Thomas Sankara Speaks: The Burkina Faso Revolution 1983-1987

Under Sankara's leadership, the revolutionary government of Burkina Faso in West Africa set an electrifying example. Peasants, workers, women, and youth mobilized to carry out literacy and immunization drives; to sink wells, plant trees, build dams, erect housing; to combat the oppression of women and transform exploitative relations on the land; to free themselves from the imperialist yoke and solidarize with others engaged in that fight internationally.

Second edition includes a new introduction by editor Michel Prairie, foreword, maps, chronology and glossary, as well as an index. Thirty-two page photo section features many unpublished photos of the Burkina Faso revolution.

Of the first edition, published by Pathfinder in 1988, Victoria Brittain wrote in the London Guardian, "The courage and originality which made him and Burkina Faso the inspiration they were to so many Africans shine out of this collection of his most important speeches."

"The originality of Sankara's ideas . . . along with his awareness of the social and economic realities of his country, his understanding of the international relations of forces . . . make this collection a highly useful tool. Expressed with passion and clarity, his views on the necessity of a new balance between the city and the countryside, on the crucial importance of the emancipation of women . . . are in perfect keeping with the demands of the peoples of Africa today."-Le Monde diplomatique

Preface by Mary-Alice Waters, 2 16-page photo sections and other photos, maps, chronology, glossary, index.