The Uprooting

Protesters in Burkina Faso have demanded the election of a new president. Which kind of leader will be the next to take office?

The continent of those considered “underdeveloped” or “uncivilized” is being invaded by several streams of thought and ideologies that have colonial and imperialist origins. The notable remark is that the authenticity of the values is being wiped out by this phenomenon.

To talk about authenticity is to talk about dignity. And he who talks about dignity talks about remaining incorruptible - standing on the principles and customs that have taken care of a people for thousands of years although some have the tendency of claiming that this is the 21st century, as if moving astray from one predecessor’s understanding of existence should be honorable.

I’m from Burkina Faso in West Africa and in my country, the generations before today’s leaders’ generation have always held on to how to defend and preserve their people’s history, customs and interests that have always been there since the time of our forefathers. The honorable pride those leaders have in their people, in their land, and in their customs and values was the flame that encouraged them to resist foreign and domestic invasions. This somehow happened to be synonymous with them signing their death contract (or let’s say bringing the invader’s will to eradicate them from the face of the Earth) because in today’s political and imperialist agenda, no human should have the right to remain rooted into his or her original ways of life.

Nonetheless, we still see the same pride in some of the leaders of today’s Africa, and their sentiment of patriotism earned them the name of “dictator” or “oppressor.” It’s almost as if the American and European political leaders have the right to defend their predecessor’s legacy and be looked at as “heroes” while black political leaders of the same motivation and perspectives can easily be looked at as “villains.”

Whether it’s a conspiracy or ignorance, the state of our countries in today’s Africa proves one thing that all human beings with common sense and minimum degree of honesty can agree on: democracy and patriotism are being used as an efficient tool to oppress and destroy those unjustly considered undeveloped. This has been the game that the American, French, and British governments play across the face of the planet.

It’s almost like one can justify killing families and destroying the historical and cultural values, tangible or not, of other countries just in order to satisfy the needs of their governed people (American, French, British citizens)... and that’s what is In the name of the “order of the demon” (democracy), many dignified African leaders were executed for their fight against that new bloody ideology.

That’s why the first leaders of our country came up with the motto: “Motherland or death, we shall conquer,” meaning death before shame when it comes to our principles and customs. Our first leaders understood the value of dignity enough to refuse the name the foreigner gave our land.

This is when the name of our country changed from Upper Volta (a name assigned by the French ignorants) to Burkina Faso, which means, “The land of upright people.” From then, the popular revolution became the nourishing sap in eradicating any germ of colonisation or imperialism. Apparently today’s leaders of the upright people have lost in their vocabulary the deep sense of uprightness, ready to walk with their hands tied by the Western leaders.

Above all, the flame in their hearts has been extinguished to defend, preserve and free our “Faso” (land) from those ambitious foreign and domestic Draculas whose agenda is to pollute the sacred soul of our sovereignty and suck our peasant people’s blood in order to feed their babies I’m sure, deep in our land, the spirits of those martyrs who died advocating the uprightness and the idea of never kneeling at the feet of the imperialist invader might be asking themselves what kind of dementia is breaking down their successors (who are claiming to stand for their people while bowing to those who killed their predecessors, the fathers of our nation).

It’s almost like to be a politician kneeling at the feet of the western govern Protestors in Burkina Faso have demanded the election of a new president. Which kind of leader will be the next to take office?

honor to some of the African leaders of today. Only few have the courage to say their land has a history, their people have a civilization and culture, and the evolution and progress of their people should have their foundation on those original values. The kind of dementia the new prospective leaders of my beloved country might be going through is this irrational sentiment to abandon themselves and their history while looking up to another people with different backgrounds, different lands, and different agendas. How can a society progress towards its future by waiting for the “yes” or “no” from another society?

The wrong conception of progress, or leadership, of the elite in Burkina Faso will possibly be the source of future misery and problems its people will be going through if the American and French governments are the ones to set the vision of the path our country needs to take. What is obvious in every society’s awareness is that no society moves forward towards its progress without checking its own challenges and defects first. We have a word for the irrational mentality displayed when a leader of a society chooses a path for its people which is based on the history of a foreign people: “deracination” (uprooting from their natural geographical, social, or cultural environment).

In the west, the concept of “deracination” is translated politically and economically as “globalisation” in order to hide the hypocrisy and shame of the western governments who are claiming their control and authority over the indigenous communities - this is to promote (in a palatable way) the annihilation of those cultures to the ignorant eyes of the western people. Because in reality the western countries are the ones in dire need of the indigenous peoples for what it takes to survive on the face of the planet. If this is not the case, how can those governments promote globalisation and impose only their perspectives and ambitions on other countries? China wants everyone to speak Chinese.

English wants everybody to speak English and behave English. French wants the whole world to speak French. And so on and so on. Meanwhile African leaders are being obliged to eradicate their languages, their culture, etc in meetings where “globalisation” happens to be the topic. Because “globalisation” means all countries have at least one thing that another country has a need for, and it looks like what the western countries need from Africans are nothing but their natural resources.

So there you have it - the reality or civilizational problems or conflicts of the human race. For, as the prophet Neb NABA said, it is virtually impossible to be capitalist and at the same time hope for a just and peaceful coexistence between two civilizations. The Gourmantche wisdom says, “at a party where people clap... mosquitos are not welcome.” Either Africans are not welcome in the globalisation conspiracy, or the globalisation conspiracy is not welcome in Africa. And African leaders should start thinking, walking, speaking, and looking “African” and stop camouflaging themselves as “western,” for the sake of their own dignity and for the betterment of African people.