Sankara

Summary

Dominique Pagani speaks of Thomas Sankara as someone he knew personally1: he nearly published his memoirs with Hachette, but Sankara was assassinated just as the book was being signed off for printing2. He counts him among his three favourite heads of state of the twentieth century3. What he mainly retains are specific political choices. The first is the renaming of Upper Volta, a colonial name, as Burkina Faso, "land of upright men," to bring two ethnic groups together4. He also mentions the return to French in schools, so as not to divide the country along ethnic lines, and the ministers driving Renault 5s, a first in Africa in his view. He quotes his slogans: "homeland or death, we shall overcome" and "better water for all than champagne for a few." He compares the small dikes Sankara built to Faust's dam5. He links him to his reading of Adotevi: for Sankara, the question is political action, not colour. He places his death among the victims of neocolonialism. He attributes it to the Atlanticist camp, and later, more precisely, to the French services acting through the Ivorian services6.

1. 1At the bistro (part 1)18 Jun 2016 · 9:44
2. 2Mali: a response to Emmanuel Macron's remarks at the Africa Forward summit16 May 2026 · 36:38
3. 3#5.2 ter Questions, following workshop #5.2 (Facebook Live)6 Dec 2018 · 17:54
4. 4Is history a subject?9 Mar 2017 · 1:17:59
5. 5#3 The myth of the noble savage in Rousseau23 Sept 2014 · 39:22
6. 6Sahelian Africa and imperialism: Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger23 Mar 2024 · 1:00:16

Summary produced automatically from 18 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.