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Vol. 82/No. 12 March 26, 2018
NY Forum: ‘Sankara spoke for oppressed and exploited’
BY LEA SHERMAN
NEW YORK — “Thomas Sankara spoke for the oppressed and exploited, and
against the imperialist world order, which he showed can be fought and
explained must be replaced,” Socialist Workers Party speaker Peter
Thierjung told some 40 participants at a March 3 Militant Labor Forum
here. “Thomas Sankara and the Political Awakening of Working People in
the U.S. and Africa” was the title.
In recent months, Thierjung said, massive protests against government
repression, corruption, for democratic rights, and for relief from the
economic and social devastation wracking the African continent have
taken place in Chad, Togo, the Congo, Zimbabwe, Niger, Mali, Nigeria,
Gabon, Cameroon and Ethiopia.
“And in the U.S. discontent among working people has also been
deepening. Like toilers in Africa, millions here are searching for
answers and alternatives to a capitalist world order they don’t yet
fully understand,” he said. The forum was held as West Virginia teachers
were waging their successful strike.
“Sankara and the Burkina Faso Revolution stand as examples of what is
possible, not only for Africa, but for working people the world over,
including right here in the U.S.,” Thierjung said.
At the age of 33, Sankara led a popular uprising in the West African
nation of Burkina Faso, one of the world’s poorest countries.
From meetings with farmers in Burkina Faso to speaking before the
United Nations, Sankara denounced imperialist interference in the
colonial world. He joined Fidel Castro to champion the fight to renounce
the debt the imperialist rulers saddled the people of Africa and the
rest of the semicolonial world with.
“Sankara stands out because he was a communist,” Thierjung said. “He
didn’t reject Marxism as European ideas. He drew on the lessons of
previous revolutionary struggles, including the American, French and the
1917 Russian revolutions, and the Cuba Revolution.”
The SWP responded to the Burkinabè Revolution by sending reporting teams
to the country and campaigning with articles in the Militant that told
the truth about the unfolding revolution. “We printed Sankara’s speeches
for all to read,” he said.
On Oct. 15, 1987, Capt. Blaise Compaoré, a close associate of Sankara,
carried out a military coup, murdering Sankara and 12 of his aides,
destroying the revolutionary government from within. In 2014, Compaoré
was driven from power by a popular uprising after 27 years of
dictatorial rule. “The question posed today is what course forward now
for the toilers,” Thierjung said.
“Since Sankara’s murder, the SWP has fought to prevent his enemies from
burying his example and the lessons of the revolution,” Thierjung said.
Pathfinder Press rapidly published Thomas Sankara Speaks to get his
speeches and interviews in print. Hundreds attended meetings to launch
the book in New York; London; Stockholm; Montreal; Toronto; Lyon,
France; Sydney; and Auckland, New Zealand.
Thomas Sankara Parle, a French edition, has since been published, along
with Women’s Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle and We Are
Heirs of the World’s Revolutions, in French, English, Spanish and Farsi.
They’re among Pathfinder’s most popular titles.
The books contain speeches like “Building a New Society, Rid of Social
Injustice and Imperialist Domination”; “The Revolution Cannot Triumph
Without the Emancipation of Women”; and “Our Struggle Draws Strength
from Cuba’s Example and Support.”
“When African workers here — and there are tens of thousands in the U.S.
today — see the books with Sankara’s picture on the cover, they say
things like ‘That’s my man, that’s my president,’” Thierjung said. He
described a recent discussion with a New York cab driver from Mali who
drove him to the new movie “Burkinabè Rising.” He was excited to know
about workers in the U.S. who promote books by Sankara. He bought We Are
Heirs of the World’s Revolutions and kicked in a $5 contribution.
“A revolution is being prepared in the U.S. by the deep-going crisis of
the capitalist system,” Thierjung said. “The SWP aims to help prepare
the working class for what is coming. Reading and studying Thomas
Sankara, along with books by Fidel Castro, V.I. Lenin, Malcolm X and
leaders of the Socialist Workers Party is important to charting a course
forward.”
“Thomas Sankara stands out from other African leaders. The course he
charted was an example for working people, not only in Burkina Faso and
Africa, but everywhere in the world,” Mary-Alice Waters, a leader of the
Socialist Workers Party and author of the preface to Thomas Sankara
Speaks, said in the discussion. “Every revolutionary struggle has its
own conditions and history. But no revolution triumphs without battles
through which working people develop confidence and pride in ourselves.
Battles through which we transform ourselves. And that’s the course of
struggle Sankara led.”
Sankara’s books — and many more on lessons on past revolutionary
struggles and key political questions facing working people today — are
available from SWP branches listed on page 8 or at www.pathfinderpress.com.
Related articles:
UK meeting learns about revolution in Burkina Faso
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