I am from Burkina Faso, and, I can tell you, this man is still revered and even called prophet by many of us. He was a blessing to our country and would have achieved more on the continent. His friend Compaore has recently been sentenced to life in prison and is in exile, but this is not enough to comfort us because we are still an underdeveloped country, which would have been different if Sankara was still alive. We are still crying for this big loss...
What about Sankara vaccinating 2,5 million burkinabe against polio, meningitis and measles in his first week in office, bruh? Not worth mentioning? I mean... thats unique in human history!
THIS VIDEO IS FALSE. Sankara was not killed because he was unpopular in his country he was killed because he was unpopular with FRANCE. It was FRANCE together with Blaise Compaore that killed sankara. The people of Burkina faso loved him and his leadership style. THATS WHY AFRICANS MUST HAVE THEIR OWN PLATFORMS TO TELL THEIR STORIES.
@Texan White Panther Just because you read something online doesn’t mean it is true if a few high ranking officials didn’t like him they could have easily killed him why would France want to kill a leader of one of their formal colonies they couldn’t have taken over so what would the point be if it was anyone it would be the us but even that is unlikely
@@catmixer4450 because France would benefit from the removal of a socialist leader, because France wanted, just like any other imperialist power, to enslave the people of its colonies, and a liberation such as Sankara's went directly against that
@@catmixer4450 they do it because they KNOW their system works and they see that fact as a threat to their capitalist lobbyist oligarchies. they murdered thomas, just like they murdered ernesto guevara, just like their 638 assassination attempts on fidel castro. its the same reason they spread misinformation about cuba being a totalitarian dictatorship when in fact it is a higher functioning democracy than the united states'.
@@olofpalme3662 that is false about cuba. Cuba's Castro nearly killed all of us during the Cuban missile crisis and the us had every right to be mad a Castro because he could have hosted a Soviet invasion if he wanted to. Also 🇧🇫 is now a close ally to the west and even Vietnam which is a communist country is now closer to the us with both countries have positive public views towards each other. 🇧🇫🇻🇳 show an example that nations with a capitalist leader and a socialist leader and still be friends and tolerate eachother but Castro did the opposite and made it more difficult for a reconciliation between the us and cuba.
Oh no Kissinger's story is rather simple....he was a war criminal...idk much about Sankara yet but he seems like most people. Having positive ideas and even managing to make progress in his country in such a short period of time although I still know very little about him
@@scl1332 Yeah, that was the point of Ronit's comment. The corrupt US gov & international capitalist ruling class literally rewarded a war criminal who's responsible for nearly 4 million civilian deaths, while placing doubt on Sankara, who actually helped, improved & saved lives. 😐
you wanting to be accepted into a white place is complicated in itself.....the controls the have over us is as simple as that "ACCEPTANCE"...FUX there trophy's...books etc make you own!!
I usually love TED-ED videos... I'm borderline addicted to them but this doesn't sit right with me. They finally told a story about someone I love and have spent most of my adulthood studying. A lot of Key information has been left out. - His Name in the Title - The mass vaccination drives - The Country going from being dependent on AID to being self-sufficient in food in under 4 years - The obvious involvement of France in his assassination.
I AM SO GLAD I RAN TO THE COMMENTS AFTER WATCHING!!! I can’t wait to learn more, because my goodness I was immediately taken by this man’s story, and now I’m seeing y’all’s details???
Pedro Henryque are you making excuses for a communist dictator? Africa’s Che Guevara??? Do you have proof of the “CIA and french involvement” in the assassination.. or is everything around you just one big conspiracy which explains your failings as an individual?
@@endoftheroad10090 Thomas Sankara was no Communist Dictator, his policies have worked in Nordic countries. CIA and French involvement are also no conspiracy theories, Thomas Sankara and Patrice Lumumba are prime examples of what happens when progressive socialist leaders arise in Africa. Neocolonialism in Africa has seen the British, French and the Americans pillage Africa with impunity.
@@endoftheroad10090 dude, it's literally a known fact that the CIA worked with many people, including dictators, to stop communism, and committed multiple assassinations in the process
@Lillither But TED is more about educating on a variety of topics. Its main goal is not to get clicks, so they should have put his name as a sign of recognizing the man , irrespective of the views the video would garner.
Fun fact, on top of Thomas and Blaise being close friends, during their time in the army they also formed a band and wrote a good amount of music together. So Thomas Sankara is probably the only person in history to be ousted in a coup led by a former band mate. Also, the band was called Tout-a-Coup
@@bletrick3352like he said, by africans. shes could have been an african chinese and it would'nt have changed a thing. the main point is viewing the said stories from the leneses of an indegenous person
Ya'll had me up until the revisionist description of his "increasingly authoritarian" policies. All governments are authoritarian in nature, how else are laws and regulations enacted? Rest in power, Comrade Sankara.
Authoritarianism is not a binary of presence of authority and none thereof. You can measure it by many factors and attribute a severity of it. The authoritarianism of, for example, north korea, is much greater than of the paris commune, or pretty much every other currently existing country. Also, bad=revisionist is simply silly.
Kinda. But I agree. I honestly think that of he kept going, he could of changed how people see Communism. If played correctly like this man did, It could work. The only reason it failed was because french loyalist didn't like him.
