is the country of gentlemen and the poorest country. Why is Burkina Faso so singular?
There is such an African country, whose name translates to: a country of gentlemen. In fact, for us Chinese thousands of miles away, when we talk about Africa, we often think of poverty and backwardness first. In addition, the ancients also told us: if you have a solid warehouse, you will know etiquette, and if you have enough food and clothing, you will know honor and disgrace. ——" Guanzi·Herdsman ", as the saying goes, poor mountains and rivers come from unruly people; after thinking this way, poor Africa seems to have nothing to do with a gentleman. So: Who is this country of righteous gentlemen in Africa? Where does its name come from? Why is there a tragic core behind this country of gentlemen?
OK, three questions come one by one. First of all, this country of gentlemen is called Burkina Faso. It is a landlocked country in West Africa . The area is 274,000 square kilometers and the population is about 21 million. Believe that when I say this, you may still be savoring the five words Burkina Faso. Don't worry, when I finish talking about its six neighbors, you probably have to think about it for a while. East, west, south and north are: Mali , Niger , Benin , Togo , Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire . Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana may be more familiar with each other. In French, Côte d'Ivoire means Ivory Coast. Friends who like football will know that Drogba , which can slide out three bars. As for Ghana, black people carry coffins - isn't it? That's the characteristic of Ghana.
OK, let’s talk about the geographical conditions of Burkina Faso. It is between 9-15 degrees north latitude. Combining the colors on the map, you will find that the entire country is located in the northern edge of the Sahara Desert , and the south is a tropical savanna. There are three main rivers in the territory: the Black Walter River, the White Walter River and the Red Walter River. Yes, the name is so casual.
The three rivers finally merge into Walter River in Ghana, and then flow into Walter Lake , and finally inject Gulf of Guinea . Since these three rivers are all in the upper reaches of the Walter River, the country has always been called: on Walter . In other words: the four words "Walter" are geographical locations and have a strong colonial color. Since there are three rivers in the territory, some friends may think: It must be suitable for agriculture here, right? Actually, it is not the case. Burkina Faso is at the intersection of deserts and grasslands, and the terrain of the entire country is relatively flat, so it has a unique temperament: ice and fire. During the dry season, it is very dry, and during the rainy season, it is often baptized by floods. Under such geographical conditions as drought death and flood death, if Burkina Faso wants to live a normal life, it must build dams, reservoirs, highways and railways to solve the problem. It is obvious that it does not have such national strength. However, although Burkina Faso does not have the ability to do infrastructure today, it once implemented this goal with its down-to-earth leadership under the leadership of a person. This person is: Thomas Sankara. Moreover, Comrade Sankara is indeed worthy of the four words: the word "righteous man". He even has another title: Che Guevara of Africa. So, what did Sangkara go through before she became president?
Thomas Sankara
Above we mentioned that this place was once colonized by France. Generally speaking, the colonists are all looking for money. What can be exchanged for money are various resources, including but not limited to: metal minerals, oil and gas resources, agricultural products and human resources. But the French did not find these things in Upper Walter. Of course, it cannot be said that nothing was found. Such as cotton and gold mines.
In the 1990s, cotton accounted for more than half of the country's exports. There are even fewer industrial finished products. Think about it, what kind of oil can be squeezed here more than a hundred years later? However, compared with other colonists, the French were relatively gentle.Be careful, it's just relatively gentle. Although I didn't find any resources when I came to Upper Walter, when the French colonized the place with guns, they still spent a lot of time and money to penetrate their own language, system and other elements into this land. To put it bluntly, I just want to turn this place from the root into a part of French culture. Therefore, today the official language of this country is still French, and the currency is also , shifan franc, . However, there is basically nothing else here except cotton. So the French focused on Gold Coast near the Gulf of Guinea. After all, isn’t selling pepper, ivory, and black slaves making money faster than selling cotton? After the end of in World War II, the wind of national independence also blew up to Upper Walter. Colonial autonomy was achieved in 1958, and completely separated from France in 1960. The Walter Republic was established on . Its national flag is like this at this time.
It is obvious that the three stripes represent the black, white and red Walter River mentioned above. But the country was established, and the internal power struggle became even more crazy after losing its sect leader. When introducing geographic information , I mentioned: Upper Walter has the characteristics of: dying from drought in drought and dying from drought in drought. The people's living in dire straits brings natural soil to the coup. The plot of the Walt at this time is as follows: the first president banned all parties except his own party as soon as he came to power. Six years later, his position was replaced by the military government. Then from 1966 to 1983, the country was tortured by several military governments for twenty years. OK, you may wonder: What is the Upper Walter who can never squeeze out oil and water at this time?
