this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2026
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Ibrahim Traoré, who took power in 2022 coup, tells state broadcaster ‘we must tell the truth, democracy isn’t for us’

People in Burkina Faso should forget about democracy as it is “not for us”, the military president, Ibrahim Traoré, told the country’s state broadcaster.

Traoré took power in a coup in September 2022, toppling another junta that had taken power just nine months earlier. He has since stifled opposition and in January banned political parties outright.

A transition to democracy had originally been planned for 2024, but that year the junta extended Traoré’s rule until 2029.

“We’re not even talking about elections, first of all … People need to forget about the question of democracy … We must tell the truth, democracy isn’t for us,” Traoré said in an interview on Thursday with the state broadcaster Radiodiffusion Télévision du Burkina (RTB).

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[–] Keeponstalin@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This history of lgbt acceptance and religion is complicated, but that is beside the point here.

Colonialism and Imperialism are absolutely to blame for the reasons described prior, they have significantly halted progress made in civil rights within their target countries. A foreign power mass executing your people makes it difficult for the conversion to be anything but liberation.

If you want to learn more about the psychology of colonialism on the colonized, and how that influences social beliefs and revolutionary resistance, read anything Frantz Fanon.

[–] 73ms@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Sorry but colonialism being to blame here seems like an a priori assumption with you and not anything that you've actually factually established.

I certainly don't have a problem with the idea of colonialism or other parts of history having very long lasting and diverse effects but it's just not the case that we can just say it is the root cause of anything absent of any real evidence for such a claim.

[–] Keeponstalin@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

My analysis is based on Fanon, how well read are you on anti-colonialism?

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is a classic appeal to authority rather than addressing their question.

[–] Keeponstalin@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

No, it's not unless you're claiming Fanon in unreliable and not credible. A counter argument of 'I don't personally think so' is not a valid counter argument against the highly respected works of an academic who both lived and studied his lifes work

The Wretched of the Earth

A Dying Colonialism

Black Skin, White Masks

If you can't attack the substance, you attack the source. The only other time I've seen a weak bs claim of 'appeal to authority' is from people who try to discredit human rights reporting on genocide.

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

You're asserting that because a person is a highly respected academic that we should accept their conclusions are relevant here - you are not synthesizing their work with applicability for your claim that the current regression on LGBTQ rights is the result of colonialism.

For an example of what I mean:

We are making the claim that Burkina Faso has been an independent country for 65 years. For most of that time, while LGBTQ people were not broadly loved, there was no outright oppression - arguably (from one perspective) they were better about homosexual relationships than many western countries in the same timeframes. This recent shift is a regression primarily from internal pressures - it's been too long to reasonably claim that this shift in attitude is singly the result of a reaction to having been a colony.

You have not done anything to refute that claim, or present evidence or reasoning that your claim (that this is the result of colonial and imperialistic pressures) is at all applicable, beyond citing a well known and well respected academic who has not talked about this specific situation. You are instead insisting that we cannot argue against your argument because your argument cites the work of a respected academic, and are shifting our criticism of your claims to criticism of Fanon's claims, which is unfair. I have not addressed Fanon's thesis here because I am questioning the applicability of that thesis to these events; that is a claim you have made, and which you have not supported.

This is absolutely an appeal to authority - you claim that your argument is based on respected works and therefore has standing on that merit above the claims of others.

[–] Keeponstalin@lemmy.world 1 points 21 hours ago

First, thank you for well written response

It's true that Fanon himself did not write too much on neocolonialism, as it was a bit past his time. However, if you understand how reactionary sentiments foment in the process of an anti-colonialist revolution, it's not difficult to understand how that persists in the face of neocolonialism, as western empires continue to subjugate these nations with modern methods.

In the case of Burkina Faso, we can't ignore France's neocolonialist actions since their independence. They have not been sovereign in the same sense that western nations have. While western nations were able to develop civil rights free of the constant battle against neocolonial dominance, this is still not the case for countries like Burkina Faso. France has still been a constant threat against their sovereignty, and as such, the anti-western hardliners continue to stay in power.

Spoiler

Unlike what they did in Indochina and Algeria, France granted independence to most of its West and Central African colonies peacefully in the 1960s. Just because these new countries were independent in name, however, does not mean they were sovereign... the African Financial Community (CFA) franc monetary zone, which is inherently unequal and rooted in exploitative practices.

For decades, France had a certain level of control of Burkina Faso’s monetary situation through their establishment of the CFA Franc zone, This monetary union between numerous West African countries and France, stipulated that these countries maintain their monetary reserves within French treasuries [8]. This monetary policy resulted in an economy that increasingly favored French imports instead of attempting to rely on domestic production, which maintained the historical level of dependence on France that existed within the country and neighboring regions. This dependence on France has made it difficult for Burkina Faso to sustainably develop local communities due to economic policies that favor foreign influences instead of local development.

On 15 October 1987, the socialist president of Burkina Faso, Thomas Sankara, was assassinated, aged 37. He was killed in a military coup that is suspected to have been backed by France, the former colonial power.

After Sankara’s death, Burkina Faso entered a period of political instability, marked by coups, military regimes, and civil unrest. During this time, France played a significant role in Burkina Faso’s political affairs, supporting various regimes and exerting its influence on the country’s economic policies. This led to the emergence of neocolonialism, where France maintained its grip on Burkina Faso’s political and economic systems, despite the country’s formal independence.

[–] 73ms@sopuli.xyz -1 points 23 hours ago

As I said. "Analysis" only based on a theoretical framework with zero supporting facts is not analysis, it's dogma.