Recording of a post film talk about the life and times of revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara and the history of Burkina Faso (the film is embedded at the end of this post). The talk, which was given by Lassane Ouedraogo, a Burkinabe refugee who has been in Ireland since 2007, took on an added urgency with the news over the past few days of a military coup in the country. The discussion was hosted by Comhlámh on Friday 18th September 2015, as part of Culture Night in Dublin.
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The life and times of Thomas Sankara – Africa’s Che Guevara.
In four years in power, Sankara doubled the number of children in schools in his country, vaccinated 2 million children, increased cereal production by 78%, reduced infant mortality, redistributed land from feudal landlords to peasants and planted 10 million trees. Find out more about one of Africa’s unsung heroes from Lassane Ouedraogo.
Lassane was a Young Pioneer during the times of Thomas Sankara’s Revolution in the 1980’s. He was a member of the Revolutionaries Defence Committee and Delegate, Councillor and National Executive General Secretary of the Organisation of the Democratic Rally of Faso (RDF) before coming to Ireland in 2007 as a refugee.
He has struggled for a lifetime for human rights both in Burkina Faso and in Ireland, being most recently active working with the Irish Refugee Council as National Coordinator on the Campaign to End Direct Provision.
He is a member of Comhlàmh and currently a Board member of the Africa Centre. He is also currently undertaking B.A. Honours in International Relations Studies in Dublin City University (DCU).
The event was organised by Comhlamh as part of Culture Night 2015, and followed screenign of part of teh film ‘Thomas Sankara: The Upright Man’, which can be viewed online below.
Thomas Sankara – the Upright Man from AfricanewsITALY on Vimeo.
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