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Essay / Thomas Sankara and his role in the history of Burkina Faso
Table of contentsIntroductionThomas SankaraAt the seat of the presidencyThe idea of self-sufficiencySocial and environmental impactsPopulismDemocracyConclusionIntroductionIdeologies have led countries into and out of war, there is a part of man from the earliest recorded records to the present day, new and old ideologies still emerge through political leaders who attempt to impose them on the people of their countries. Before a full analysis of the ideologies of Burkina Faso under Thomas Sankara, one must try to understand the history of how they arrived at this position. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay The country is French-speaking, with French being the main administrative language used in schools and businesses. Burkina Faso is located in the western plains of Africa and is a landlocked country. The country shares its borders with six other countries: Benin to the southeast, Ivory Coast to the southwest, Ghana and Togo to the south, Niger to the east and Mali to the north. Before the country was called the Republic of Upper Volta, although they gained independence on August 5, 1960, they did not change the name of the country until it was changed by the fifth President Thomas Sankara on August 4, 1984. symbolizing the rebirth of the country he named it Burkina Faso which meant the land of the honest man. The focus of this thesis will be on the ideologies implemented by President Thomas Sankara and how he went about bringing changes for the newly independent country of Burkina Faso and the approach he used to implement them, then the analysis goes further on the negative and positive aspects. effects that his ideologies had on the economy of his country. One also has to wonder if it was violence or if the changes he implemented went smoothly. Sankara was pro-people, he was more of a leftist faction as his ideologies focused on social, gender, economic and ecological changes. Sankara's main ideas are generally divided into three categories, namely populism, socialism and democracy. He also wanted to remove the notion of dependence and make his compatriot autonomous. Thomas Sankara He was born in 1949 on December 21 in Yako, in the Republic of Upper Volta. His full name was Thomas Isidore Noel Sankara and he was the third child out of ten of Joseph and Marguerite Sankara. His father was one of the important military elements and as a child Sankara enjoyed the privileges of being the son of a high-ranking officer. At the age of 17, in 1966, he attended the military academy. In 1972, he returned to his native Republic of Upper Volta to join the border wars between his nation and the Nation of Mali where they were victorious. From this war, Thomas became a hero thanks to his exceptional performance. In 1976, he was appointed commander of the military training center at a place called Po. It was there that he met the comrades who would be at his side in his rise, where people like Blaise Compaoré, Henri Zongo and Jean -Baptiste Boukary with Sankara became known as the “Group of Communist Officers”. Sankara was president, they preceded him in 1983, his name was Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo, he also came to power through a coup and he made Sankara Prime Minister and after some allegations that Sankara met the son of the French President, he was demoted and placed under house arrest. Shortly after, in the same year, another coup d'état was organized by one of the members of the group of communist officers, Blaise Comaoré, toouédraogo and he elected his former friend and comrade Thomas Sankara on August 4, 1983 as new leader. At the age of 33, Thomas Sankara began his career as the new President of Upper Volta, which at the time still bore its colonial name. The idea of self-relianceHe was a revolutionary, he tended towards Marxist views or ideologies, a president for the people generally described as a pro-people revolutionary and he was a Pan-Africanist. He was inspired by Cuban President Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. On August 4, 1984, he changed the name of the country to Burkina Faso as it was one of his revolutionary ideas, as he believes that the idea of revolution is the sworn enemy of imperialist ideologies. It was also intended to be a sign of rebirth, breaking with Western habits. Sankara believed that many in his country suffered from dependency syndrome and he wanted to eradicate it, as in his states: “Our country produces enough to feed us all. Unfortunately, due to lack of organization, we are forced to beg for food aid. It is this help that instills in our minds the attitude of the beggar. » It was a good way to show that African countries can meet their needs without help from outside organizations. Sankara's incredible notoriety is to a certain extent a sense of African frustration with degenerate leaders, unequipped to meet the basic needs of their compatriots, and who are the puppets of Western capital and foundations like the Universal Monetary Reserve (IMF) and large organizations like the World Bank, the goal was to try to show that a state can be completely sovereign over global economic and political issues. To show it, he had to implement the changes himself, but his country's economic structure prospered thanks to his excellence in food. security, in four years he had stockpiled food that would feed his country for years. His other concern was to be established in the meaningful authenticity of his commitment to serving his people and his dedication to the cause of the liberation of all African individuals. as it is expected that for every positive reaction there is a negative reaction, the (IMF) did not approve of Sankara's path and made him a foreigner in his own continent and became the enemy of all African capitalist presidents and the economic mafia. This also took a drastic turn in his rise to power. Sankara took away most of the land from local chiefs and nobles who had influenced the country in the name of equality and divided it among the peasants. In doing so, he created what some call his demise as these men tried by all means to dethrone him from his presidential seat. This allowed Burkina Faso to move slowly towards its great transformation while resistance rose against it. Social and Environmental Impacts Thomas Sankara was a very great environmentalist, many might come to say that he was way ahead of his time, he was concerned with issues that many leaders have come to address now. He was the first president of Burkina Faso to fight for women's rights by condemning female genital multination. He created a non-discriminatory social structure. On October 2, 1983, in one of his rally speeches, he declared: "We cannot transform society by maintaining domination and discrimination against women who constitute more than half of the population" - Thomas Sankara . The way Sankara used his ideologies may be somewhat similar to liberalism in that he followed the concept of accepting individualism, freedom, liberation and..