Sankara Vows To “Bury“ Imperialism

While Africa is opposing French and western neo-colonialism listen to Thomas Sankara who said in 1983 that Africa will “bury“ imperialism. During his speech, Sankara said that Ouagadougou, the capital of what was then Upper Volta where he was giving the speech would be the “end of the line“ for imperialism. He also blasted western imperialists for their role in arming the racist apartheid government in South Africa the assassination of Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba and the overthrow of Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah. Orchestrated by the Belgian imperialists and supported by the US and the UK, Lumumba’s execution was rooted in his close ties to the Soviet Union and his resistance towards Belgian imperialism during the 1960s. US President Dwight Eisenhower abridgedly said that he hoped that Lumumba would fall into a “river of crocodiles“. Kwame Nkrumah’s overthrow in a coup during a state visit to North Vietnam and China in February 1966 was another instance of imperialist meddling, which targeted Nkrumah for his pan-Africanism and socialist ideals. Although it was elements of the Ghanaian army and police who organized the coup it is widely believed that the CIA was involved. Sankara’s condemnation of imperialism in Africa seems more pertinent than ever following recent events in Niger. France and the US have threatened military intervention in response to a military coup that overthrew the pro-French government. The fact that Niger is a major source of uranium and is tilting away from France towards Russia is crucial. As for Sankara, his condemnation of imperialism was prophetic as he was murdered during a coup in 1987 which is widely believed to have been supported by France. #ThomasSankara #PanAfrican #BlackHistory