Tag: burkina-faso

As the title of this article suggests, the world wide revolutionary movement has ‘’touched down’’, on the ‘’shores’’ of Africa. In particular, within the country of Burkina Faso, people are in motion, ’’rising up’’, demanding change, taking control of their lives, setting the example for other countries to follow, and not just within Africa. This calls for a little explanation. 

Burkina Faso is a rather small, land locked country, in western Africa. Ouagadougou is the capital city. The country has a population of possibly twenty four million people, many of whom, perhaps forty percent, are classified as ‘’living below the poverty line’’. It is considered to be one of the poorest countries of the world.

Even though the country is considered to be ‘’poverty stricken’’, it is also a very ‘’rich country’’, in terms of natural resources, especially minerals. These include gold, manganese, silver, copper, phosphate and diamonds. Which in no way changes the fact that most people live in grinding poverty!

According to the internet, the country is located within the ‘’Sehel Region’’, which is a  ‘’biogeographic region in Africa, the ‘transition zone between the more humid Sudanian savannahs to the south, and the drier Sahara to the north’’, a place where ‘’desert meets grass land’’. It has two seasons, a short ‘’rainy season’’, and a long ‘’dry season’’. People who live in the Sehel Region ‘’rely heavily on farming and herding’’. This is to say that most people are family farmers, or peasants, if you prefer, as farming frequently includes herding.

The Sehel Region extends from the Atlantic Ocean, in the west, to the Red Sea in the east. It passes through the countries of Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Sudan and Eritrea.

Incidentally, I should mention that those who live in Burkina Faso, refer to themselves as ‘’Burkinaabe’’. 

Also, for the benefit of those who are just now becoming politically active, the term ‘’sovereignty’’, means ‘’the power that a country has to govern itself’’, while the prefix ‘’neo’’ means ‘’new or recent’’. As well, the term ‘’infra structure’’, refers to the ‘’fixed installations that a country needs, in order to function. These include roads, bridges, dams, water and sewage systems, railways and subways, and airports and harbours’’. All according to the internet, a most valuable source of information.  

Also according to the internet, unconfirmed reports mention that the countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, would like to merge, becoming one country.

For many years, Burkina Faso was a French colony, which is the reason most of the people speak French. It was only in 1960, that the country was able to achieve independence. 

Now to the subject of the article.

In response to this revolutionary uprising, within the country of Burkina Faso, a great many people have risen to the occasion. One man, in particular, has distinguished himself. That man is Captain Ibrahim Traore, a former military man, a ‘’soldier turned head of state’’. He came to power in 2022, becoming the leader of Burkina Faso.

Traore is absolutely opposed to colonial influence. He has pledged to make Burkina Faso self sufficient in food production, to rebuild the infrastructure of the country, and to develop their own industry. Without any input from the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund!

What is more, he is succeeding in doing just that!

In a video, posted on the internet, titled ‘’The Ibrahim Traore Speech That Shook the World- Ten Million Views and Counting’’, Traore did a fine job of documenting the manner in which the imperialists crush and exploit their former colonies. This is referred to as Neo- Colonialism:

 ‘’Colonialism did not end, it changed shape. You  used to come and occupy our lands, now you come in established companies. You used to take by force, now you make agreements. You used to rule with the whip, now you rule with credit… the invisible, the secret deals, offshore accounts, transfer pricing tricks. Every year, 88 billion dollars in illegal money flows out of Africa…system of create corruption, bribe our leaders, open offshore accounts, promise them a life of luxury, send the children to your schools, make deals, get 50 or 99 year concessions, ask for tax exemptions, be exempt from environmental rules, ignore labour rights, control the infrastructure, take over ports, airports, railways, but only from the mine to the harbour. Do not build roads to the villages, do not bring electricity to schools. Provide security, set up private security companies, arm them, declare protests illegal, silence the media, suppress opposing voices, serve internal unrest news to international media. This is how the system works, has been for 100 years. You do not see the system …France’s system in Africa is the CFA Franc. Fourteen African countries still use French colonial currency. Fifty percent of these countries central bank reserves still sit in the French treasury. France pays negative interest to this money, so we pay France to use our own money’’. 

