179
If the US Joint Chiefs announced a coup tomorrow, followed by the arrest of billionaires, nationalization of all corporation, medical care for all, open season on landlords, etc., USians would be dancing in the streets.
Look, there's a lot of straight up lies and fabricated news coming out of Burkina Faso with regards to AI generated content (like the aforementioned R Kelly video) and propaganda pushes, such as rebadging Chinese electric cars and food deliveries as domestically produced, along with terrorists operating in almost half of the country's territory. The recent shift from aligning with China to aligning more openly with Russia from the AES as a whole is a bit worrying. Having Russia as a military ally right now isn't the best situation, Russia's all tied up in Ukraine and can't afford to support other countries out of charity (see the fall of Assad in Syria) and will only provide the required levels of support if you're prepared to pay up big, and upfront (see Algeria's massive military budget and all the latest and greatest Russian equipment ending up in Algeria). Not mention Wagner or whatever it's called now has plenty of issues.
But the article fails to adress that or addresses it very briefly, and instead amounts to a digital temper tantrum of "we don't like Traore's ideology so he sucks" which is not insightful.
The recent shift from aligning with China to aligning more openly with Russia from the AES as a whole is a bit worrying. Having Russia as a military ally right now isn't the best situation
You're correct it is silly and naive to call Russia an ally, but in the grand scheme its not like there are better options. AES alignment as you call it may well be the new BRICS membership card at this point as China simultaniously says US bad while gives weapons to Saudi Arabia who are fighting Yemen who is the only one fighting for Palestine.
I'd rather blame the complete lack of leadership from these AES countries, again 99% China and 1% Vietnam's shitty western aligned attitudes than Burkina Faso's brainworms as bad as they may be.
At the end of the day the DPRK also aligned with Russia for a reason, if they can trust them "enough" what other alternative is there? Embracing the devil doesn't work so anything else goes sadly.
I strongly fear that he will get merked and it will be completely forgotten about because the propaganda will be too good. Remember when Trump said that migrants were eating cats and dogs on live tv and still won the election? Cooked is all I have to say. Headlines like this just reinforce our cooked nature
Here comes the lecture…
liberals really do believe that doing good things for people is cheating at politics
The amount of times I’ve heard people accuse leftist candidates of “buying votes” for offering stronger social services
This dude has the most gigachad aura. I cannot state enough how much of a gigachad Ibrahim Traoré is.
This propaganda is so obvious. Search his name on Google and all you get are western media smear pieces. Search him on Yandex and you get pieces by actual African and global south voices praising him for upholding and fulfilling the legacy of Thomas Sankara: https://africanvoiceonline.co.uk/a-monumental-tribute-ibrahim-traores-initiative-to-honor-thomas-sankara-and-redefine-african-heritage/
The West desperately wishes to do to him what they did to Sankara, and for the exact same reasons. Because he is breaking the West's neo-colonial grip on Africa, inspiring a pan-African movement, and achieving real material development for his country. This is a cardinal sin as far as the mouthpieces of empire are concerned, therefore his image must be destroyed and he physically eliminated.
He's also exposing the fact that the west is impoverishing the global south
What is yandex? An alternative search engine that doesn't just search Western propaganda news outlets? Because that would be great if that's a thing that exists.
Russian search engine
An alternative search engine that doesn't just search Western propaganda news outlets?
Exactly.
Also does a bunch of other things but that's not important right now.
Main thing is, it's a search engine that is not censored by the West. Google for instance will simply never show you certain sites that have been deemed in the West to be enemy "disinformation", instead it will spit out dozens upon dozens of clones of the same MSM articles on sensitive political topics.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Liberals are unable to grasp "leader does good things and is beloved for it" because none of their leaders ever get around to the first part.
I'll go a step further and say that it seems like liberals actually hate the idea of someone getting elected by promising to do what the people want and then actually doing it. Deep down liberals really don't even actually like democracy
They really don't. At the heart of liberalism is a deep elitism which is necessary because their society is inherently stratified. I still remember when they blamed "stupid poor people" for the election of Trump and argued for restricting the franchise (in 2016, when Trump lost the popular vote and only became president based on a ruling by 9 unelected bureaucrats).
