Mali. ISBN .
He engaged in three major battles: against bush fires, 'which will be considered as crimes and will be punished as such'; against cattle roaming, 'which infringes on the rights of peoples because unattended animals destroy nature'; and against the chaotic cutting of firewood, 'whose profession will have to be organized and regulated'.
Beyond Marxism, he drew also from religious sources (both the Bible and the Quran were among his favourite readings).
This reforestation effort not only aimed to restore the environment but also to create sustainable agricultural practices. Whereas his mother was Mossi, the largest ethnic group, his father was of the mixed Mossi-Peul heritage known as Silmi-Mossi. The government saw this as something that endangered the politically weak Upper Volta which had already faced five coups since its independence.
This was a way for Sankara to signal that he was going to try for political and social change. He argued that the poor and exploited did not have an obligation to repay money to the rich and exploiting.[114]
Thomas knew how to show his people that they could become dignified and proud through will power, courage, honesty and work.
On some occasions, they overruled even proposals favoured personally by Sankara.[25]
Healthcare and public works
Sankara's first priorities after taking office were feeding, housing, and providing medical care to his people who desperately needed it. This was the first time Sankara was systematically exposed to a revolutionary perspective on Upper Volta and the world.