*”Our revolution is not a public-speaking tournament. Our revolution is not a battle of fine phrases. Our revolution is not simply for spouting slogans that are no more than signals used by manipulators trying to use them as catchwords, as codewords, as a foil for their own display. Our revolution is, and should continue to be, the collective effort of revolutionaries to transform reality, to improve the concrete situation of the masses of our country.”* -Thomas Sankara, Former President of the Republic of Burkina Faso 🇧🇫
I am truly thankful for the truth ppl are sharing in the comments. I have even played this video, I paused it to read the comments before doing so & already I can tell what a misconstrued detailed of Captain Sankara the video will give. You have saved me from wasting my time. Thank you all ♥️ Homeland or death, we will win!
He fought for justice, worked for justice and died protecting justice. His story is one of sadness and of inspiration. I hope we can uphold his legacy and free the nations one day of imperialist rule
And in deeper reading a cautionary tale of balancing the needs of the nation and the needs of the people vs the ideal image that leader wants for their nation and the people. It seems that he went too hard too fast and felt the need to repress those who got in his way of the vision he wanted.
But he became a dictator at the end. Executing people who threatened his power pretty much ends ones legitimacy as a leader. A shame too, as he was a promoter of womens' rights when other African countries still treat women as chattel.
@@WalkerRae0601 Sankara never executed anyone, the only two people who were executed in the history of Burkina Faso were done so in 1989, 2 years after Sankara's death and under the rule of Campaore
@Mwaniki Mwaniki Just because I am an American, doesn't mean I didn't live in Burkina as a child in the 80s. I lived in the Zone Du Bois, but my parents were away on vacation when the coup happened, so I was staying over at a French Canadian friend's house. We were playing in the front yard, when we heard shots and saw soldiers running past. We ran inside and hid under the table till things quieted down. Why do you find all this funny?
They don't mention burkina faso became self-suficient on food during his rule and even exported to other countries. They also don't mention he rejected all foreign aid and loans from FMI.
@Vasilijan Nikolovski A commie wrote a (popular) anti-authoritarian book. Thats the worst argument for communism i have ever seen, even a dictator can write a anti-authoritarian book
@@humbleclay79 *hmmm seems legit.* Communism killed millions. Capitalism killed millions, too. It’s truer to say totalism kills through ideology - when freedom of thought, expression, moral action, primal emotion, becomes programmed, automated, conditioned, revoked. Then people become dehumanized - just as they did in Soviet Russia, just as they are in America today.
The French and the cia were behind his assassination. My grandfather Adama Fofana worked under him and Blaise Compaore and he also planned the most recent coup to get Blaise out and then trained the current president Roch. I find it very strange that the fact that Blaise was hired by the French and CIA was left out. Blaise and Thomas were bestfriends like almost brothers when they were younger by the way and furthermore this happened in other countries too but the US and Europe need these smaller countries to survive because the land and soil is very very rich and valuable to them but this video left out so much information
It would be cool but he didn't even commit any crimes. The only things that can be considered wrong is him bannig trade unions, a creating revolutionary tribunals which sometimes were abused to imprison innocents. Other than that nothing really comes to mind. He's one of the communists/socialist that were really great people
What about a history Vs Margaret Thatcher? Or someone of whom has divided opinions on how they governed their country? That's usually the theme of each history vs
@@user-vs6oe8fl3m Him banning trade unions is not wrong. Not every system is a one-size-fits-all. That's the problems with Westerners who think their own solutions are the ideal ones for every thing, but societies are different, with different values and cultures. For Burkina Faso, it worked.
You never hear about good guys like him in mainstream media or other news or history outlets.. When people talk about all the violence and stuff under Mao and others they never talk about the good things under heroes like Comrade Sankara
it is extremely worth noting that his "authoritarian crackdowns" were in fact his feuding with the old guard chieftan powers. to put it shortly: the teacher's union--which was the union he cracked down on--was a part of old power structures that also went hand in hand with the chiefdoms and iirc the church. as was the press, who spent a large amount of time trying to disparage sankara's image, in service to the elites that owned them. you have to examine the conditions of burkina faso to really understand why such drastic measures were taken; i mean we're talking a poor nation, without much arable land, natural resources, or even a particularly large population, that was in the midst of a power struggle between a progressive admin, a thermidorian reaction, and a flat out conservative base. in truth, he was holding the flood back all on his own, and his "crackdowns" were just the manifestations of his direct fighting with the elites of his nation.
HE IS THOMAS SANKARA. HE DOES NOT NEED TO BE NICKNAMED AFTER ANYONE. If your intention is to continue to paint African leaders by a western brush - you are not helping us. Rest in power - Comrade Sankara.
TED-Ed shows that knowledge is beyond color, age, or gender. Your videos on great people of color help open the eyes of those who learn a mostly whitewashed storytelling of history in school. Thanks for being colorblind, TED-Ed!
Littered with biases regarding those so-called "capitalist peers". If you don't plan to be honest with the circumstances he had to face then don't bother. Preserve the integrity of Africa history!
Why does this video act like his “autocratic” moves were bad? Seconds before the video established that Sankara’s opposition was created because he rooted out corruption and took power from many corrupt elites. Then the elites turned on him (obviously) cause he took their power and gave it to the people. His “autocratic” actions were made to thwart the attempts at stealing power by those corrupt elites. You established that Sankara was a great leader who genuinely cared about his people and improved their lives. So when the elites that we established were corrupt and bad tried to take over his attempts to thwart them are obviously good. Burkina Faso was on a great path under Sankara but lost its was after his death. I fail to see how you can justify painting Sankara as bad in any way.
