RIP Thomas Sankara

I aint nothing but a nonviolent N-

[This Is Africa @ThisIsAfricaTIA]

Thomas Sankara’s famous address on foreign debt was delivered on July 29, 1987, at the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is widely considered one of the most powerful anti-imperialist speeches in history.

Excerpts...

On the Origins of the Debt

"We think that debt has to be seen from the perspective of its origins. Debt's origins come from colonialism's origins. Those who lend us money are those who colonized us. They are the same ones who used to manage our states and economies. These are the colonizers who indebted Africa through their brothers and cousins, who were the lenders. We had no connections with this debt. Therefore we cannot pay for it.

Debt is neo-colonialism, in which colonizers have transformed themselves into 'technical assistants.' We should rather say 'technical assassins.' Under its current form, controlled and dominated by imperialism, debt is a skillfully managed reconquest of Africa, intended to subjugate its growth and development through foreign rules."

On the Impossibility of Repayment

"The debt cannot be repaid, first of all, because, if we don't pay, the lenders won't die. Of that you can be sure. On the other hand, if we do pay, we are the ones who will die. Of that you can be equally sure. Those who led us into debt were gambling, as if they were in a casino. As long as they were winning, there was no problem. Now that they're losing their bets, they demand repayment. There is talk of a crisis. No, Mr. President. They gambled. They lost. Those are the rules of the game. Life goes on.

We cannot repay because we don't have any means to do so. We cannot pay because we are not responsible for this debt. We cannot repay but the others owe us what the greatest wealth could never repay, that is a debt of blood. Our blood had flowed."

On the Moral Argument

"When we say the debt cannot be paid we are in no way against morality, dignity, or respect for one's word. It's our view that we don't have the same morals as the other side. The rich and the poor don't share the same morals. The Bible and the Koran can't serve in the same way those who exploit the people and those who are exploited. There will have to be two editions of the Bible and two editions of the Koran."

The Call for a United Front

"It is our duty to create an Addis Ababa united front against debt. That is the only way to assert that the refusal to repay is not an aggressive move on our part, but a fraternal move to speak the truth. Furthermore, the popular masses of Europe are not opposed to the popular masses of Africa. Those who want to exploit Africa are those who exploit Europe, too. We have a common enemy. So our Addis Ababa Club will have to explain to each and all that debt shall not be repaid."

Sankara famously closed the speech by noting that if Burkina Faso stood alone in refusing to pay, he would not survive the next summit—a chillingly prophetic statement, as he was assassinated just three months later in October 1987.

#ThisIsAfrica

[Ousmane Sonko @SonkoOfficiel]

Alhamdoulillah. Ce soir je dormirai le cœur léger à la cité Keur Gorgui.

[DD Geopolitics @DD_Geopolitics]

🇮🇷🇧🇫 A young Ayatollah Khamenei sitting with Thomas Sankara.

Two men from opposite ends of the world. One a Shia cleric from Iran. The other a Marxist soldier from Burkina Faso. Both shared one conviction: their people would never be free under Western domination.

Sankara was assassinated in 1987, overthrown in a French-backed coup at the age of 37. He wanted to free Africa from debt, dependency, and foreign control.

Khamenei was killed yesterday by American and Israeli bombs. He spent 35 years trying to keep Iran free from the same forces.

Both men were called dictators by the West. Both were loved by millions who saw them as defenders of sovereignty.

History separated them by decades. Empire united their fate.

[David Hundeyin @DavidHundeyin]

When it eventually dawns on you people just how much oyibo hates you, and the amount of hard work he has put into sculpting a false reality for you so that you will waste your life and that of your children on a never-ending series of intellectual and emotional cul-de-sacs, you will carry his political system, his economic theories, his religion, his political puppets, his civil society grant recipients, his marionette media and journalism, his fuck ass Hegelian Dialectic that has turned you into binary-minded morons, and ultimately even his language, and you will put literal and metaphorical petrol-laden tires around the necks of all these people and things.

Then you will light this entire era of Nigerian history on fire and toss it into the trash where it belongs.

But until then, you will like Multiparty Electoral Democracy™️, neoliberal capitalism and CIA-flavoured Christianity/Islam very well.

Whenever you wake up is when your day finally breaks.

[Dr Max Siollun @maxsiollun]

Lots of details got lost through the centuries as 🇳🇬 history was retold.

