Thomas Sankara et la condition féminine: un discours révolutionnaire?

2.2.2. Enemies of the female cause

Sankara blames the man, feudality (retrograde obscurantists and dark forces), the imperialism and the servants local like the adversaries of the female condition. They represent the irreducible enemies of the women, as the president of CNR underlines it: « The women manage to define who are their enemies. Enemies inside the man, the male but also enemies like the imperialism and the cultural system that it brought, and also the feudal system of yesterday which existed on our premises, well before the arrival of colonialism. »^176(*) The repetition of the word « enemies » and the use of plural translate the importance of the enemies and presupposes the width of the combat which awaits the partners of the female cause. The camp of the adversaries is explicitly indicated. They form the reaction i.e. the counter-revolution. To disparage them, a whole of networks of associations and qualifications are carefully established. Thus, to the enemies of terms degrading associate like: « System of hypocrisy », « violence », « inequality »,  « male silly thing », « feudal reign », « colonial reign », « apartheid », « retrograde forces ». They are described as « irresponsible », of « jealous » of « prostitueurs », of « procurers ». Sankara presents a negative image of its enemies.

It melts its reasoning more on appearance that on reality, which enables him to draw the attention of the audience, to obtain its adhesion with its ideas. It is not concealed with the thought of G. Klaus which affirms: « Appearance acts directly and immediately on the broad masses and constitutes for this reason a dominating topic of the political language. »^177(*) All the speech of Sankara is founded on the technical principle which consists in restricting the import of the act of the adversary. It disparages the action of the modes « neo-colonial », which, in its eyes, did not do anything for the improvement of the female condition. In spite of « the creation of the Ministry for the female condition, a ministry alibi », Sankara is not only astonished « the prostitution developed, that the access of the women to educations and employment did not improve, that the civic rights and policy of the women remained been unaware of, that the conditions of existence of the women downtown as in shift by no means improved. »^178(*) This restricted policy resulted in manufacturing a type of woman based on an pseudo-emancipation: « political Woman-alibi with the government ». Sankara tries to discredit the reactionaries by a series of insults. Insulting and pejorative formulas « always associate designation, description and illegitimation of the enemy » (P. Ansart)^179(*)

Thus when Sankara seeks to show that the imperialists supported misery, it uses of the following allegory: « (...) the intrusion of the by far come raptors contributed has to ferment the loneliness of the women and to worsen the precariousness of their condition. »^180(*). The expression « by far come raptors » evokes the greed and the cupidity of those which are thrown on their prey. The imperialism is seen like a constant danger. It is the same logic which guides Sankara in its description of the imperialism during its interview of March 17, 1985, granted with the journalist Ernest Harsch: « it is in practice that I saw that the imperialism is a monster, a monster which has claws, which has horns, which has hooks, which bite, which has venom, which is without pity. » The repetition of the word « monster » carries the animality and the immorality of the imperialism to its paroxysm.

The technique of the allegory was useful much in the polemical and political literature of the French revolution of 1789. Ferdinand Brunot makes an analysis of the use of the allegory in the political speech of the time. He shows how in the political powerful orators like Robespierre, Saint-Just, Rivarol adopt the allegorical language because they want to be the teachers of the people. Like them, Sankara will use the allegory to give body to abstract concepts. To make imperialism a monster makes it possible to visualize this concept, to make of it a pedagogically acceptable image by the audience. In other words, the concretization of the aspects of the imperialism, while making it possible the speech to escape an abstracted formulation, makes it immediately sensitive, palpable, and all the more striking^181(*)

In the enemy camp, Sankara denounces the made male mentality of vanity, arrogance and irresponsibility. The man, with the appearance of the private property, maintains the woman in a domestic slavery. Recurring use of the word « male » added to the regular use of « male chauvinist pigs » and « machists » highlights the animality and the brutality of the man. « Cheating », « idleness », « villainous calculations », « sexual whims » are associated the intimate man of way. When it goes to the attack of the prostitution the president of CNR makes the man responsible for the phenomenon. « It symbolizes the contempt that the man with woman »^182(*) it supports while adding: « There are prostitutes only where exist « prostitueurs » and of the procurers »^183(*)

Beyond the men, it is the whole company which is made responsible for this plague. Sankara establishes its matter and extends the culpability to all those which are responsible for ethics for the company, theologists or moralists. The Fathers of the Church had not put up themselves with the scandal by posing this kind of report: « one needs sewers to guarantee the healthiness of the palates »^184(*). Sankara uses here of a retortion which, by an ironic tone, tackles the rule (the Christian religion) and highlights the autophagie (revolutionary morals)^185(*). It shows that the respect of Christian morals is incompatible with the emancipation of the woman. It works to impose revolutionary morals on the detriment of religious morals: « With « morals » immoral of the exploiteuse and corrupted minority, we affix the revolutionary morals of a whole people for social justice »^186(*), the president of CNR specifies.

By taking its adversaries with the word, Sankara ridicules them and its message gains of credibility. It is presented thus in the form of the only one parking morals without which chaos would reign. Because, if those in charge with the protection and the education of the company like the old men (guaranteeing of the traditions) and the Fathers of the Church failed in their mission, only safety remains an unconditional fidelity with the revolution. The evil is at the level of mentalities bus as of the birth a differential education is exempted to the young boy (« gift of god ») and with the girl (« fate »). The rites and the obligation of tender continue to maintain the girl and leaving the woman in a total dependence. « (.) The social strait jacket will enclose the girl more, with each stage of its life »^187(*) It « social strait jacket » correctly translated the violence which is made on the woman by holding of the traditional company. It is to also say that the woman one is alienated with the concrete direction of the term and that its tender is obtained by intolerable coercive measurements. All the argumentation of Sankara aims at encouraging with the action for an upheaval of the established order. To put an end to « the relation of appropriation which wants that each woman is the property of a man »^188(*) remains the final objective of the burkinabé revolutionary leader.

The polemical technique of Sankara rests on the designation and the systematic denigration of its adversaries. The violence of its remarks, the use of insults gives on its speech an obvious committed character.

* ¹⁷⁶ GAKUNZI (D), COp cit., p. 116.

* ¹⁷⁷ PECHEUX (M), COp cit., pp. 260-261.

* ¹⁷⁸ GAKUNZI (D), COp cit., p. 233.

* ¹⁷⁹ BANEGAS (R), COp cit., p. 18.

* ¹⁸⁰ GAKUNZI (D), COp cit., p. 114.

* ¹⁸¹ BACRY (P), COp cit., p. 73.

* ¹⁸² GAKUNZI (D), COp cit., p 229.

* ¹⁸³ GAKUNZI (D), COp cit., p. 229.

* ¹⁸⁴ GAKUNZI (D), COp cit., p. 229.

* ¹⁸⁵ PERELMAN (CH), COp cit., p 72.

* ¹⁸⁶ GAKUNZI (D), COp cit., p. 71. See Appendix III  : A Messianic presentation of the Revolution.

* ¹⁸⁷ GAKUNZI (D), COp cit., p. 230.

* ¹⁸⁸ GAKUNZI (D), COp cit., p. 242.