The video did not indicate that Sankara read Lenin (I'm sure he read both Stalin and Mao - because of his successes in agrarian policy) and was a Bolshevik. I think this was done on purpose, because TED-ed is a bourgeois organization and is afraid of Lenin and his legacy. Also, the video called the emancipation of women the most important part of Sankara's politics, although in reality this was not the case. The most important was the nationalization of the land, taking it away from the private property of local oppressors and transferring it to the ownership of the people. Moreover, the people were taught hygiene, discipline and work properly. Under Sankar, Burkina Faso became the only country in West Africa to solve the problem of hunger and to be fully self-sufficient in food. Sankara advocated a complete, imperative decolonization of West Africa, which would, of course, destroy France's economic well-being. Sankara is a great man, theoretically savvy in matters of economics, for whom no president of France since De Gaulle can hold a candle.
That France killed him doesn't bother me much. I'm more heartbroken by the fact he was short by his fellow countrymen. we Africans have no problem killing our own as long as we can profit from it.
Ted Ed, if you re-watch any of your old videos, I have a request: could you do a remake of this video and include the information about the French and the CIA being involved in his death so the people who noticed the inaccuracies don't riot?
@@ZaxorVonSkyler Not when you're fighting a constant war of survival against imperial and reactionary forces which will exploit it to extreme and dishonest degrees to destroy your nation.
Decent video but it is quite disappointing that this video didn’t frame Sankara’s leadership as a fight against imperialism/neocolonialism from France and even the US. This video frames it more so as he was not friendly to capitalist countries because he was a communist whereas there were people in government that were. I don’t think that Sankara would have had an issue working with capitalist countries especially if they were neighbors, the biggest issue was the imperialism of France and other European countries on Africa
His most important legacy was gender equality, are you serious?you think that was more important than the planting of trees, alleviation of poverty and non-reliance on as little aide as possible? We know gender equality was important but not as food because in most homes the women had some level of control
Karl Max was not a socialist leader. He was a theorist. Although it’s a common misconception about Marx, a basic error like that has no place in an educational video.
Nice job not mentioning this hero's true assassins: the French colonial empire. Also, increasingly authoritarian? Alienating from their capitalist peers? This whole thing is sounding more like fed ed than ted ed.
Well, unfortunately "history" is little more than a story told by one side. In cases like this the problem tend to be not consulting anyone that actually lived in Africa to know their opinions of African Leaders. (video was somewhat good up to the biased ending)
I can see why so many loved this man, I’d feel such pride for my country. I’m from the states and I’d love to have a political figure worthy of idolization. In my lifetime not a single one deserves admiration. None that has any power to bring about change, anyway.
He was not an idealist but a materialist. Idealists think that by merely changing our thoughts we can change the world (like writing a new constitution or proclaiming abstract ''freedoms and liberties''). Materialists, on the other hand, are actively trying to bring real freedoms and liberties by conducting real changes (like planting trees, vaccinating millions of people, building roads and hospitals, etc.).
@@ukasz-vs4nr Yes, maybe in the colloquial meaning of the word ''idealist'' in English, which means a visionary. :) But philosophically speaking, he is a materialist. He was a proponent of historical materialism, a philosophical school developed by Marx which analyzed history on the basis of material\economic conditions. For example, he believed that women are equal to men, not because of some random idea of equality, but because women were also human beings with their thoughts, aspirations, who are also willing to develop themselves and to work. This gets in contrast with idealist philosophies like the ones which a lot of conservatives promote who claim that women are kinda like biological machines who only get joy from breeding babies.
Nope, the French amd the CIA wanted him to die, Campaorè was just their little puppet, his people didn't backstab him, but he was one of the few people that could actually hurt that plague which capitalism is, he was too good for them to be kept alive.
@Nogent This is so superficial lmao, burkina Faso still misses Sankara, Campaore' will always be a corrupt leader, and yes, the Unites States and France are the bad guys, they have always been
@Nogent I am not saying that, I am saying that the worst was done by the imperialists, burkina faso was a very poor country but it was rebuilding itself slowly under Sankara, the French arrival changed everything, for the worst
@Nogent the french virtually "left" during the period im wich Sankara was in power, since he was a firm opposer to the colonial debt that had to be payed by the african people and to every western influence in his state
Sankara is NOT a dictator. He once was the only hope of his country and FRANCE destroyed that. All stories about African countries revolution are tragedy.
watching this it comes as no surprise to me that africa is one of the most ignored regions history wise which is a shame because these things should absolutely be known to more people
TED Ed: *releases history related video * r/HistoryMemes members: my memes shall rise once again! Thomas Sankara was a man of communistic culture and gender equality
he wasn't killed for his "authoritarianism", he was killed because he threatened french authority in Burkina Faso and his anti-corruption legislation made corrupt gov. officials lose money. French officials have admitted to having organized the assassination together with Compaore
There is no person in the world who is 100% good or bad. We all have different levels of both. You are seen by history as what phase of your actions had more weight, and it looks like in his case, the positive outweighs the negative.
Will such kind yet brave soul will ever return to Africa again? Maybe tomorrow, maybe never. Anyhow, this man’s hero. He lived for his people and died for his principles.
What Sankara managed to accomplish in his short reign is nothing short of astonishing. Food self-sufficiency, environmental progress, vaccination campaigns.
Show me the was great but some of the time you forced people to do things people don’t like being forced to do things, banning freeing press and all that stuff but that’s because of capitalism that’s because of himself
I do agree with the quote in the intro, so many lives of great individuals who contributed to their country only to be killed by those whom they are serving but greedy.
