Was it understood that the position of women in society means the condition of 52 percent of the Burkinabe population? Was it understood that this condition was the product of social, political, and economic structures, and of prevailing backward conceptions? And that the transformation of this position therefore could not be accomplished by a single ministry, even one led by a woman?

— Thomas Sankara

Thomas Sankara Quotes

Debt is a cleverly managed reconquest of Africa.

— Thomas Sankara

I can hear the roar of women’s silence.

— Thomas Sankara

Our revolution in Burkina Faso draws on the totality of mans experiences since the first breath of humanity. We wish to be the heirs of all the revolutions of the world, of all the liberation struggles of the peoples of the Third World. We draw the lessons of the American revolution.

— Thomas Sankara

Women hold up the other half of the sky...

— Thomas Sankara

Let there be an end to the arrogance of the big powers who miss no opportunity to put the rights of the people in question. Africa’s absence from the club of those who have the right to veto is unjust and should be ended.

— Thomas Sankara

The French revolution taught us the rights of man.

— Thomas Sankara

The Revolution Cannot Triumph Without the Emancipation of Women.

— Thomas Sankara

Our revolution is not a public-speaking tournament. Our revolution is not a battle of fine phrases. Our revolution is not simply for spouting slogans that are no more than signals used by manipulators trying to use them as catchwords, as codewords, as a foil for their own display. Our revolution is, and should continue to be, the collective effort of revolutionaries to transform reality, to improve the concrete situation of the masses of our country.

— Thomas Sankara

Il faut choisir entre le champagne pour quelques-uns ou l’eau potable pour tous.

— Thomas Sankara

Un militaire sans formation politique n’est qu’un criminel en puissance.

— Thomas Sankara

The woman leads a twofold existence indeed, the depth of her social ostracism being equally only by her stoic endurance. To live in harmony with the society of man, to conform with men’s demands, she resigns herself to a self-effacement that is demeaning, she sacrifices herself.

— Thomas Sankara

The condition of women is therefore at the heart of the question of humanity itself, here, there, and everywhere.

— Thomas Sankara

The only difference between the woman who sells her body through prostitution and she who sells herself in marriage is the price and duration of the contract.

— Thomas Sankara

By changing the social order that oppresses women, the revolution creates the conditions for their genuine emancipation.

— Thomas Sankara

We have no need of a feminized apparatus to bureaucratically manage women’s lives or to issue sporadic statements about women’s lives by smooth-talking functionaries. What we need are women who will fight because they know that without a fight the old order will not be destroyed and no new order will be built. We are not looking to organize what exists but to definitively destroy and replace it.

— Thomas Sankara

The patriarchal family made its appearance, founded on the sole and personal property of the father, who had become head of the family. Within this family the woman was oppressed.

— Thomas Sankara

Another problem doubtlessly lies in the feudal, reactionary, and passive attitude of many men who by their behavior continue to hold things back. They have no intention of jeopardizing the total control they have over women, either at home or in society in general. In the battle to build a new society, which is a revolutionary battle, the conduct of these men places them on the side of reaction and counterrevolution. For the revolution cannot triumph without the genuine emancipation of women.

— Thomas Sankara

You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future. Besides, it took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those madmen.

— Thomas Sankara

Was it understood that the position of women in society means the condition of 52 percent of the Burkinabe population? Was it understood that this condition was the product of social, political, and economic structures, and of prevailing backward conceptions? And that the transformation of this position therefore could not be accomplished by a single ministry, even one led by a woman?

— Thomas Sankara

As revolutionaries, we don’t have the right to say we are tired of explaining. We must never stop explaining. We know that when the people understand, they cannot help but follow us.

— Thomas Sankara
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