Little Dark Age- Thomas Sankara

Описание: Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara was a Burkinabé solider and revolutionary who served as the 1st President of Burkina Faso. Born in the colony of French Upper Volta, Sankara pursued education from a young age. When he reached adulthood, he joined the military of the newly independent Republic of Upper Volta, where he was exposed to numerous new political philosophies, as well as the extent of corruption and instability that plagued the Republic, which suffered numerous coups. With these accolades, he quickly found himself in government, where the corruption and oppressive nature of his colleagues disgusted him to the point of resigning. He later became Prime Minister following another coup yet was quickly jailed by the then-president for his radical ideals. Because of Sankara's popularity with the people, his imprisonment caused yet another coup in 1983, except this time the leader was Sankara himself. After taking power, Sankara went to work getting rid of every trace of the old Upper Volta government, renaming the country Burkina Faso, or Land of Incorruptible People, with its citizens as Burkinabé, or upright people. During Sankara's rule, he achieved land reform, nationwide literacy campaigns, the vaccination of more than 2 million children against meningitis, yellow fever and measles, and the construction of schools, health centers, water reservoirs, and nearly 100 km of rail, with little or no external assistance. Moreover, he outlawed female genital mutilation, forced marriages, polygamy and appointed women to high governmental positions and encouraged them to work outside the home and stay in school. However, this swift and progressive societal change drew the ire of the Burkinabé elites, the former French colonizers, neighboring countries, and tribal leaders. On October 15th, 1987, Blaise Compaoré, Sankara's friend, fellow revolutionary, and close associate, betrayed Sankara and launched a coup against him which toppled his government and ended with Sankara's murder. Compaoré went on to reverse almost all of Sankara's progress, ruling until his toppling in a 2014 coup. Burkina Faso remains poor, undeveloped, and plagued with violence and political instability.