I am from Burkina Faso, and, I can tell you, this man is still revered and even called prophet by many of us. He was a blessing to our country and would have achieved more on the continent. His friend Compaore has recently been sentenced to life in prison and is in exile, but this is not enough to comfort us because we are still an underdeveloped country, which would have been different if Sankara was still alive. We are still crying for this big loss...
I am from Vietnam.
Salute to Comrade Sankara.
@@blueskyalchemist623 Thank you Comrade !
I'm a french marxist, and i'm so sorry
@@blueskyalchemist623 salute to sankara, comerade
I really wish the future Thomas Sankara 2.0 is born or is studying right now and follow Sankara's leadership
What about Sankara vaccinating 2,5 million burkinabe against polio, meningitis and measles in his first week in office, bruh? Not worth mentioning? I mean... thats unique in human history!
too communist propaganda for them lol
@@dharmawiguna3232 i mean knowing current political climate they just don't wanna get accused as commie lol
Johannes Heimler if man communist he can’t be good man (in ted-ed opinion)
Ditto oh noooo being accused is so bad!!!!!!! Time to skew facts in benefit of the status quo
achievements of anti imperialist nations don't count, only their minute failures that can be magnified a thousand times do.
Sankara was one of the best leaders Africa ever had. An honest, principled man that did the best for his people. Shame France killed him.
France didn't really kill him, they made it clear they didn't like him but it was African traitors that wanted power for themselves.
Him and gadafi
@@JP-br4mx no. Gadafi was a mass murderer.
@@JP-br4mx and nasser
@@JP-br4mx fr. The west were scared of what Gaddafi would show - Socialist countries work for the people.
THIS VIDEO IS FALSE. Sankara was not killed because he was unpopular in his country he was killed because he was unpopular with FRANCE. It was FRANCE together with Blaise Compaore that killed sankara. The people of Burkina faso loved him and his leadership style. THATS WHY AFRICANS MUST HAVE THEIR OWN PLATFORMS TO TELL THEIR STORIES.
@Texan White Panther Just because you read something online doesn’t mean it is true if a few high ranking officials didn’t like him they could have easily killed him why would France want to kill a leader of one of their formal colonies they couldn’t have taken over so what would the point be if it was anyone it would be the us but even that is unlikely
@@catmixer4450 because France would benefit from the removal of a socialist leader, because France wanted, just like any other imperialist power, to enslave the people of its colonies, and a liberation such as Sankara's went directly against that
@@catmixer4450 "why would france want ot kill a leader" for the same reason, the CIA killed Salvador Allende and put Agusto Pinochet in his place
@@catmixer4450 they do it because they KNOW their system works and they see that fact as a threat to their capitalist lobbyist oligarchies. they murdered thomas, just like they murdered ernesto guevara, just like their 638 assassination attempts on fidel castro. its the same reason they spread misinformation about cuba being a totalitarian dictatorship when in fact it is a higher functioning democracy than the united states'.
@@olofpalme3662 that is false about cuba. Cuba's Castro nearly killed all of us during the Cuban missile crisis and the us had every right to be mad a Castro because he could have hosted a Soviet invasion if he wanted to. Also 🇧🇫 is now a close ally to the west and even Vietnam which is a communist country is now closer to the us with both countries have positive public views towards each other. 🇧🇫🇻🇳 show an example that nations with a capitalist leader and a socialist leader and still be friends and tolerate eachother but Castro did the opposite and made it more difficult for a reconciliation between the us and cuba.
He was also promoting public health by vaccinating 2.5 million children in one week
"His legacy is complicated"
People like kissinger get nobel prize, and thomas sunkara's legacy is complicated?
Oh no Kissinger's story is rather simple....he was a war criminal...idk much about Sankara yet but he seems like most people. Having positive ideas and even managing to make progress in his country in such a short period of time although I still know very little about him
Nobel peace prize is a joke. Obama got it weeks after inauguration when he did nothing. It is laughable...
@@scl1332 Yeah, that was the point of Ronit's comment. The corrupt US gov & international capitalist ruling class literally rewarded a war criminal who's responsible for nearly 4 million civilian deaths, while placing doubt on Sankara, who actually helped, improved & saved lives. 😐
you wanting to be accepted into a white place is complicated in itself.....the controls the have over us is as simple as that "ACCEPTANCE"...FUX there trophy's...books etc make you own!!
That's how it is
I usually love TED-ED videos... I'm borderline addicted to them but this doesn't sit right with me.
They finally told a story about someone I love and have spent most of my adulthood studying.
A lot of Key information has been left out.
- His Name in the Title
- The mass vaccination drives
- The Country going from being dependent on AID to being self-sufficient in food in under 4 years
- The obvious involvement of France in his assassination.
france had nothing to do with his assassination stop lying
I AM SO GLAD I RAN TO THE COMMENTS AFTER WATCHING!!! I can’t wait to learn more, because my goodness I was immediately taken by this man’s story, and now I’m seeing y’all’s details???
And also why he enacted his autocratic policies- the teachers wanted their privileges and he needed to defend himself from a coup.
Alright let's forget the CIA and french involvement in his assassination
Pedro Henryque TRUE!!!!!
Pedro Henryque are you making excuses for a communist dictator? Africa’s Che Guevara??? Do you have proof of the “CIA and french involvement” in the assassination.. or is everything around you just one big conspiracy which explains your failings as an individual?
@@endoftheroad10090 I was there when it happened, the French did back the coup, and he was a great leader.
