34 years ago today, Thomas Sankara, the revolutionary leader of Burkina Faso, was assassinated in a French-backed coup. He aspired to an egalitarian, feminist society, and an economy built on self-sufficiency, ecological regeneration, and independence from Western powers. 
Today, Sankara's legacy is inspiring a new generation of revolutionary thinkers and activists across the continent and beyond. As Sankara himself put it, with uncanny prescience, “You can assassinate revolutionaries, but you cannot kill ideas”.
As debt crises mount across Africa, his ideas are more vital now than ever. Here's a little bit of background on Sankara's legacy, from The Divide:
Sankara knew his assassination was coming. Speaking to African leaders at the OAU, he said "I would like this conference to clearly declare that we will not repay the debt; we must do it together, to avoid being assassinated individually..."
"Let's create a united front against the debt. And let's stop competing with each other. Our lands are rich. We have plenty of manpower, and a large market. Let the African market belong to Africans. Let's manufacture in Africa and consume in Africa..."
"...Let's produce what we need and consume what we produce, instead of importing goods. I, along with my delegation, we are dressed by our weavers, with cotton from our farmers. Not a single thread comes from Europe or America. This is how you live with freedom and dignity."
Sankara's ideas electrified the continent, and Western powers sought desperately to crush him. He was riddled with bullets, dismembered, and buried in an unmarked grave. This year, finally, his murderers are facing trial: aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/1…
In honour of Sankara, today @AfricansRising launched #JubileeForClimate, calling for debt cancellation so that global South countries can use their resources to achieve human development and ecological transition rather than to service Northern capital accumulation.
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