TORONTO / 30th Commemoration of the Assassination of Thomas SANKARA

30th Commemoration of the
Assassination of Thomas SANKARA
Which way forward for Africa & the Caribbean?

Thomas Sankara, Pan-African revolutionary and former President of Burkina Faso
(1983-1987) had a vision for the sustained and dignified progress of his country, the
“land of the incorruptible.”
During his short period of rule in Burkina Faso, the country saw an unprecedented
participation of the population towards a collective goal of self-sustained development.
The former Burkina Faso head-of-state gave new hope to millions of voiceless Africans

(both in Africa and in the Diaspora); weary of watching a ceaseless parade of self-
enriching robber barons, who pillage the coffers of their respective states. Thomas

Sankara is widely recognized and celebrated in Africa and the world over as a champion
of fundamental change who fought to liberate Africa from the control of international
financial institutions, deepening poverty, war and the pillage of its resources.
Addressing an audience in Harlem, Sankara boldly declared that “Black Harlem is my
White House”

Unlike most men world-wide, Sankara considered women as Comrades-in-arms. Said Sankara: “Her status overturned by
private property, banished from her very self, relegated to the role of child raiser and servant, written out of history by
philosophy (Aristotle, Pythagoras, and others) and the most entrenched religions, stripped of all worth by mythology,
woman shared the lot of a slave, who in slave society was nothing more than a beast of burden with a human face.”
Sankara as a leader was an honest and humble man. His life was the blue print that could bring Burkina Faso out of the
grips of neo-colonialism, and ultimately was the reason for his assassination. Sankara believed and promoted a
development that focused on taking charge of one’s own destiny, to count on their own forces, and break free from
domination.
30 years since the assassination of Sankara by counter revolutionary forces that were in collusion with imperial forces, the
legacy and vision for a self-sustained Burkina Faso and Africa still live on in the hearts and activism of Africans and other
people of good faith.
African nations and peoples both in the continent and the diaspora continue to face renewed and escalating imperialist
threats manifested in corporate globalization, militarization/war/ occupation and resource/land grabs institutionalized
through the neo-liberal blueprint of EPA (European Union’s Economic Partnership Accords) imposed on African and
Caribbean countries, the exploitative CFA currency and Africom. In confronting the above stated imperialist-driven

structural basis of dependencies, it is critically important at this Pan-African anniversary to revisit Sankara’s vision of self-
directed, self-reliant development aimed at freeing African peoples from imperialist and colonial bondage.

In an effort to keep this legacy alive and to commemorate the life and contribution of Thomas Sankara, the Toronto chapter
of GRILA (Group for Research and Initiative for the Liberation of Africa) in collaboration with partners will be holding an
event in his honor on Saturday October 14th, 2017 (6:30 PM) at “A Different Booklist, Cultural Center”, located 777
Bathurst Street, Toronto (Bathurst & Bloor) –
The movie “Burkina Faso: A Revolution rectified” will be screened, followed by discussion. The evening will feature also a
panel focusing on Sankara’s vision, lessons to be learned from the revolutionary processes in the 21st century currently
underway in Africa and the world (100 years after the Russian October Revolution) and the structural basis of chains still
maintaining African & Caribbean countries under domination.
Sponsors: A Different Booklist, Diasporic Music,
For information: http://www.grila.org grilator@gmail.com, Tel: 647) 607-8164 (Donations will be used to support ”Different booklist”)