He did fire striking teachers, because there were other ways in Burkina Faso to make your problems heard and addressed. But they didn’t, they went straight into the strike right after the new government was established. And in this case the context is different from a typical strike where workers demand better wages or working conditions: the union that launched the strike was essentially owned by Joseph Ki-Zebo, a university professor, who wanted to have power for his party instead of Sankara. There were other unions that tried to coup the government, and others that worked alongside Sankara’s government.
If you think about it strikes are the resolution of a contradiction when the state does not give you other means to resolve it. In a healthy society, there is no need for strikes because your grievances are addressed in different ways. Strikes essentially evolved in class society because it cuts production, it cuts the exploiter right where it hurts and forces them to take action. If you provide people with the means to achieve results without stopping production – and I’m guessing anarchists plan for this as well – then you don’t need strikes.
However I wouldn’t say that because there was a teacher’s strike in Burkina Faso where the teachers were fired, that authoritarian power will always fail us. Even if the strike was about better working conditions, which it wasn’t. This is one ~shaky incident in a country that otherwise achieved progress on an unprecedented scale in the short 4 years Sankara remained in power, while being embargoed. Compared to what came before, this was an incredible upgrade to the people of Burkina Faso. Today, there is not one youth in Africa that doesn’t know Thomas Sankara. He still gives hope to the people.
Didn’t Sankara fire teachers for daring to strike for better working conditions and have them all replaced by people with no teaching experience?
No matter how moral someone is, no one is infallible. Authoritarian power will always fail us.
Of course. The USSR didn’t have the history of black slavery and prejudice that the US has. That doesn’t mean racism and prejudice doesn’t exist.
He did fire striking teachers, because there were other ways in Burkina Faso to make your problems heard and addressed. But they didn’t, they went straight into the strike right after the new government was established. And in this case the context is different from a typical strike where workers demand better wages or working conditions: the union that launched the strike was essentially owned by Joseph Ki-Zebo, a university professor, who wanted to have power for his party instead of Sankara. There were other unions that tried to coup the government, and others that worked alongside Sankara’s government.
If you think about it strikes are the resolution of a contradiction when the state does not give you other means to resolve it. In a healthy society, there is no need for strikes because your grievances are addressed in different ways. Strikes essentially evolved in class society because it cuts production, it cuts the exploiter right where it hurts and forces them to take action. If you provide people with the means to achieve results without stopping production – and I’m guessing anarchists plan for this as well – then you don’t need strikes.
However I wouldn’t say that because there was a teacher’s strike in Burkina Faso where the teachers were fired, that authoritarian power will always fail us. Even if the strike was about better working conditions, which it wasn’t. This is one ~shaky incident in a country that otherwise achieved progress on an unprecedented scale in the short 4 years Sankara remained in power, while being embargoed. Compared to what came before, this was an incredible upgrade to the people of Burkina Faso. Today, there is not one youth in Africa that doesn’t know Thomas Sankara. He still gives hope to the people.