Let’s learn about it from the side. This aspect is the achievements of Comrade Sankara, who became president in 1984. First of all, of course, the country name was changed to Burkina Faso. Secondly, in terms of medical care, the mortality rate of infants is 14.5%. It sounds like that, but before he took office, the number was 20.8%. In other words, one will die if you have five births. In addition, more than 2 million children have been vaccinated with meningitis vaccine, yellow fever vaccine and measles vaccine. Before that, Walter had 180 million to 50,000 children died from the above three diseases every year. He also organized local people to plant tens of millions of trees in the driest Sahel region in the north to prevent desertification here. Infrastructure: He organized the laying of more than 700 kilometers of railways, as well as dozens of schools, hospitals, reservoirs and other facilities. Originally, Walter's enrollment rate was less than 6%, while in Burkina Faso during the Sankara period, the number rose to 22%. This increase is not an exaggeration to describe it as a flying one. By the way, the above things are done without any external financial assistance. Of course, in addition to infrastructure, there is also humanistic care. Once Upwalter women had to undergo systems such as circumcision, arranged or forced marriage and polygamy. In Sankara, it has become illegal. By the way, the words Burkina and Faso come from the languages of the two internal ethnic groups. In other words: Sankara is also committed to the work of internal multi-ethnic integration. All of the above tasks are internal and external, and he is more tough. For example, he left International Monetary Fund and World Bank because Sankara believes: Whoever lends you money will control you. In fact, the colony's sub-master did treat its colonies like this. For example: He hopes that African countries can form a unified front, and also told Western colonial powers that the poor and exploited have no obligation to return the money to the rich and exploited. Speaking of this, do you think: What is this person’s personal morality like?
In 1984, as soon as he became president, he sold his original car Mercedes-Benz and replaced it with the cheapest price of Renault 5 in Burkina Faso at that time. The air conditioner in his office was also removed because he felt that this thing was too luxurious for most Burkina Faso people. Then he reduced his monthly salary to $450. Every day, he either rides a bicycle or runs to work. And without any bodyguards. In addition, his own garments and civil servants were sewn by the craftsmen of Upper Walter.Sankara is basically in this outfit every time she appears. And throughout his life, all his property was only one car, four bicycles, three guitars, a refrigerator and a broken freezer. By the way, he used these three guitars to write the national anthem for Burkina Faso.
This national anthem has been used to this day. But I believe that rational audiences must have discovered a problem: that is, Burkina Faso’s economic foundation is weak, where should the money for infrastructure, medical care and education come from? Actually, this is the problem with Sankara. As we mentioned earlier, Sankara has stopped all the assistance from outside, and the road to open up the source is gone, so we can only realize the flow of wealth through reducing expenditure. For example, Sankara not only lowered her salary, but also significantly lowered the salary of civil servants across the country. And they also force relatively wealthy civil servants to pay a month's salary for public projects. But we know that infrastructure, schools, and medical care are not immediate projects, and they all take a long time to convert them into wealth. However, although lowering or donating a month's salary can solve the urgent problem, it cannot solve the fundamental problem. As a result, as time goes by, the internal contradictions gradually become larger and larger. In the end, the good brother who once revolutionized with him: Compore, on October 15, 1987, shot the bullet at Sankara. The staunch Marxist and socialist revolutionary fell to the ground after being shot for more than a dozen times. The story afterwards is so old-fashioned. Comporay came to power and began to pro-international capital. People's livelihood projects such as medical care, schools, and infrastructure have also been stranded. Compore himself made a lot of money. Even if he stepped down, there would be Côte d'Ivoire next to him to serve as a political shelter for him. And what about Burkina Faso, a small African country? Who cares?
Konbore
When you see this, maybe you will sigh for Sankara. After all, he is a loyal patriot, a competent soldier, a competent husband, and a competent leader. If it is his uncompromising and rather than bend in his daily life, everyone may like his character. But a competent politician needs to judge the situation. That is, you should bend what you should bend, and you should also stretch what you should be stretched. Even our China today, the world's second largest economy, needs to join forces to compete with the United States. What's more, Burkina Faso in the 1980s? Of course, this is the inner world of Sankara and Burkina Faso. The more important external cause is that the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union was coming to an end in the 1980s, and the Soviet Union in the socialist camp was even more exhausted, which led to Sankara and his country almost not receiving external support. But if he was in power in the fifties and sixties, Burkina Faso is likely to become an African Cuba . I think Sankara's encounter seems to confirm the poem: When times come, heaven and earth work together, heroes are not free! Perhaps it is precisely because of the bad luck that Sankara has become a tragic hero. It also brought the reforms in Burkina Faso to abruptly. But the title of a gentleman country and the fighting spirit of Sankara are the most precious wealth of the people of Burkina Faso.