In this, he documented the precise manner in which the French imperialists, the bourgeoisie, exploit and crush their former colony. 

This was followed by a helpful comparison to the British system of imperialism, which he describes as ‘’more sophisticated’’, with ‘’London as the world’s money laundering centre’’. 

America was not spared. As he put it, ‘’America’s system is Africom, Africa Command, 46 military bases on the continent. Official purpose, security. Real purpose, resource control. Drones in our airspace every day. Listening devices everywhere. They say fighting terrorism, but it is not terrorists. It is peoples leaders who are targeted.’’

This was followed by a reference to the ‘’new kid on the block’’, the latest country to ‘’try their hand’’ at imperialism, which is China: ‘’They say build infrastructure, give credit, but in exchange for what? Ninety nine year port concessions, mining rights, agricultural lands, debt trap diplomacy. Ask Sri Lanka, ask Zambia, and you write about none of this. Why? Because you are not free press. You are corporate press. Your bosses are billionaires’’.

Traore just did a fine job of documenting the manner in which the imperialists ‘’fleece’’ their colonies. In fact, Lenin referred to this, in his classic work, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. In Chapter VI, The Division of the World Among the Great Powers, he stated:

‘’Since we are speaking of colonial policy in the period of capitalist imperialism, it must be observed that finance capital and its corresponding foreign policy, which reduces itself to the struggle of the Great Powers for the economic and political division of the world, give rise to a number of transitional forms of national dependence. The division of the world into two principle groups- of colony-owning countries on the one hand and colonies on the other- is not the only typical feature of this period; there is also a variety of forms of dependence; countries which, formally, are politically independent, but which are, in fact, enmeshed in the net of financial and diplomatic dependence.’’ (italics by Lenin)

Different imperialists use different methods of ‘’fleecing their colonies’’. Yet the end result is the same. The people in those colonies, such as Burkina Faso, are condemned to a life of poverty.

As well, the ‘’mainstream press’’ makes no mention of this. Of course not! Because they are not ‘’free press’’, but ‘’corporate press’’. The journalists are careful to write that which their bosses want them to write. Those bosses are multi billionaires! It is not too surprising that the journalist flatter the corporations!

At least, that was the way it used to be! But now, things are starting to change. The people of Burkina Faso, led by Traore, are rising up, kicking out their imperialist masters, taking control of their lives. Both the World Bank, and the IMF, International Monetary Fund, have been given their ‘’walking papers’’. They are ‘’persona non grata’’, not welcome! 

In fact, a ‘’specialized audit commission’’, within Burkina Faso, has documented the fact that the country of Burkina Faso has, over the course of several decades, paid back interest on loans totalling nearly fifteen times the original principle! Many of these projects, such as schools, hospitals and roads, existed only on paper!

There is a reason for the wide spread food shortages- hunger!- poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, and lack of infrastructure. The loans, also known as ‘’foreign aid’’, which the World Bank and IMF, are so anxious to give, come with ‘’strings attached’’.

These ‘’conditions’’ for the loan, make sure that the African leaders who accept these loans, end up saddled with huge interest payments. Further, as a result of ‘’concessions’’, those same leaders lose control of their governments, as well as their economies. 

As Traore stated, as he declined an offer of a loan of 100 billion dollars, ‘’We will not trade our sovereignty for a lifeline. We are not beggars of the world. We are builders of a new Africa.’’

In the interest of ‘’practicing what he preaches’’, Traore led the ‘’Self Reliant Construction Campaign’’. The first project was the building of a 350 km highway, connecting the two biggest cities in Burkina Faso, that of Ouagadougou with Bobo-Dioulasso. The economists, of the World Bank, estimated that it would cost several billion dollars, and take perhaps several years to complete. 

Instead, in the space of 90 days, 300,000 people completed this highway, at an expense of a mere fifty thousands dollars! The sheer strength of the revolutionary uprising!

