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Mail & Guardian

Thomas Sankara

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Sham sovereignty: The United States and its allies do not practise democracy as a principle; they wield it as an instrument of control, especially in Africa. Photo: Evan Parker/Navy
EASTERN EUROPE

US role in Africa delivers fake democracies

The lesson is clear: democracy in Washington’s playbook is not a universal value but a lever, invoked when nations resist economic control, claim authority over their own…

  • Wellington Muzengeza
7 min read
Robert Mugabe led Zimbabwe after its liberation but became its oppressor. Photo: Archive
AFRICAN LIBERATION

Burkina Faso: Revolution, authoritarianism and the crisis of African emancipation politics

If revolutions are to succeed, the people must deliver freedom. They must reject authoritarianism, a small revolutionary elite or a military junta.

  • Leroy Maisiri
8 min read
A nation cannot continuously live in fear; there comes a time when leaders, the people and the country to take a stand. Photo: Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images
FREEDOM

Ukraine’s sovereignty is non-negotiable

It is against human nature to be enslaved, oppressed or occupied by another nation

  • Valery Ferim
2 min read
The former president of Burkina Faso showed us that it is possible to cultivate political virtues for ethical politics. (Kambou Sia/AFP)
ANC

Follow Thomas Sankara’s example and put the ‘servant’ back into public servant

The former president of Burkina Faso showed us that it is possible to cultivate political virtues for ethical politics

  • Tamlyn February
7 min read
Students sit crammed up to five at desks meant for two, in overcrowded classes of up to 125 students, at a primary school in Kaya, a town hosting tens of thousands of displaced people in Centre-Nord region, Burkina Faso. Only 62.5% of children in sub-Saharan Africa complete primary school, compared with 86.4% in the world. (© 2020 Lauren Seibert/Human Rights Watch)
AFRICA DAY 2023

How business can help transform education and leadership in Africa

Only 62.5% of children in sub-Saharan Africa complete primary school, compared with 86.4% in the world

  • Gbenga Oyebode
5 min read
Cover of It’s a continent book. Photo: Joseph Osayande
BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS

One Book, Two Takes: It’s a Continent

Astrid Madimba and Chinny Ukata’s impressive African history book by non-historians

  • Lehlohonolo Shale
  • Lumumba Mthembu
6 min read
Justice: Ousted Burkino Faso president Blaise Compaoré (in portrait above) received a life sentence at the trial in Ougadougou for Thomas Sankara’s assassination. (Olympia de Maismont/AFP)
BLAISE COMPAORE

Life sentences for Sankara assassins sends strong message

Former president Blaise Compaoré hid in Côte d’Ivoire, Hyacinthe Kafando also had to be judged in absentia and Gilbert Diendéré rejected any responsibility for the president’s…

  • Yarri Kamara
8 min read
A CDP supporter of holds a portrait of Burkina Faso’s ousted president Blaise Compaore during a campaign rally of Burkinabe presidential candidate for the Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) party Eddie Komboigo in Ouagadougou on November 19, 2020, ahead of ahead of general elections held on November 22. – Burkina Faso heads to the polls for presidential and parliamentary elections on November 22, 2020. (OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT / AFP) (Photo by OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT/AFP via Getty Images)
BLAISE COMPAORE

Burkina Faso prosecutors seek 30 years jail for Compaore over Sankara’s murder

Thomas Sankara and 12 colleagues were gunned down by a hit squad in 1987 at a meeting of the ruling National Revolutionary Council.

  • Armel Baily
3 min read
TOPSHOT – Residents pose under the bronze statue of Burkina Faso’s former President Thomas Sankara who was killed on October 15, 1987, on the sidelines of the inauguration of his memorial at the Conseil de l’Entente in Ouagadougou on March 2, 2019. (Photo by ISSOUF SANOGO / AFP)
BLAISE COMPAORE

Burkina Faso: ‘Assassins’ on trial

Blaise Compaoré has gone down in history as the man directly responsible for the assasination of Thomas Sankara. He will stand trial in the capital Ouagadougou, along with 13…

  • The Continent
2 min read
Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia’s “founding father” and first president, has died in a military hospital in Lusaka where he was being treated for pneumonia. (Photo by Vladimir Akimov / Sputnik / Sputnik via AFP)
CHINSALI

Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda was the last of Africa’s ‘philosopher kings’

The liberation legend died on Thursday at a military hospital in Lusaka, aged 97

  • Nic Cheeseman
  • Sishuwa Sishuwa
7 min read
The likes of Thomas Sankara (Burkina Faso) and Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana) and many others laid a foundation. The onus is now on us, especially the youth, to continue what they began. (Kambou Sia/AFP)
AFRICA

Africa’s youth must continue the struggle of great leaders

Our continent is not just united geographically, but also by our shared experiences and we should use that to build a bright future

  • Mcebo Dlamini
3 min read
AZIZ FALL

In memory of Thomas Sankara

October 15 marks the 20th anniversary of the assassination of Thomas Sankara, the president of Burkina Faso — a stark reminder that we are still in the state Odinga Oginga called…

  • Staff Reporter
2 min read