https://themilitant.com/2018/09/15/sankara-books-welcomed-at-ny-burkina-faso-festival/
Sankara books welcomed at NY Burkina Faso festival
By Peter Thierjung
Vol. 82/No. 35
September 24, 2018
Above, participants in Festival Ouaga New York cultural event in the
Bronx Sept. 1 enjoyed musicians and artists from Burkina Faso. Inset,
table featuring books by Thomas Sankara and other titles by
revolutionary working-class leaders attracted interest.
Militant photos by Peter Thierjung
Above, participants in Festival Ouaga New York cultural event in the
Bronx Sept. 1 enjoyed musicians and artists from Burkina Faso. Inset,
table featuring books by Thomas Sankara and other titles by
revolutionary working-class leaders attracted interest.
NEW YORK — The fourth annual Festival Ouaga New York, a two-day cultural
event, attracted hundreds of participants, most of them immigrants from
Burkina Faso now living in New York, other East Coast cities and abroad.
Well-known musicians and artists from that West African country were
featured at a Sept. 1 evening gala in the Bronx and the next day at an
outdoor concert in Harlem.
In 1983 Thomas Sankara led a popular revolution in Burkina Faso that
initiated a deep-going transformation of the country involving the
efforts of millions of working people. Sankara’s integrity,
anti-imperialist actions, confidence in the Burkinabè toilers, support
for Cuba’s socialist revolution and communist political course are known
by millions to this day.
Sankara was assassinated and the revolutionary government overthrown in
1987. The legacy of the revolution and Sankara’s example remain topics
of discussion and debate not just among people from Burkina Faso, but
across the African continent and the African diaspora.
A table at the festival featuring books by Sankara and other titles by
revolutionary working-class leaders was welcomed by many participants.
Fifty-eight picked up Thomas Sankara Speaks: The Burkina Faso Revolution
1983-87, in English or French. Several copies each of Women’s Liberation
and the African Freedom Struggle and We Are Heirs of the World’s
Revolutions, also by Sankara, were purchased.
Other books on revolutionary politics attracted interest. These included
sales of three titles by Socialist Workers Party leader Jack Barnes —
Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power, 31 copies;
Are They Rich Because They’re Smart? 10 copies; and The Clintons’
Anti-Working-Class Record, two copies; as well as Is Socialist
Revolution in the US Possible? by Mary-Alice Waters, three copies; and
others, from the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels
to speeches of Malcolm X and Che Guevara. In all, 116 books were sold.
Three people got subscriptions to the Militant, and several signed up to
receive by email a weekly Militant article in French translation.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles •Demand US rulers sign peace treaty with NKorea
•‘Workers need independence from capitalist state, parties’
•Iraq protests demand gov’t provide services, end to Tehran interference
•Liberals’ frenzy against Trump falters in face of workers’ distaste
•Join fight against prison censorship of ‘Militant’ in Florida, Illinois!
Feature Articles •Mexico election registers crisis for capitalist
rulers, parties
Also In This Issue •Steelworkers authorize strikes at U.S. Steel amid
contract talks
•‘Convict Chicago cop who killed Laquan McDonald’
•Workers at Whole Foods, Target take steps to organize
•Sankara books welcomed at NY Burkina Faso festival
•Kentucky UFCW workers strike at Four Roses plants
Editorials •Decay of US rulers ‘world order’ opens room to fight
On the Picket Line •Chicago hotel workers fight for health care, higher
wages
•Miami airport workers rally, press for union contract
Books of the Month •‘First years of Communist Party heroic part of our
continuity’
As I See It •Gangs, drugs and violence are built into capitalist rule
25, 50 and 75 years ago
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