As Traore phrased it, ‘’A silent revolution that is shaking the entire African continent. A revolution the west does not want you to know about, because it completely shatters every rule about foreign aid and development, and what a poor nation can do, for itself. Self Reliant Construction Campaign. Mobilize, Organize, Execute, done by the people, with their own resources, no aid, no debt, no dependency.’’

There can be no doubt that Burkina Faso, led by Traore, is setting an example, for so many other countries to follow, and not just in Africa. He is urging other leaders to ‘’take control of their own destinies’’, to ‘’stop handing over their natural resources’’, to the imperialists. Instead, he is urging them to ‘’use those resources to build a better African future’’. He calls for ‘’real sovereignty and economic independence’’.  

This huge ‘’megastructure project’’, the highway, is merely the beginning. There are already plans for a great many more highways, linking various towns and villages, all across Burkina Faso. There are also plans to provide even the most isolated villages with electricity. As well, a great many schools and clinics are to be built, and wells to be dug. The goal is readily available clean water, universal literacy, full employment, and vastly improved medical services.

Once the proper infra structure is in place, then Burkina Faso can develop industry. Food processing plants can be built, taking advantage of the extensive agricultural base. Mines can be opened up, in order to utilize the abundant minerals, of which Burkina Faso is so richly blessed. This will serve to transform the ‘’economic and social landscape’’ of Burkina Faso. Without any loans from the World Bank, or the IMF!

As the imperialists have invested in certain businesses, within Burkina Faso, mainly in the field of mining, this has given rise to the creation of a numerically small working class, a proletariat, within the country.

This is significant, as the proletariat is the ‘’only consistently revolutionary class’’, according to Lenin. The influence they exert, over the rest of the population, is out of all proportion to their numbers. It is considerable.

As for those who dispute that previous statement, may I draw your attention to the experience of the Chinese Revolution, of 1949. At that time, China was primarily an agrarian nation, assuming that is the correct term. The vast majority of the people were family farmers, peasants. Most of them were ‘’dirt poor’’, poverty stricken, as they were being crushed by the imperialists, as well as the landlords. Sound familiar?

Yet over a number of years, the revolutionary motion built up, within China. This was led by the working class, the proletariat, as there was a small amount of industry, within the country. And where there is industry, there is a proletariat.

The Chinese Revolution of 1949, has gone down in history as a ‘’Peasant Revolution’’. There is some truth to this, as most of the people who took part in that Revolution, were peasants. Yet it was led by the proletariat.

Those who are taking part in the current revolution, within Burkina Faso, as well as other parts of Africa, can learn from the experience of previous revolutions. Of course, I am referring to the Chinese Revolution, as well as the Great October Russian Soviet Socialist Revolution.

At the time of each Revolution, in both Russia and China, the workers were in a minority, as both countries were primarily agrarian. Most of the people were family farmers, peasants. Yet it was the workers who led each Revolution.

At the same time, they learned that not all farmers were revolutionary. In fact, some of them, a few, are down right counter revolutionary! The Soviets referred to them as ‘’kulaks’’, or ‘’tightfists’’, in English. Lenin referred to them as the ‘’rural bourgeoisie’’. These are the farmers who can afford to hire labourers. ‘’Rural capitalists’’! 

After the successful Russian Soviet Socialist Revolution, a state of Scientific Socialism was established, in the form of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat and Poor Peasants!

The point is that Burkina Faso, as well as other countries within Africa, which are taking part in this revolution, can expect the same response, from their own ‘’kulaks’’, rich peasants, rural bourgeoisie. They are guaranteed to fight this Revolution, ‘’tooth and nail’’. 

The Russian and Chinese revolutionaries learned this, ‘’the hard way’’. To be ‘’fore warned’’ is to be ‘’forearmed’’. African revolutionaries, take note! 

On behalf of the revolutionaries of North America, as well as other parts of the world, allow me to express my warmest possible greetings to the revolutionaries of Africa. Welcome, my Brothers and Sisters, my Comrades! It is so nice to see that you have joined us, in our fight against the international imperialists! We wish you all the best!

Gerald McIsaac