Burkina Faso: People no longer afraid

Since the assassination of Thomas Sankara in 1987 and the reversing of the country’s revolutionary momentum, Blaise Compaoré has sustained himself through the use of terror and crime as a means of perpetuating his predatory regime, a regime marked by neglect, corruption and clan-based politics. Since February his regime has faltered in the face of the strength of a social movement which has brought together nearly all parts of society and revived the revolutionary slogan ‘the struggle goes on!’

Though the big Western drums – the great channels of global disinformation – make little noise, Burkina Faso has been in turmoil since February. Such channels, we well know, know how to be silent or lie about the real causes and the true figures within popular movements whose disarmament is sought elsewhere.

In this ‘land of honest men’, discontent has grown over the course of many years to the point where, with the catalyst of 20 February in Koudougou in the country’s Centre-West, the death of a young student protestor at the local police station, Justin Zongo, set things alight. In Burkina Faso’s third city, the youth have since been in a state of electric revolt, confronted by the violent repression of the police, which has led to numerous people in its ranks being killed by bullets and has put a flame under the provincial governorship.

On the ground, the local authorities are being employed to calm the inacceptable through lies – Zongo’s death was the result of ‘meningitis’! – and simple omissions of responsibility with respect the brutality of the Compaoré regime. The balance is heavier still: further deaths, in addition to the at least 100 injured, some of whom remain in a serious condition. The revolt has spread like wildfire, engulfing Ouagadougou, the capital, and other towns such as Poa and Ouahigouya.

Beyond such turbulent symptoms, the core reason for this challenge from the country’s youth is clear. Since 1987 – the year of Compaoré’s coup – from the assassination of Thomas Sankara and the reactionary, bloody and villainous reversal of the revolutionary momentum of the left, a regime negligent at its very core, corrupt and responsible for a series of nameless brutalities and the hidden deaths of opponents has been maintained despite everything, thanks to a politics of carrot and stick. Its appropriation of the state for its own profit has confirmed the true nature of a regime which starves its population and represses its youth, re-electing itself some four times since 1991 despite outcomes contested by its opponents – 24 years of a regime of tyranny and a highly effective mission to defend strategic French neocolonial interests in West Africa until its power becomes obsolete.

In this context, the youth’s frustrations and the general social disintegration have crystallised dangerously in the shape of coordinated confrontations with the symbols of the regime. The mutiny of the presidential guard on 14 April (and then in other military camps in Kaya, Pô and Tekodogo) has met a violent response from local traders furious at the looting of rebel soldiers, leading ultimately to demonstrators from various sectors coming together to burn down the headquarters of the party in power – the CDP (Congress for Democracy and Progress) – and the government and the mayor of Ouagadougou. In response, Compaoré imposed a curfew in the capital, retreated to his hometown, dissolved the government and dismissed the army chiefs. On 27 April, it was the turn of the police to rebel, as the school pupils, students and youth broaden their movement.

These protests each give rise to very different demands: the pupils and students demonstrate against police violence following the deaths of many among their number, the unions oppose the high cost of living and the soldiers of the presidential guard call for their housing allowance. In fact, the current Burkinabe social movement resembles a near complete cross-section of the population: youth, pupils and students, health workers, magistrates, cotton producers, traders, military personnel and now the police, protesting against the high cost of living, impunity, corruption and the predatory clan-based politics that Compaoré has systemised, unemployment and the lot of the masses.

The intensification of repression and the closing of schools and universities are a clear provocation for a youth and population aspiring for access to healthcare, food and drinkable water, a workable school and education system, a proper living space and quality public services.

One piece of excellent news is that the political opposition has since February appeared to have been working with the current social movement, a development confirmed on 30 April following the big demonstration it called in Ouagadougou ‘for Blaise Compaoré to go’. Blaise Compaoré is clearly the problem in Burkina Faso – but, after these three months of mounting protest, it’s clear that the Burkinabe people are no longer afraid! The struggle goes on!

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Pierre Sidy is a sociologist and editor of Afrique en lutte. This article appeared in the April–May 2011 edition.
* Translated from French by Alex Free.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.