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hamroach's review against another edition
5.0
A must-read. Beautiful words (translated) from a truly committed and perceptive revolutionary.
cnnr876's review
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
Sankara was a powerful and motivating orator with nuanced and empowering ideas on building a new country. It would be a wonder to have seen what he could have accomplished had he not been assassinated.
ironi's review against another edition
4.0
Before reading this book, I glanced at a few statistics about Burkina Faso from recent years. The ones that stood out to me were that 40% of the adolescents justify wife-beating (both males and females), 50% are married before the age of 18, the life expectancy is 60 and the literacy rate is 30%. Food security (that is, knowing that food is available to you) is among the lowest in the world.
Which brings me to Thomas Sankara. Thomas Sankara (1949-1987) was the first president of Burkina Faso. Within 4 years, among his other accomplishments, he managed to actually create a food surplus, fight against female genital mutilation, lowered the mortality rate for babies by 6% and attempted to combat the illiteracy by opening tons of schools. He focused on strengthening Burkina Faso and making it stand on its own. In the midst of this, his former colleague Blaise Compaoré led a coup against him where Sankara was killed. Compaoré, who was in power until 2014 (27 years), ended up reversing much of what Sankara had done.
And you read Thomas Sankara's words, written over thirty years and it's just, for a lack of better word, sad. He had so much hope that things would be different, so much faith in his people and yet, I can't stop thinking about what he felt when the coup started or if he saw it coming.
Most of this book is speeches and interviews with him. He speaks often about unity and revolution. I found his comments about pan-African issues fascinating, like inner Africa politics is definitely something that I need to read more about. He writes against imperialism and colonialism and really, he just comes across as such a fighter and a leader, such a believer, so smart and ready to create a change. I also loved his comments about aid. A country can't be entirely dependent on aid- it stops aiding them at that point. Or, in Sankara's words, "he who feeds you, controls you".
I don't want to frame this as a good vs bad because we do see that Marxism does not always yield good results and obviously if the coup had supporters, it means there were people who weren't happy under Sankara's leadership. We can't sweep aside the fact that he was horribly harsh towards those who disagreed with his revolution. Executions really can't be something that can be ignored. He also fought against the Mossi and other tribal chief systems, claiming that they were harming the unity. Ultimately, it's up to the people of Burkina Faso to decide who are the victors and villains of their history.
However, I do think there's room to be sad about the lack of progress. The issues that Sankara writes about in the eighties are still mostly relevant today. Burkina Faso seems to have had a few turbulent years, with another revolution in 2014 but things seem stagnant and man, I wish I knew how to solve this problem. It seems so absurd that people across the world can live such different lifestyles (and okay, I'm veering towards Peter Singer's argument about donating everything that isn't a necessity to starving children but dang, he has a point).
This feels so multi-layered because it's easy to read this and slip into Western pity, because I've never had to consider unclean water and I've always known that I have food. And yet, I very much believe there isn't a single group of people that wants pity. Instead, we've got to figure out what we can do to make things better and this has to be led by the people of the country.This is what Sankara talks about and really, why his words remain so powerful and relevant.
As a note of criticism, I was missing some form of narration. I found myself wondering why exactly the coup started and wished for more context in general about his speeches. This book is essentially an anthology of speeches and interviews and that's great but some context would have gone a long way.
I also wasn't the biggest fan of his comments about Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It felt like name-dropping, an addition to his list of injustices around the world. We all certainly need to stand up against injustice but I have to say, Sankara himself reminded me of the words of several Marxist-Zionist thinkers. However, I also realize that that's not the point of this book. Sure, it's frustrating that people genuinely see Zionism as colonialism but there's so much good that Thomas Sankara did for his own people that I'm just going to put that aside.
In conclusion, I'm really happy I read this. This is an inside look at a revolution, at a man who fought for his country's dignity and freedom, who spoke for feminism, African pride and equality. This is exactly the type of book I hoped to be introduced to by reading a book from every country, like I never heard about Thomas Sankara before this.
What I'm Taking With Me
- Fun fact about Thomas Sankara, he was also a musician and he wrote the anthem. Take that, people who say it's either art or politics but not both.
- One day I'll know enough economics to be able to read about the IMF and actually understand what they're doing but that day is not today.
- The name Burkina Faso is really awesome. It's a combination of two words from the two main languages. Burkina, from Mossi, means upright and Faso from Dioula, means fatherland. So it's the fatherland of the upright/ honest people and it has room for both languages.