@@endoftheroad10090 Thomas Sankara was no Communist Dictator, his policies have worked in Nordic countries. CIA and French involvement are also no conspiracy theories, Thomas Sankara and Patrice Lumumba are prime examples of what happens when progressive socialist leaders arise in Africa.
Neocolonialism in Africa has seen the British, French and the Americans pillage Africa with impunity.
@@endoftheroad10090 dude, it's literally a known fact that the CIA worked with many people, including dictators, to stop communism, and committed multiple assassinations in the process
Does "Alienate capitalist countries" mean "Stopping colonial practices from imperialist countries"?
The president is the one who benefited from them, not the people. It's just that you can do a lot with cold war arms grants.
@Mwaniki Mwaniki No, more like he was bribed.
i think it means allowing investment
@@robertjarman3703 He lived modestly I don't know what you are talking about. When he died he left a fridge, a bike and basic items
@@user-vs6oe8fl3m I meant the guy who Sankara replaced.
Why isn’t Sankara’s name in the title? Bizarre.
@Lillither But TED is more about educating on a variety of topics. Its main goal is not to get clicks, so they should have put his name as a sign of recognizing the man , irrespective of the views the video would garner.
Adeeb Ibrahim Unfortunately, however much we like to believe in just the cause, getting views in this space matters
@Lillither that's true.
@@adeebibrahim6349 we can all see you lack understanding clearly. SMH the goal is to educate
Fun fact, on top of Thomas and Blaise being close friends, during their time in the army they also formed a band and wrote a good amount of music together. So Thomas Sankara is probably the only person in history to be ousted in a coup led by a former band mate. Also, the band was called Tout-a-Coup
Et tu Brute?
Just like one of my Japanese animes!
The irony.
Irony
lol, you cant script this stuff.... wow
I love Ted-Ed to bits, but this video is another example of why African stories need to be told by African voices!
The lady speaking is African American
@@bletrick3352like he said, by africans. shes could have been an african chinese and it would'nt have changed a thing. the main point is viewing the said stories from the leneses of an indegenous person
@@bletrick3352point flew right over your head
This is so fascinating as a Burkinabè! Sankara used to be my grandma’s brother in law
Are you for real?
Sally M. You could have just said your grandpas brother
@@amireinav1 Brother in law is not a brother...
Fine brother in law means your spouses brother...
@@amireinav1 Which is not the same thing as brother
Ya'll had me up until the revisionist description of his "increasingly authoritarian" policies. All governments are authoritarian in nature, how else are laws and regulations enacted? Rest in power, Comrade Sankara.
can't trust liberal medias to tell the story of people like Sankara
I agree. Look at the role the Murdoch Press has in subverting democracy in the United Kingdom? They were probably owned by the French.
Exactly this is su h poor coverage
Authoritarianism is not a binary of presence of authority and none thereof. You can measure it by many factors and attribute a severity of it. The authoritarianism of, for example, north korea, is much greater than of the paris commune, or pretty much every other currently existing country.
Also, bad=revisionist is simply silly.
Kinda. But I agree. I honestly think that of he kept going, he could of changed how people see Communism. If played correctly like this man did, It could work. The only reason it failed was because french loyalist didn't like him.
*”Our revolution is not a public-speaking tournament. Our revolution is not a battle of fine phrases. Our revolution is not simply for spouting slogans that are no more than signals used by manipulators trying to use them as catchwords, as codewords, as a foil for their own display. Our revolution is, and should continue to be, the collective effort of revolutionaries to transform reality, to improve the concrete situation of the masses of our country.”*
-Thomas Sankara, Former President of the Republic of Burkina Faso 🇧🇫
达瓦里氏！
I am truly thankful for the truth ppl are sharing in the comments. I have even played this video, I paused it to read the comments before doing so & already I can tell what a misconstrued detailed of Captain Sankara the video will give. You have saved me from wasting my time. Thank you all ♥️
Homeland or death, we will win!
This media can never tell the stories of Sankara correctly. No one will give you an education for liberation.
Based
He fought for justice, worked for justice and died protecting justice. His story is one of sadness and of inspiration. I hope we can uphold his legacy and free the nations one day of imperialist rule
And in deeper reading a cautionary tale of balancing the needs of the nation and the needs of the people vs the ideal image that leader wants for their nation and the people. It seems that he went too hard too fast and felt the need to repress those who got in his way of the vision he wanted.
But he became a dictator at the end. Executing people who threatened his power pretty much ends ones legitimacy as a leader. A shame too, as he was a promoter of womens' rights when other African countries still treat women as chattel.
WalkerRae0601 When it comes to women’s rights, Africa has historically been ahead of its time, until recently.
@@WalkerRae0601 Sankara never executed anyone, the only two people who were executed in the history of Burkina Faso were done so in 1989, 2 years after Sankara's death and under the rule of Campaore
@@WalkerRae0601 Lies
Certainly, one of Africa's finest Son ! A true Revolutionary. I love this Brother.
I was 3 blocks from his residence when he was killed. Glad his legacy lives on.
Mwaniki Mwaniki definitely not true
@Mwaniki Mwaniki Non, je suis American.
Do an r/casualama
@Mwaniki Mwaniki Just because I am an American, doesn't mean I didn't live in Burkina as a child in the 80s. I lived in the Zone Du Bois, but my parents were away on vacation when the coup happened, so I was staying over at a French Canadian friend's house. We were playing in the front yard, when we heard shots and saw soldiers running past. We ran inside and hid under the table till things quieted down. Why do you find all this funny?
