Thomas Sankara

You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future. It took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those madmen. We must dare to invent the future. Thomas Sankara, 1985

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Thomas Sankara was born on this day in 1949. He was the leader of Burkina Faso (formerly known as Upper Volta) from 1983 to 1987.

He is, without question, one of the inspirations of my life - he understood what it means to be a human being.

In the most difficult of circumstances, and taking huge personal risk, he and his government undertook major initiatives to fight corruption and improve education, agriculture, and the status of women.

His revolutionary program provoked strong opposition from traditional leaders, western imperialists (i.e. the British and the French) and the country's numerically small but powerful middle class.

The video below is a speech he gave to the Organisation of African Unity on the 28th July 1987. While the speech highlights his humour, his charisma and his courage, the content undoubtedly contributed to his assassination three months later.

I urge you to watch the entire speech. It is as relevant today as it was 21 years ago, and, sadly, somewhat prophetic.

http://www.ukcolumn.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/sankara.flv