[Sahel Revolutionary Soldier @beyondB_DAG]

“I said no to food aid because they have not helped us to develop. They have instead created a beggar mentality, we hold out our hands to receive food. That is not a good thing.” – Thomas Sankara

“Our families have stopped producing, because they can not sell what they produce. The surplus from farmers in other countries is brought in here. We want something else. Those who really want to help us can give us ploughs, tractors, fertilizer, insecticide, watering cans, drills, dams. That is how we would define food aid. But those who come with wheat, millet, corn or milk are not helping us. “ – Thomas Sankara

Sankara rejected food aid that breeds dependency — real help means tools, not handouts. Empower Afrika to produce, not beg!

[Africa First @AfricaFirsts]

“He who feeds you, controIs you.”

~ President Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso 🇧🇫

[CPI (M) @cpimspeak]

“Imperialism is a system of exploitation that occurs not only in the brutal form of those who come with guns to conquer territory. Imperialism often occurs in more subtle forms, a loan, food aid, blackmail. We are fighting this system that allows a handful of men on Earth to rule all of humanity.”
We salute the great pan-Africanist Revolutionary Thomas Sankara on his martyrdom day. He was assassinated on October 15th, 1987 during a CIA and French government backed coup.

[Going Underground @GUnderground_TV]

On this day in 1987, Burkinabe revolutionary Thomas Sankara, Africa’s Che Guevara, was assassinated in a coup which is widely suspected to have been backed by the US and France.

Burkina Faso’s🇧🇫 Thomas Sankara on Palestine🇵🇸:

‘Imperialism never learns the lessons of its failures…imperialism is over there in the Middle East crushing the Arab peoples, that’s Zionism. Imperialism is everywhere, through the culture that it spreads, through its misinformation’

[kalala666 @1pasdeux75]

L'AFRIQUE POSSEDE 60% des terres arables.90% des réserves de matières premières, 40% des réserves d'or mondiales, 33% des réserves de diamants, 80% des réserves mondiales de coltan, 60% des réserves mondiales de cobalt,L'Afrique est riche en pétrole et en gaz naturel.

[Noufou Ouattara 🇧🇫👍 @Outtara95]

"Ce Pays sera forcément respecté et aimé par le monde entier"
Père de la REVOLUTI0N Thomas Noël Isidore Sankara

[Sy Marcus Herve Traore @marcus_herve]

Alright, where are my old school folks at? I never knew our icon invited him to our country. Classic! 😎

[Sy Marcus Herve Traore @marcus_herve]

This is the man, the myth, the legend! ❤️

[Sahel Revolutionary Soldier @beyondB_DAG]

🇧🇫“When the French first arrived in Burkina Faso, they presented themselves to our grandparents as explorers, claiming they came to study our nature and wildlife.

While our people, trusting and enamored by their apparent love for the land, looked away, these explorers secretly plundered our gold.

For years, this exploitation continued because our people were unaware of the true value of what was being taken. When they began to ask questions, many started disappearing in alarming numbers. These are the truths, among others, that they do not want the people of Burkina Faso to know!”

-Captain Ibrahim Traore
President of Burkina Faso.

Source Afrocania

[Sy Marcus Herve Traore @marcus_herve]

The farmer told @CapitaineIb226, “don’t worry about anything, just bring the equipment, we are going to work!” 😄.

[Sy Marcus Herve Traore @marcus_herve]

We are training patriots, not child soldiers. And even if they are child soldiers, so what? When Captain ending his speech to the 408 campers said, “Homeland or Death,” they all responded, “We will overcome.” That was beautiful! Viva 💪🏾

[Sahel Revolutionary Soldier @beyondB_DAG]

🇧🇫With its wheat, Burkina can feed the whole city of Dori/Burkina Faso for a year

During the last agricultural campaign, Burkina Faso recorded a production of 2,597,000 kg of wheat spread over 1,342 hectares. This performance marks a remarkably important step towards wheat self-sufficiency.

Considering that one chopstick weighs 160g and each person consumes one chopstick a day for a year, this national production could feed around 44,000 i.e. all inhabitants of the city of Dori for an entire year. For the first time, it's to be congratulated.

We could see something much much bigger this harvest season.

[Sahel Revolutionary Soldier @beyondB_DAG]

Africa must strive to be self reliant, whatever it takes:

"No people can be free if they depend on foreigners for their safety, food, or future." ~Captain Ibrahim Traoré

[Sahel Revolutionary Soldier @beyondB_DAG]

Imperialism is a poor student, it doesn't learn. It keeps repeating the same tricks.

-Thomas Sankara.