@Mwaniki Mwaniki Oh, OK, cool. Are you Burkinabe?
Finally people will understand my profile picture
Ahaha
Solidarity my brother
Lol but this video don’t say everything he did what he did in only 4 years
Based
Indeed
Sankara was possibly the greatest leader this world will ever know. Its a tragedy that he is snubed out of history.
Dont forget Sankara spared his comrades by willingly giving himself over to Camporares assassins. RIP to a real one.
They don't mention burkina faso became self-suficient on food during his rule and even exported to other countries. They also don't mention he rejected all foreign aid and loans from FMI.
One of the best leaders who fought against imperialism and who built a nation
And then became corrupt because of his Marxist ideologies.
@@humbleclay79 bro u got something against Commies? I see you replying everywhere...
@@ARCISX I don't know, maybe the 50+ million people that have died in the name of communism has something to do with it.
@Vasilijan Nikolovski A commie wrote a (popular) anti-authoritarian book.
Thats the worst argument for communism i have ever seen, even a dictator can write a anti-authoritarian book
@@humbleclay79 *hmmm seems legit.*
Communism killed millions. Capitalism killed millions, too. It’s truer to say totalism kills through ideology - when freedom of thought, expression, moral action, primal emotion, becomes programmed, automated, conditioned, revoked. Then people become dehumanized - just as they did in Soviet Russia, just as they are in America today.
This seriously downplays the efforts of the so called 'developed' western nations to get rid of Thomas Sankara and his revolutionary government.
The French and the cia were behind his assassination. My grandfather Adama Fofana worked under him and Blaise Compaore and he also planned the most recent coup to get Blaise out and then trained the current president Roch. I find it very strange that the fact that Blaise was hired by the French and CIA was left out. Blaise and Thomas were bestfriends like almost brothers when they were younger by the way and furthermore this happened in other countries too but the US and Europe need these smaller countries to survive because the land and soil is very very rich and valuable to them but this video left out so much information
Muammar Gaddafi backed the coup too.
He is not Africa’s che guevara. Thomas Sankara is Africa’s Thomas Sankara. Don’t compare our heroes to people that are not our heroes.
not gonna talk about the CIA involvement in his assassination lol
A history vs sancara would be extremely cool
Bro how'd you spell his name wrong it's literally in the video description
It would be cool but he didn't even commit any crimes. The only things that can be considered wrong is him bannig trade unions, a creating revolutionary tribunals which sometimes were abused to imprison innocents. Other than that nothing really comes to mind. He's one of the communists/socialist that were really great people
White Dot exactly
What about a history Vs Margaret Thatcher? Or someone of whom has divided opinions on how they governed their country? That's usually the theme of each history vs
@@user-vs6oe8fl3m Him banning trade unions is not wrong. Not every system is a one-size-fits-all. That's the problems with Westerners who think their own solutions are the ideal ones for every thing, but societies are different, with different values and cultures. For Burkina Faso, it worked.
You never hear about good guys like him in mainstream media or other news or history outlets.. When people talk about all the violence and stuff under Mao and others they never talk about the good things under heroes like Comrade Sankara
It doesn’t fit their narrative
Since when was a Marxist dictator a good guy?
it is extremely worth noting that his "authoritarian crackdowns" were in fact his feuding with the old guard chieftan powers. to put it shortly: the teacher's union--which was the union he cracked down on--was a part of old power structures that also went hand in hand with the chiefdoms and iirc the church. as was the press, who spent a large amount of time trying to disparage sankara's image, in service to the elites that owned them. you have to examine the conditions of burkina faso to really understand why such drastic measures were taken; i mean we're talking a poor nation, without much arable land, natural resources, or even a particularly large population, that was in the midst of a power struggle between a progressive admin, a thermidorian reaction, and a flat out conservative base. in truth, he was holding the flood back all on his own, and his "crackdowns" were just the manifestations of his direct fighting with the elites of his nation.
Sankara was assassinated bc he defied French imperialist rule. The people of Burkina Faso loved him. May him and his revolution live forever!
HE IS THOMAS SANKARA. HE DOES NOT NEED TO BE NICKNAMED AFTER ANYONE. If your intention is to continue to paint African leaders by a western brush - you are not helping us. Rest in power - Comrade Sankara.
TED-Ed shows that knowledge is beyond color, age, or gender. Your videos on great people of color help open the eyes of those who learn a mostly whitewashed storytelling of history in school. Thanks for being colorblind, TED-Ed!
Should’ve they added the French-backed assasins because apparently, the French killed Sankara in reality.
Littered with biases regarding those so-called "capitalist peers". If you don't plan to be honest with the circumstances he had to face then don't bother. Preserve the integrity of Africa history!
All the comrades in the comments have revived my faith in humanity.
Hes not african che guevera , hes THOMAS SANKARA.....
This video doesn't do Sankara the justice he deserves.
Why does this video act like his “autocratic” moves were bad? Seconds before the video established that Sankara’s opposition was created because he rooted out corruption and took power from many corrupt elites. Then the elites turned on him (obviously) cause he took their power and gave it to the people. His “autocratic” actions were made to thwart the attempts at stealing power by those corrupt elites. You established that Sankara was a great leader who genuinely cared about his people and improved their lives. So when the elites that we established were corrupt and bad tried to take over his attempts to thwart them are obviously good. Burkina Faso was on a great path under Sankara but lost its was after his death. I fail to see how you can justify painting Sankara as bad in any way.
Sankara was murdered by those who wished to keep Africa in chains.
