When a person leading a former African colonial nation, begins to nationalize their resources, or otherwise act in a general anti-imperialist fashion they die. This is because things like nationalizing resources reduce the unequal access that imperialist nations like America have to the natural resources in nations like the DRC. Going with the example of the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, has a very special metal called cobalt. Without it, one of America’s biggest industries, the tech industry, would cease to exist. The people in DRC are slaves because it is profitable for them to be slaves.
America and other imperialist nations have unequal access to the resources in this nation, the people who slave away at what should be theirs to profit from are entirely in service to the imperial core. This is how nations like France, Belgium, and America became exceedingly wealthy in very short periods of time.
Imperialist World Order
This is the way the world currently is, and ever since The Berlin conference this has been the world order on planet Earth. However, the moment when an African nation stands up for itself and asserts its own self-determination, a contradiction is formed between what is and what could be. Put simply, if even one nation is allowed to have its economic self independence, several imperialist nations would lose access to the resources in that nation.
Something like this would inherently throw off the balance of power on the world stage. Along with this, killing revolutionaries sends a message to not only the people in the nation but to the oppressed masses in all nations. The message is that resistance is futile, the current state of the world is the end of history, and national liberation is impossible.
African Revolutionary Potential
Yet, despite the message being sent, revolutionaries have made themselves known in every era. Unfortunately, many revolutionaries either turn their ideology down towards the end of their life or end up killed. Essentially, they are either ideologically neutralized, placed in eternal prison sentences, or outright killed. Thomas Sankara is one of the most important examples of the latter. Thomas Sankara is one of the most important revolutionaries in history.
Sankara’s Greatness
The reason why is the the sheer amount of progress he and his comrades were able to usher in within 4 years.” He vaccinated 2.5 million children against meningitis, yellow fever and measles in a matter of weeks. Sankara initiated a nation-wide literacy campaign, increasing the literacy rate from 13% in 1983 to 73% in 1987. He planted over 10 million trees to prevent desertification” according to Thomas Sankara net.
He was highly efficient as a revolutionary and, if allowed to live Burkina Faso would have been liberated forever. Imperialism is a system of power dynamics, control, and bondage. When an oppressed nation decides to break its chains, the imperialist nations simply decide that the post-colonial nation doesn’t have to have a democracy in order to be profitable for the world market.
Imperialism Is Killing African Potential
This is why Thomas Sankara’s death had to happen in the eyes of the imperialists. Other Postcolonial nations could see how efficient he was and could replicate the same. Essentially, post-colonial nations are like the ship of Theseus. The ship of Theseus thought experiment asks how much change must happen until one thing becomes something else. Essentially, when a postcolonial nation begins a radical path it is only a matter of time before that nation reaches the singularity of never being able to be subjugated again by imperial powers.
Put simply, within every post-colonial nation old power structures from the colonial era. An example of this phenomenon is the fact that South Africa is still economically segregated despite the end of apartheid. The moment these levers of power are not in imperialist hands it negatively impacts global profit margins. Ultimately, Thomas Sankara and every other African revolutionary was killed because their deaths are profitable for imperialist nations.
Written by Kenneth Mazerat
Sources:
NPR: How ‘modern-day slavery’ in the Congo powers the rechargeable battery economy by Terry Gross
Aljazeera: Berlin 1884: Remembering the conference that divided Africa by Patrick Gathara
Thomas Sankara: Facts about Thomas Sankara in Burkina Faso
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Bold Content’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
First Inset Image Courtesy of Diana Robinson’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
