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 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

To put it simply, when western forces colonize a people, they simultaneously suppress and frame their traditions as barbaric and prop up their own western values as civilized. The colonized people experience unconscionable violence from these western forces, seeing first hand the inhumanity being caused in the name of 'civility'. Naturally, as anti-colonial resistance mounts, the most anti-West voices gain the most momentum, seen as less corruptible to those western forces and more unwavering in their resistance. So it's no surprise that reactionary attitudes on civil rights come as a reaction to western colonialism.

It's only once a people are able to reclaim their sovereignty that civil rights movements are able to build, fight for, and win those rights domestically. Without being co-opted by foreign powers with the only goal of destabilization.

I wasn't aware of the connection myself until I read Fanon's works at length

The suppression of those traditions, on Fanon’s account, marginalize or push tradition into secret—or, perhaps, keep the tradition in the open, but always as backward, abject, and contrary to modernity. This means tradition is still alive, not a mirage, and as alive also valued deeply by communities resisting colonial rule. Such traditions can be instrumentalized for the sake of revolutionary action, only to be evaluated after colonialism for their suitability in a postcolonial nation and culture. The same logic is elaborated in “The Algerian Family”, where Fanon explores the traditional structure of families in Algeria, in particular how those families set gender identity, power, marriage, and reproduction in fixed roles. Revolutionary families, he argues, identify these fixed roles and break with them while also maintaining a conviction that their practices are Algerian—that is, Algerian in the new sense.

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

No doubt it and many other historical events will affect many things later on but it's still not really a reasonable position to assume that has to be it even with lots of evidence that makes it seem unlikely in a particular case. Colonialism did not introduce anti-homosexual attitudes to the African continent. Islam, which arrived before the western colonialists also has them but wasn't the first appearance of that there either.

[–] Keeponstalin@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours 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 1 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours 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 say it is the root cause of any given issue absent of any real evidence for such a claim.

[–] Keeponstalin@lemmy.world 1 points 17 hours ago

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