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“Our predecessors taught us one thing: the slave who is not capable of assuming his own revolt does not deserve to be pitied.”

Source: Speech at the Russia–Africa Summit, St Petersburg, 28 July 2023, quoting Thomas Sankara (UN General Assembly, 1984)

Context Burkina Faso's military leader since the 2022 coup, speaking at the Russia–Africa summit, where he repeated a line from Thomas Sankara's 1984 UN speech.

Portrait of Ibrahim Traoré
Ibrahim TraoréBurkina Faso · b. 1988
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