After two
successful youth-led revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, yet another
imperialist-backed African dictatorship is in crisis. Decades of
injustice and repression are now being confronted by a courageous and
inspiring youth movement in the West African country and former
French colony Burkina Faso. The victory of the youth there will have
significant consequences for the West African struggle for peoples’
democracy and true independence from foreign control.
After a Burkinabe
student activist was murdered on Feb. 20 in an apparent act of police
brutality and the circumstances of his death covered up by the
government, the pent-up frustrations of Burkinabe youth erupted into
an unquenchable fire for justice. Peaceful demonstrations demanding
accountability for the murdered student activist were met with fierce
repression from the government, and several deaths ensued. Since
then, leaders of student unions have gone missing, and the systematic
violent repression of youth protests has reinforced the barbaric
nature of the regime.
French and American
authorities continue to back the Burkinabe government and have so far
reiterated their support for President Blaise Compaoré even as their
militaries mount a vicious bombing campaign in Libya in the name of
”human rights.”
The unpopular
president of Burkina Faso, Compaoré came to power in October 1987 in
a counter-revolutionary coup that culminated in the assassination of
legendary Burkinabe visionary Thomas Sankara. Decades later, Compaoré
and a small ruling clique of reactionaries remain in power with
Western support.
Compaoré has been
a go-between for European and American corporations and their war
machines. In a continent plagued with weak leaders dependent on the
patronage of Western powers, Compaoré is one of the African leaders
most closely aligned with the grand neocolonial theft of Africa’s
natural resources and its prostration before the feet of foreign
companies. Using his connections to the Western powers, rigged
elections, constitutional changes and outright repression, Compaoré
has maintained a firm grip on power to the detriment of Burkina
Faso’s working people and especially its youth.
Burkinabe people
suffer an unemployment rate of 77 percent, and about half the
population lives below the official poverty line. The high cost of
living, including food, electricity and housing, have left young
people desperately poor in Burkina Faso even as elites have made
fortunes from lucrative contracts with transnational corporations.
The neoliberal
reforms initiated by Compaoré since 1991 eliminated most government
support for the population. While in recent years, governments in
poor countries like Bolivia and Nicaragua have seen rapid progress in
increasing literacy rates (the ability of adults to read and write),
Burkina Faso remains the country with the lowest level of literacy in
the world. Life expectancy is at a low of 53 years old. The only
reason for these lagging outcomes is that social development is
simply not a priority of the neocolonial government in Ouagadougou.
Despite the
repression and harassment of the authorities, the youth movement took
an increasingly militant character as young people burned police
stations and ruling party office buildings and targeted regional
authorities in several cities, including Ouagadougou, Koupéla, Leo,
Dori and Gower. Many youth leaders demand a complete end to the
autocratic regime itself, which likely unnerves Western governments
that have lent support to the worst dictatorships on the continent
when it serves imperialist interests.
In order to reduce
tensions and avoid an Egyptian- or Tunisian-type revolution, the
Compaoré regime established a committee of elders and traditional
leaders to meet with student associations and de-escalate the growing
youth movement.
Today, however, the
Burkinabe youth are still in the streets. The success of their
movement rests on whether their fervor for change spreads to other
sections of the population and regions of the country. Like their
counterparts in North Africa, it is only a matter of time before the
Burkinabe youth are victorious against the Western-backed Compaoré
dictatorship. The people of the United States must stand with and
defend the Burkinabe youth in their struggles and demand an end to
the U.S. government’s support for reactionary regimes in the African
continent.
Long live the
spirit of Thomas Sankara! Victory to the youth of Burkina Faso!
