Thomas Sankara Speaks. Thomas Sankara
very much attached in the past?
Sankara: First question, the army returning to the barracks. You would like that, that’s your right. But you should understand that for us, it’s not that there are revolutionaries in the barracks and others outside the barracks. The revolutionaries are everywhere. The army is a component of the Voltaic people, a component subject to the same contradictions as the other layers of the Voltaic people. We have taken the power out of the barracks.
You will have noticed that we are the first military regime not to have established our headquarters in a military camp. That is highly significant. Better yet, we set it up at the Entente Council.12 You know what this means.
It is not a question of the military taking power one day and giving it up the next. It is about the military living with the Voltaic people, suffering with them, and fighting by their side at all times.
So there is no deadline that will work. Of course, I am sure you are referring to those who stated that the military should no longer be involved in politics. These people had delighted certain Voltaic milieus, who thought that certain officers should no longer be involved in politics. This is all that was meant. The proof is that there were officers in power who stated this in order to keep other officers under house arrest.
As for our relations with the political class: What kind of relations would you have liked us to forge? We had it out directly, face to face, with the leaders, the former leaders of the former political parties. As far as we’re concerned, these parties no longer exist, they have been dissolved.
That is quite clear. The relations we have with them are simply the same relations we have with Voltaic citizens or, if they want, relations among revolutionaries, if they want to become revolutionaries. Outside of that, there remain only relations between revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries.
You spoke of freedom of speech, to which I was “very attached”. I would say that I am very consistent, even if I sometimes change hats. I am very consistent and am still attached to freedom of speech. I’m simply saying that every Voltaic will always be able to defend freedom, to defend justice, and to defend democracy. That is all we will allow.
All those who wish to commit themselves to this fight will find space in our press, in the columns of our newspapers, within our media, and even in the streets as long as they want to defend freedom of speech, democracy, and justice.
Outside of that fight, there is only the fight between revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries. That means we will do battle.
Building a new society, rid of social injustice and imperialist domination
(Political Orientation Speech, 2 October 1983)
In the name of the National Council of the Revolution (CNR), Sankara presented this speech over radio and television. The speech became the Burkinabè Revolution’s fundamental programmatic document, known as the Political Orientation Speech. It was published in pamphlet form in October 1983 by the Upper Volta Ministry of Information. The subtitles are from that pamphlet.
People of Upper Volta;
Comrade militants of the revolution:
In the course of this year, 1983, our country has gone through some particularly intense moments, whose impact still remains indelibly stamped on the minds of many of our fellow citizens. During this period, the struggle of the Voltaic people has experienced ebbs and flows.
Our people went through the test of heroic struggles and finally triumphed on the now historic night of 4 August 1983. The revolution has been irreversibly marching forward in our country now for almost two months. Two months during which the fighting people of Upper Volta have mobilised as one behind the National Council of the Revolution in order to build a new, free, independent, and prosperous Voltaic society; a new society rid of social injustice and of the age-old domination and exploitation by international imperialism.
At the end of the short road travelled thus far, I invite you to take a look back with me, to draw the lessons necessary for accurately assessing the revolutionary tasks that are posed presently and for the near future. By equipping ourselves with a clear view of unfolding events, we strengthen ourselves all the more in our struggle against imperialism and reactionary social forces.
To sum up: Where have we come from? And where are we going? Those are the questions of the moment that demand a clear, resolute, and unequivocal answer from us, if we wish to march boldly forward to greater and more resounding victories.
THE AUGUST REVOLUTION IS THE SUCCESSFUL RESULT OF THE VOLTAIC PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE
The triumph of the August revolution is due not only to the revolutionary takeover against the sacrosanct reactionary alliance of 17 May 1983. It is the result of the Voltaic people’s struggle against their long-standing enemies. It is a victory over international imperialism and its national allies. A victory over backward, obscurantist, and sinister forces. A victory over all the enemies of the people who have plotted and schemed behind their backs.
The August revolution is the culmination of the popular insurrection launched following the imperialist plot of 17 May 1983, which aimed to stem the rising tide of this country’s democratic and revolutionary forces.
This insurrection was symbolised not only by the courageous and heroic stance of the commandos of the city of Pô, who were able to put up fierce resistance to the pro-imperialist and anti-popular regime of Commander Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo and Colonel Somé Yoryan, but also by the courage of the popular, democratic, and revolutionary forces, who were able to put up exemplary resistance in alliance with the patriotic soldiers and officers.
The insurrection of 4 August 1983, the victory of the revolution, and the rise of the National Council of the Revolution thus unquestionably represent the culmination and logical outcome of the Voltaic people’s struggles against neo-colonial domination and exploitation, against the subjugation of our country, and for the independence, freedom, dignity, and progress of our people. On this point, simplistic and superficial analyses, limited to reproducing predetermined patterns, cannot change the facts of reality in any way.
The August revolution thus triumphed by presenting itself both as heir to and as a deepening of the popular uprising of 3 January 1966. It is both the continuation, and the development at a qualitatively higher level, of all the great popular struggles, whose number has increased in recent years. They have all shown the systematic refusal of the Voltaic people – in particular the working class and toilers – to let themselves be governed as before. The most notable and significant milestones of these great popular struggles are December 1975, May 1979, October and November 1980, April 1982, and May 1983.
It is a well-established fact that the great movement of popular resistance immediately following the reactionary and pro-imperialist provocation of 17 May 1983, created favourable conditions for the events of 4 August 1983. Indeed, the imperialist plot of 17 May precipitated a large-scale regroupment of the democratic and revolutionary forces and organisations, which mobilised during this period, taking initiatives and carrying out unprecedented and audacious actions. During this time, the sacrosanct alliance of reactionary forces around the moribund regime laboured under its inability to block the breakthrough of the revolutionary forces, which were mounting an increasingly open attack on the anti-popular and antidemocratic forces in power.
The popular demonstrations of 20, 21, and 22 May met with a broad national response essentially due to their great political significance. They provided concrete proof that an entire people, especially the youth, subscribed openly to the revolutionary ideals defended by the men who the forces of reaction had treacherously moved against. These demonstrations were of great practical significance, since they expressed the determination of an entire people and all its youth, who stood up to confront concretely the forces of imperialist domination and exploitation. This was the most obvious illustration of the truth that when the people stand up, imperialism and the social forces allied with it tremble.
History and the process by which the popular masses develop political consciousness follow a dialectical progression that defies reactionary logic. That is why the May 1983 events greatly contributed