Walking around at night in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, means coming across roundabouts filled with people, known as rond points. Mostly men and young people, citizens arrive every day at 5 pm and stay until 5 am the next morning. They share food and tea and receive donations from passersby in solidarity. In all 45 provinces of the country, they are alert to any strange movements, noises, fights, threats, or passing cars. All to protect the new president, whom they consider the “reincarnation” of Thomas Sankara.
Amadé Maiga, from the national coordination of Citizen Surveillance Associations (CNAVC), says that the vigil began on the same day as the last coup attempt against his country in April. “Ibrahim Traoré is a president who serves the people, he is a president who everyone knows that, with this president, we will have total freedom,” he reports.
The “grand conspiracy” aimed at “sowing total chaos” in Burkina Faso was dismantled by Ibrahim Traoré’s government after a massive mobilization. Security Minister Mahamadou Sana announced at the time that the leaders of this destabilization were based in Ivory Coast, whose government, led by President Alassane Ouattara, is allied with French interests in the region. “The masterminds who fled the country are all located in the neighboring country,” Sana said in an announcement on the country’s state television station, RTB.
Read more: A new military strategy of French neo-colonialism in Africa: reorganizing under the cover retreat
The popular vigils are just one of the citizen forces supporting the ongoing revolution in the Sahel today, which is featured in our new documentary, Sahel: Homeland or Death, released last Tuesday, September 16, the day on which the two-year anniversary of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) was celebrated.
BdF’s new documentary “Sahel: La Patrie ou La Mort” highlights Africa’s struggle for sovereignty
With support from the International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA), the film presents the pillars that sustain the “real independence” of these countries and is the result of two trips by this reporter to the region, with the aim of demystifying French propaganda, presented in hegemonic media outlets, that Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger are undergoing authoritarian processes without popular support.
The film has begun to bear fruit in two areas: contributing to the popular struggles underway in this region and making the revolution known in Latin America.
The assessment of Ibrahima Kebe, from Mali, coordinator of the Modibo Keïta School, motivates us. “When I saw the film, I was surprised by the quality, not only of the images, but also of the concept. And I found that this film accurately portrays reality,” said Kebe, one of the 23 people interviewed for the documentary.
Under the coordination of popular movements, the AES anniversary was also celebrated in different regions of the world this week. In Brazil, the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST) and the International Assembly of Peoples (IPA) promoted a series of activities in São Paulo with popular leaders from the Sahel, such as Kebe, who came to Brazil to share the revolutionary experience of their countries.
One of the events was the Sahel in Struggle night, where Sahel: Homeland or Death was screened. With a full house, the audience watched the film, learned about the Tricontinental Institute’s new dossier on the Sahel, and listened to and debated with guests from the Sahel.
Another highlight was the first meeting between Brazilian parliamentarians and these leaders. By drawing up a plan for parliamentary solidarity and considering ways in which Brazil can contribute to anti-imperialist struggles, the meeting sealed a promising union between the diaspora and the most promising revolution on the African continent.
Read more: Brazilian lawmakers meet with leaders from Sahel countries
State Representative Rosa Amorim pointed out that the Sahel today “is an international concern” and that global solidarity must be built for the struggles in the region. She highlighted the MST’s initiative to welcome leaders from these countries to the movement’s camps and settlements. “Building and strengthening our ties between the countries of Africa and Brazil is to rescue our own history. We have had a historical erasure of this relationship,” she said.
Returning to popular support for these revolutions, which I think is important to emphasize here, in addition to protecting Traoré at vigils, the Burkinabe people contribute financially to the ongoing revolution in the country. The Patriotic Support Fund involves everyone today: from the working classes to the richest in the country. “The government takes stock every three months. Millions are donated voluntarily by the people,” explained Burkinabe artist Océan in the documentary.
The connection with Thomas Sankara’s revolutionary past is explicit and increases the support of the people. As in the 1980s, Ibrahim Traoré has once again nationalized gold reserves, is coordinating measures to break away from the French currency, the CFA franc, and is implementing an audacious plan for industrialization and agricultural expansion.
An interview with Valentin Sankara, brother of the historic Burkinabe leader, illustrates this scenario well. Now retired, he volunteers to help maintain the Thomas Sankara Memorial, a memorial created by Traoré to celebrate the legacy of his martyr. Sankara’s brother sees today in the country the resumption of the Democratic and Popular Revolution (RDP) initiated by his brother on August 4, 1983, 42 years ago.
“Of course. You see the achievements that are being realized today in Burkina Faso, which shows that he [Traoré] is sincere. It’s not ‘I’m going to do it,’ ‘I’m going to,’ no, these are concrete things. You see, there are construction projects everywhere, we are building there, laying the blocks, the cobblestones, we couldn’t ask for anything better. If you can do it, if you can achieve something and really prove it, people will join in without question. That’s how it works. Today, people are ready to contribute to the country’s development. This is visible. It’s not an invention, these are concrete things,” Valentin said in our interview in front of the memorial.
Read more: “Ibrahim Traoré is the continuation of Burkina Faso’s revolution,” says brother of pan-Africanist leader Thomas Sankara
In the case of Niger, in terms of popular support, the synergy between the people and the military is not the same as that observed during the Niamey Conference in November 2024, according to Mamane Adamou, a historic leader of the Nigerien left. But he assures that the dissidents are not echoed by a significant portion of the population.
It is an “intellectualized middle class,” according to him, that distances itself and criticizes the new military leaders. The poorest people still side with Tchiani, Niger’s leader. And this is explained, according to Adamou, by measures aimed at the population, such as lowering food prices.
Niger is even ranked by the World Bank as the economy that will grow the most in Africa in 2025. Adamou, however, is skeptical about this data and believes that it is a natural movement after the end of sanctions by ECOWAS, the regional bloc of West Africa. The popular leader even advocates ending relations with the bank and the IMF.
Read more: Niger boosts economy with popular support, but IMF and World Bank are obstacles, says analyst
There is another point on which these governments are aligned today that is fundamental to the continuity of the revolutions: the guarantee of food sovereignty. Agricultural development in Niger, for example, can be seen in the expansion of irrigated areas, especially in the main agricultural regions, such as Dosso and Tillabéri. This is an indication that there are possible ways to make agriculture viable in one of the regions most affected by drought and climate change worldwide.
In the case of Burkina Faso, the Agricultural Offensive launched by Ibrahim Traoré is one of the driving forces behind maintaining the organic and harmonious relationship between the government and the population. In this country, 80% of the population lives in rural areas. As Océan says in the documentary, “people without land are slaves.”
Read more: In the fight against desertification, Burkina Faso mobilizes to plant 5 million trees in one hour
Luc Damiba, special advisor to the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso, lists the program’s three main objectives: ensuring that farmers produce enough to feed themselves; making them important political actors for the continuation of the revolution; and providing security so that farming families are not killed or co-opted by terrorism. “We can only count on the peasants to make the revolution,” explains Damiba.
The population of Burkina Faso affirms that the AES’s efforts against terrorism have been successful, especially in the capital, Ouagadougou. At the capital’s Grand Market, created by Thomas Sankara, the fear of an attack is fading.
The new phase of the war on terrorism for AES involves a fight for drones and the need for satellite monitoring. The partnership with Russia and Turkey has been essential in this restructuring. But Damiba says that this closer relationship with the BRICS countries does not affect the country’s sovereignty. “We are mature enough to do business with whomever we want. We are sovereign,” he says.
This article was adapted and translated from an article originally published in Portuguese on Brasil de Fato.
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