Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso: The Land of Upright People in Turmoil
Burkina Faso — the Land of Upright People. This name, chosen by Thomas Sankara in 1984 to replace the colonial Upper Volta, speaks to an ideal. Sankara, Africa's Che Guevara, wanted to chart a different course: food self-sufficiency, women's emancipation, rejection of debt. He was assassinated in 1987, but his ghost still haunts this country of 22 million inhabitants, now ravaged by jihadism and coups.
The Spiral of Insecurity
Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been caught in a jihadist spiral. Armed groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State control vast swathes of territory. Two coups in 2022 brought young captains to power who promise reconquest. Self-defence militias (VDP) are multiplying, with their share of abuses. More than 2 million internally displaced people. The agricultural economy — cotton, gold — is collapsing.
The Ubuntu Strength: Joking Kinship and Resilience
Despite the chaos, Burkina holds together through its solidarity networks. Joking kinship (rakiiré) between ethnic groups — Mossi and Fulani, Bissa and Gourounsi — defuses tensions through ritualised humour. Families pull together. FESPACO, Africa's largest film festival, continues against all odds. And the memory of Sankara — his speeches, his integrity — remains a moral compass.
« Sã n pa a nong ye, fo pa yaa »
If you have no horse, you walk
— Proverb mooré
Burkina reminds us that heroes may die but their ideas do not. Sankara dreamed of a country standing tall. Burkina is on its knees, but it has not forgotten how to rise.