The video did not indicate that Sankara read Lenin (I'm sure he read both Stalin and Mao - because of his successes in agrarian policy) and was a Bolshevik. I think this was done on purpose, because TED-ed is a bourgeois organization and is afraid of Lenin and his legacy.
Also, the video called the emancipation of women the most important part of Sankara's politics, although in reality this was not the case.
The most important was the nationalization of the land, taking it away from the private property of local oppressors and transferring it to the ownership of the people. Moreover, the people were taught hygiene, discipline and work properly. Under Sankar, Burkina Faso became the only country in West Africa to solve the problem of hunger and to be fully self-sufficient in food.
Sankara advocated a complete, imperative decolonization of West Africa, which would, of course, destroy France's economic well-being.
Sankara is a great man, theoretically savvy in matters of economics, for whom no president of France since De Gaulle can hold a candle.
@Nogent Cope faulty Westerner
That France killed him doesn't bother me much. I'm more heartbroken by the fact he was short by his fellow countrymen. we Africans have no problem killing our own as long as we can profit from it.
I could write a 10 page essay about the inaccuracies in this video
Ted Ed, if you re-watch any of your old videos, I have a request: could you do a remake of this video and include the information about the French and the CIA being involved in his death so the people who noticed the inaccuracies don't riot?
lies the french weren't involved in that
RUclips is the only place where 15-30 people are first at same time
Lol no offense but is your last name a legit one or did you just make it up(ykwim)?
@@shivakumargujjari it's a Maharashtraian sir-name, hope u r a indian
That's how distributed systems work 😬
@@shivakumargujjari ROFL
He would be really good for a history vs
dont know why they stopped
Not really, he's pretty unambiguously good
@@steveharvold I mean ending freedom of press is bad.
@@ZaxorVonSkyler Not when you're fighting a constant war of survival against imperial and reactionary forces which will exploit it to extreme and dishonest degrees to destroy your nation.
@@steveharvold that's an example of doing a bad thing for a good reason. See, it's perfect for a history vs.
Decent video but it is quite disappointing that this video didn’t frame Sankara’s leadership as a fight against imperialism/neocolonialism from France and even the US. This video frames it more so as he was not friendly to capitalist countries because he was a communist whereas there were people in government that were. I don’t think that Sankara would have had an issue working with capitalist countries especially if they were neighbors, the biggest issue was the imperialism of France and other European countries on Africa
Probably because Ted is a neoliberal capitalist organisation
Remember he was a communist, a marxist-leninist, that's what helps the ones with revolutionary ideas- a revolutionary framework
"Better to die fighting for freedom then be a prisoner all the days of your life."~ Bob Marley.
His most important legacy was gender equality, are you serious?you think that was more important than the planting of trees, alleviation of poverty and non-reliance on as little aide as possible? We know gender equality was important but not as food because in most homes the women had some level of control
liberation of women was a key part of his career
This is the best way to learn history
Wake up. This video exalts Marxism and doesn't tell you the whole truth of Burkina Faso, including Blaise Compaoré's corruption.
@@humbleclay79 4:08, but this video is not about burkina faso or blaise comparoé
@@FelixHdez yet the video does mention both...
@phoenixkhost dictator who git elected lmao, neo-liberal bootlicker
Not really, they forgot to mention many things, guess they were afraid to show him in a way too good light
Rest in Power, A man who wouldn't let his people be dominated.
Karl Max was not a socialist leader. He was a theorist. Although it’s a common misconception about Marx, a basic error like that has no place in an educational video.
this video has many lies
Love from Kerala India💕 Thomas Sankara was a true revolutionary and a great man ✊
You must be a CPI supporter
Yeah CPI Member
Everyone there is so much biased
Nice job not mentioning this hero's true assassins: the French colonial empire. Also, increasingly authoritarian? Alienating from their capitalist peers? This whole thing is sounding more like fed ed than ted ed.
His story reminds me of Julius Caesar.
Only he was anti-colonialism not for it.
Et tu, Blaise?
And you, blaise
Ted-ed keeps finding these hidden gems. Thanks for bringing Sankara to the forefront
Dude donated $10 million to #teamtrees years before Mr.Beast. That's a real progressivist alright.
Well, unfortunately "history" is little more than a story told by one side.
In cases like this the problem tend to be not consulting anyone that actually lived in Africa to know their opinions of African Leaders.
(video was somewhat good up to the biased ending)
He was the greatest leader that ever cane out of Africa
I can see why so many loved this man, I’d feel such pride for my country. I’m from the states and I’d love to have a political figure worthy of idolization. In my lifetime not a single one deserves admiration. None that has any power to bring about change, anyway.
One of the greatest leaders in history, you can disagree with many of his views, but no one can disagree that he was in fact an idealist and visionary
He was not an idealist but a materialist. Idealists think that by merely changing our thoughts we can change the world (like writing a new constitution or proclaiming abstract ''freedoms and liberties'').
Materialists, on the other hand, are actively trying to bring real freedoms and liberties by conducting real changes (like planting trees, vaccinating millions of people, building roads and hospitals, etc.).
@@awesomebearaudiobooks well he was both to be honest
@@ukasz-vs4nr Yes, maybe in the colloquial meaning of the word ''idealist'' in English, which means a visionary. :)
But philosophically speaking, he is a materialist. He was a proponent of historical materialism, a philosophical school developed by Marx which analyzed history on the basis of material\economic conditions.
For example, he believed that women are equal to men, not because of some random idea of equality, but because women were also human beings with their thoughts, aspirations, who are also willing to develop themselves and to work.
