Challenge:Thomas Sankara Lives

Specifically, he survives the assassination attempt, and lives to complete all his programs. Is it possible? More importantly, could we see his ideas spread to the rest of Africa?

Considering many call him the only benevolent dictator, I'm quite curious about this one.
 
He's going to get killed at some point, especially if his ideas start to spread. Say...Mali falls to a Communist revolution supported by Sankara. Do you think the Americans are going to let that continue? They'll support a Pinochet figure and send in SpecOps to "train the police and army in proper policing techniques", i.e, death squads.
 
Except Castro was on a literal Island. Not quite the same for this guy, especially with his Pan-Africanism advocacy.
 
Yes, but regardless of his physical position, his neighbors are also mostly tinpot dictators which will all of a sudden receive some American cash to buy French arms by the boatload. I can see irredentist claims against Burkina Faso all of a sudden springing into existence, and whatever well-armed anti-Communist dictator goes at it first marching into Ouagdougou and putting Sankara's head on a stick.

Finally, while his policies were beneficial for the poor, eventually he's going to need to find a way to pay for it all other than confiscating the wealth of the landowning class. That means either taxing and nationalizing more, including from the poor, or cutting back his programs, or getting aid from the Soviets, which would mean sticking to their party line.

That being said, a more successful Sankara might mean a more legitimate, Pan-Africanist left in the region, which, if moderated to be palatable for international donors, could help transcend the tribalism and actually make a big difference.
 
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