Wasini Island’s Elusive Search for Freshwater
I first felt Wasini’s thirst in the silence after a boat leaves. The engine coughs, the wake settles, and the channel between Shimoni and the island goes back to looking innocent. Then you notice the colors that tell the truth. Yellow jerrycans flash in the sun like warning lights. Corrugated roofs burn white. The coral ground is the color...
Seeds of revolution taking root in Traoré’s Mind
One year earlier in 2010, a 22-year old Traoré had watched President Compaoré win re-election with over 80 percent of the vote. Although the opposition alleged widespread rigging, the victory stood. Was this also a victory for the 80 percent of the population that relied on subsistence agriculture? Traoré wondered. He was a quiet guy. What his fellow soldiers...
Traoré Experiences People Power in Action
For Traoré, Compaoré’s regime had always been a shadow in his life, looming over his youth. Since 1987, when Compaoré seized power through a coup that left revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara dead, the country had never known another leader. Traoré, then just a child, grew up in a country in Compaoré’s firm grip. The young soldier had never known...
Traoré Witnesses the People Kicking Out Sankara’s Killer
On October 30th as the day progressed, the protests grew more violent. Ouagadougou witnessed a turning point in Burkina Faso’s history. Thousands of citizens overwhelmed the state broadcasters, set the homes of Compaoré's relatives aflame, and marched with a rage that could no longer be silenced. The clattering of tear gas canisters hitting the pavement and the sporadic bursts...
Traoré Observed President Compaoré’s Hollow Victory
President Compaoré, under pressure from the rising unrest, finally relented. He dismissed his government and named Luc Adolphe Tiao, a former journalist and ambassador to France as his new prime minister. He also met with military leaders for a tense two-hour meeting held in the presidential palace. Unsmiling and patronizing, he promised to improve military housing, clothing, and food...
When 23-year-old Traoré Witnessed an Uprising
Police officers joined the rising wave of unrest, firing weapons and tear gas in protest of high prices, low wages, and President Blaise Compaoré’s 24-year rule. Similar protests erupted in other cities across the country, including Bobo-Dioulasso, the second largest city, where police fired into the air to express their frustration over poor economic conditions. The day before, merchants...
The Myth of Africans Flooding Japan
I woke up to messages asking if Japan has shut the door to Africans or if Africans are about to flood Japan. Both claims are false. What is true is simpler and more revealing. A small cultural program became a lightning rod for fear, and that fear exposed old prejudices that many would rather ignore. Three Japanese cities sit at...
Africa’s Human Resource is the World’s Greatest Resource
In the corridors of power across the globe, a silent revolution is brewing—one that is reshaping the very fabric of societies. The West, Japan, and China find themselves at the precipice of a population crisis, a demographic dilemma that threatens to erode the foundations of their economies and societies. This crisis, characterized by declining birth rates and an aging...
Ibrahim Traoré – The Soldier Who Fought Using His Mind
April 30 2011. The lyrics of Tiken Jah Fakoly’s reggae song ‘Quitte le pouvoir’ reverberated through Ibrahim Traoré, each word a sharp reminder of the mounting tension in his country. He was only 23, his military boots still fresh from the dust of training, with just two years of service under his belt. But, like every Burkinabè, he could...
Traoré’s Introduction to Marxist Ideology
While at university, Traoré became active in student politics, aligning with the Marxist Association Nationale des Étudiants du Burkina (ANEB), a group deeply committed to defending the rights of students and, by extension, the nation’s oppressed masses. His introduction to Marxist ideology during this period profoundly shaped his worldview. He embraced Marxism’s critique of class struggle and inequality, recognizing the...