This gets in contrast with idealist philosophies like the ones which a lot of conservatives promote who claim that women are kinda like biological machines who only get joy from breeding babies.
U didn't mention how the France government assassination
Just from the title alone I knew this video was Ghana be a good one!
Get out.
Uganda be in big trouble
Everyone, do the Congo.
Did you really have Togo there?
Leave US alone 😔 🙁
Lies of capitalism
Rest in Power Comrade Sankara.
We need more Thomas Sankaras...
Sakkara was not killed for he is a dictator. Shame on you TED. And shame on you, French officials.
Sankara's legacy is NOT complicated, it is pan African, it is only complicated to a capitalist, imperialist mind.
RIP Sankara really sad how is people backstabbed him.
Nope, the French amd the CIA wanted him to die, Campaorè was just their little puppet, his people didn't backstab him, but he was one of the few people that could actually hurt that plague which capitalism is, he was too good for them to be kept alive.
@Nogent This is so superficial lmao, burkina Faso still misses Sankara, Campaore' will always be a corrupt leader, and yes, the Unites States and France are the bad guys, they have always been
@Nogent I am not saying that, I am saying that the worst was done by the imperialists, burkina faso was a very poor country but it was rebuilding itself slowly under Sankara, the French arrival changed everything, for the worst
@Nogent the french virtually "left" during the period im wich Sankara was in power, since he was a firm opposer to the colonial debt that had to be payed by the african people and to every western influence in his state
@Nogent where are the sources of your statement? Are you trying to justify these oppressors?
Bodies are mortal; Ideas are immortal 🔥
Thank you, Ted-ed, for helping me learn about this. I never would've known about such great people without y'all :))
Ignoring the above comment, you should really read more. Knowledge is power!
Baseness is the password of the Blaise Compaoré, Nobility is the epitaph of the Sankara.Vive la grande révolution communiste!
He not only was a revolutionary, he was a hero.
Sankara killed by the French
Rest in peace! Thomas Sankara, murdered today in 1987 may we continue your legacy 🙏❤️
Sankara is NOT a dictator. He once was the only hope of his country and FRANCE destroyed that.
All stories about African countries revolution are tragedy.
Thank you Ted-Ed. We needed this! Can't say how happy I am because of this video. Thank you!
**Every 60 seconds in Africa a minute passes**
Legenda em português aí mano
coinmanbank
We can’t.
**Because that’s a FACT!!!**
@@AK-tc1wq que mano? Fala português
Sankara was a great revolutionary. People can die, but Marxism Leninism will always live on!
@SirVixIsVexed who told u
Great video, thank you! Any thoughts on doing Patrice Lumumba next?
They should also do one on
Sylvanus Olympio
Exactly what I was thinking! R.I.P.
Saw Thomas Sankara and liked it before it started playing.
rip sankara, too good for this world
watching this it comes as no surprise to me that africa is one of the most ignored regions history wise which is a shame because these things should absolutely be known to more people
Yeah, algeria, morocco, arabia have a lot history
Salute from China. Workers of the World, Unite!
TED Ed:
*releases history related video *
r/HistoryMemes members:
my memes shall rise once again!
Thomas Sankara was a man of communistic culture and gender equality
Satou Kazuma And a autocrastic personality
r/HistoryMemes members tend to have strong anti-communist sentiments.
@@cockatyusha2359 it changes when you get Isekai'd
Gender equality is a communist ideal*
Race mixing is a communist ideal*
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Little_Rock_integration_protest.jpg
he wasn't killed for his "authoritarianism", he was killed because he threatened french authority in Burkina Faso and his anti-corruption legislation made corrupt gov. officials lose money. French officials have admitted to having organized the assassination together with Compaore
proof ?
Man, this guy was great. He wanted gender equality, planted trees...he was amazing
There is no person in the world who is 100% good or bad. We all have different levels of both. You are seen by history as what phase of your actions had more weight, and it looks like in his case, the positive outweighs the negative.
I feel so proud to hear that he was inspired by people from my coutnry.
Will such kind yet brave soul will ever return to Africa again?
Maybe tomorrow, maybe never.
Anyhow, this man’s hero. He lived for his people and died for his principles.
He may have died, but his ideal shall forever live on.
Rest in peace, comrade Sankara
Half of this is false, Sankara was best for Burkina Faso
Thank you Ted•ed for bringing Sankara alive 👏🏿
This is a superb video
Thomas Sankara was the greatest leader in Africa change my mind
What Sankara managed to accomplish in his short reign is nothing short of astonishing. Food self-sufficiency, environmental progress, vaccination campaigns.
Show me the was great but some of the time you forced people to do things people don’t like being forced to do things, banning freeing press and all that stuff but that’s because of capitalism that’s because of himself
LEGENDAAAAAAAAAAA
Calma cara, demora um pouquinho mesmo, mas você pode melhorar suas habilidades na língua inglesa vendo as legendas em inglês
@@DJuuJ não mano
@@antimonarquista3590 você só tem a ganhar com isso
@@DJuuJ eu sou burro
@@antimonarquista3590 cara, todos são burros, mas alguns são mais burros que outros, se você tá aqui, com certeza o seu nível é alto
I do agree with the quote in the intro, so many lives of great individuals who contributed to their country only to be killed by those whom they are serving but greedy.
Today is the 33rd Martyrdom of Comrade Thomas Sankara. Long Live African Cheguevara ❤️
Very informative and easy to follow video, and the animation is amazing❤️