- I looked at pictures of him and I've yet to see one where he's not wearing an army uniform.
- I didn't know that Upper Volta was ever a thing, geography is wild.
- Homeland or death, I suppose.
---------------------
This book feels like the African version of the Communist Manifesto and I am so here for that.
Review to come!
Which brings me to Thomas Sankara. Thomas Sankara (1949-1987) was the first president of Burkina Faso. Within 4 years, among his other accomplishments, he managed to actually create a food surplus, fight against female genital mutilation, lowered the mortality rate for babies by 6% and attempted to combat the illiteracy by opening tons of schools. He focused on strengthening Burkina Faso and making it stand on its own. In the midst of this, his former colleague Blaise Compaoré led a coup against him where Sankara was killed. Compaoré, who was in power until 2014 (27 years), ended up reversing much of what Sankara had done.
And you read Thomas Sankara's words, written over thirty years and it's just, for a lack of better word, sad. He had so much hope that things would be different, so much faith in his people and yet, I can't stop thinking about what he felt when the coup started or if he saw it coming.
Most of this book is speeches and interviews with him. He speaks often about unity and revolution. I found his comments about pan-African issues fascinating, like inner Africa politics is definitely something that I need to read more about. He writes against imperialism and colonialism and really, he just comes across as such a fighter and a leader, such a believer, so smart and ready to create a change. I also loved his comments about aid. A country can't be entirely dependent on aid- it stops aiding them at that point. Or, in Sankara's words, "he who feeds you, controls you".
I don't want to frame this as a good vs bad because we do see that Marxism does not always yield good results and obviously if the coup had supporters, it means there were people who weren't happy under Sankara's leadership. We can't sweep aside the fact that he was horribly harsh towards those who disagreed with his revolution. Executions really can't be something that can be ignored. He also fought against the Mossi and other tribal chief systems, claiming that they were harming the unity. Ultimately, it's up to the people of Burkina Faso to decide who are the victors and villains of their history.
However, I do think there's room to be sad about the lack of progress. The issues that Sankara writes about in the eighties are still mostly relevant today. Burkina Faso seems to have had a few turbulent years, with another revolution in 2014 but things seem stagnant and man, I wish I knew how to solve this problem. It seems so absurd that people across the world can live such different lifestyles (and okay, I'm veering towards Peter Singer's argument about donating everything that isn't a necessity to starving children but dang, he has a point).
This feels so multi-layered because it's easy to read this and slip into Western pity, because I've never had to consider unclean water and I've always known that I have food. And yet, I very much believe there isn't a single group of people that wants pity. Instead, we've got to figure out what we can do to make things better and this has to be led by the people of the country.This is what Sankara talks about and really, why his words remain so powerful and relevant.
As a note of criticism, I was missing some form of narration. I found myself wondering why exactly the coup started and wished for more context in general about his speeches. This book is essentially an anthology of speeches and interviews and that's great but some context would have gone a long way.
I also wasn't the biggest fan of his comments about Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It felt like name-dropping, an addition to his list of injustices around the world. We all certainly need to stand up against injustice but I have to say, Sankara himself reminded me of the words of several Marxist-Zionist thinkers. However, I also realize that that's not the point of this book. Sure, it's frustrating that people genuinely see Zionism as colonialism but there's so much good that Thomas Sankara did for his own people that I'm just going to put that aside.
In conclusion, I'm really happy I read this. This is an inside look at a revolution, at a man who fought for his country's dignity and freedom, who spoke for feminism, African pride and equality. This is exactly the type of book I hoped to be introduced to by reading a book from every country, like I never heard about Thomas Sankara before this.
What I'm Taking With Me
- Fun fact about Thomas Sankara, he was also a musician and he wrote the anthem. Take that, people who say it's either art or politics but not both.
- One day I'll know enough economics to be able to read about the IMF and actually understand what they're doing but that day is not today.
- The name Burkina Faso is really awesome. It's a combination of two words from the two main languages. Burkina, from Mossi, means upright and Faso from Dioula, means fatherland. So it's the fatherland of the upright/ honest people and it has room for both languages.
- I looked at pictures of him and I've yet to see one where he's not wearing an army uniform.
- I didn't know that Upper Volta was ever a thing, geography is wild.
- Homeland or death, I suppose.
---------------------
This book feels like the African version of the Communist Manifesto and I am so here for that.
Review to come!
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