Vol. 72/No. 1      January 7, 2008

The collection, published in fall 2007 in French and English, contains 30 speeches and interviews. It is the best record of the course Sankara charted as leader of the revolution that swept the West African country of Burkina Faso from 1983-1987.

Under Sankara’s leadership, the revolutionary government mobilized the toilers to transform exploitative relations on the land, to combat the oppression of women, to free themselves from the imperialist yoke, and solidarize with others engaged in that fight internationally. Peasants, workers, women, and youth carried out literacy drives, sank wells, planted trees, built dams, and erected housing. Sankara was murdered in the coup that overthrew the revolutionary government in 1987.

As of December 17, 318 copies of the French edition, Thomas Sankara parle, had been sold in France, 130 in Canada, and 43 in Belgium—a total of 491.

Sales of the book in France include 219 to 48 bookstores. Another 33 books were purchased at events in Clermont-Ferrand, Paris, and Lille marking the 20th anniversary of Sankara’s assassination. In Belgium, 31 copies of the book have been sold to 15 bookstores in five different cities.

In Canada, 105 copies have been sold to individuals and 24 to 10 bookstores and libraries, mainly in Quebec. These include 31 copies sold at the Pathfinder booth during the recent Montreal Book Fair and 34 at two Sankara events in Montreal and Toronto in October. Other copies were sold from street tables, on the job, and at political events in Montreal and Toronto.

Derek Jeffers from Paris and Erik Wils from Antwerp, Belgium, contributed to this article.  
 
 
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