Page 16 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 12

MY AFRIKA
LeaderShip

THOMAS SANKARA

AND THE SEARCH FOR POLITICAL IDENTITY AND

SOCIO-ECONOMIC LIBERATION OF AFRICA
Fr Anselm Adodo

homas Sankara, Military nent is impossible without liberation amy, genital mutilation and all sorts
president of Burki- for women. of domestic violence against wom-
na Faso, a small West en. He dismantled the long-held be-
TAfrican country, is often As a demonstration of his convic- lief that women should only work in
described as one of Africa's lost tion of women's vital role in societal the home by implementing policies
heroes. A Marxist revolutionary, transformation, Sankara included an that encouraged women to work
Pan-Africanist, anti-imperialist and unprecedented number of women outside the home. He made laws
a Feminist, Sankara made improve- in his government, becoming the that permitted pregnant women to
ments in women's status and liber- first African leader to appoint wom- stay in school even when pregnant.
ation as part of his government's en into significant cabinet positions In a deeply patriarchal society such
central focus. For Sankara, liberation and recruiting them into the military. as Burkina Faso, these initiatives
for the nation and the African conti- He banned forced marriages, polyg- were nothing short of a revolution,

16 | we tell the true afrikan story