Yes but Traore wasn't elected
Which is why he is able to do the things he does. Elections in Africa are too easy for the West with its vast financial resources, its global media apparatus, and its NGOs to manipulate and control, especially in countries where compradors are deeply embedded in the institutions. It may not seem ideal to us but the reality is that only a leader who comes to power with popular support while circumventing the colonized electoral and political systems that exist in these countries can bring a real change in direction. In practice this usually means a military coup since the military is best positioned in these countries to do this: they are the only ones with the organization, the manpower and the material resources to achieve a revolutionary takeover. There are plenty historical examples: Nasser, Gaddafi, Sankara, and now Traoré.
Yep
For liberals, democracy means "they have general elections".
Leftists use a more general definition: a government working for the rights and material interests of the people.
That can be accomplished through general elections, but it's by no means limited to that. It's usually not the best method near the beginning of a revolution.
Personally, i dont agree with either of those definitions, but im still a major Traore stan.
Not that it makes a difference, but I'm kind of curious for your preferred definition.
Ya know, its something I think about a lot. Not sure I could give my own answer right at the moment. Definitely isnt the idealist liberal version though. I think its interesting to think about where "democracy" fits in the base/superstructure "spectrum". Is it a characteristic that creates a freer more socialist society, or is it an outcome of one?
Makes it interesting to see what traore is gonna be able to do, I'm watching it closely because it'll probably offer answers to some of these questions. Traore and the Burkinabe people have been keen on a Sankara 2.0 and they've learned their fucking lesson. They believe in themselves and if Traore can fucking survive, West Africa is going to be one of the first places to thoroughly shed their Western brainworms and do it fast (10 years if they develop rapidly). I think Russia and China both see it worthwhile to work with AES for mutual benefit.
Is this not pretty much the MTW take?
"We aren't going to see a revolution and implementation of socialism in the imperial core/most industrialized areas. It is much more likely tohappen at the edges of the empire, where capitalism is present but weak. We have seen this in Russia, China, and pretty much everywhere people succeeded boverthrowing capitalism (regardless of whether you agree with the decisions that were made after/since."
So yeah China is the most important country right now "we are entering a Chinese century" yes sure, but AES is getting very important to socialism, very quickly.
Anyway, got a bit off topic...
Crystallizing thoughts into words is a good exercise---I find it forces me to fully mature my ideas.
It's okay, expected even, to create an imperfect definition on your first try; we can workshop it! Would you add or change something to mine?
Alternatively, in practical rather than theoretical terms, what could Traore do to make his state democratic?
Edit: Sorry, not trying to grill you, comrade. You can consider this a question posed to the community at large.
Nah I don't feel grilled dw
I think the definition you wrote doesn't resonate with me is that it doesn't seem to value consultation with the people. Not really a definition but a theme that I'd try and encapsulate.
I'd say that Traore didn't come to power democratically, but i would say that everything I've seen so far has democratic support, which is more important. It wouod be great to see that support confirmed in an election, but I understand that there some things more important to focus on than increasing the level of democracy right at this exact moment.
load more comments
(4 replies)
Having net-positive favorability is authoritarian. Having any chance of being reelected after taking office demonstrates a dangerous thirst for power.
Leaders “doing” things for their constituents? Sorry, but that’s too much politics in my politics for my taste.
This mf is younger than me. Wtf am I doing with my life.
Buckle down, bucko! We're bringing communism back to San Marino!
He lights up my heart. His smile ♥️
CFR’s Obadare argued that, while many Africans were rightly frustrated by the “lethargy” of the continent’s democratic systems, Traoré’s emerging popularity was “far more sinister”.
“There is this knee-jerk and robotic anti-westernism that means once someone shows up to say they hate the west, we automatically believe in that person.”
"I can't believe the people that have been brutally exploitated for centuries don't like their oppressors!! Clearly it's just their programming to hate the west, there's definitely no legitimate reason they would be anti-western!"
"Maybe we should just inform them how much more civilised we are than them, that should do it!"
“Africans are robots that must be programmed to dislike the people that enslaved and colonized them.”
It is a reductionist cliche to hate the people who have exploited and oppressed you for centuries. Be original, people!
Come on guys. What did the West ever do to Africa to deserve this kind of treatment?? It's completely unfair 
load more comments
(1 replies)
What this stupid fuck fails to see is not only is it past and present but the future of this continent is FUCKED. FUCKED! You know why? Because a climate catastrophe will absolutely devastate this continent and the angelic westerners he wants suck off are largely responsible. Fuuuuuuuuuuck offffff
Ironically, global warming could green the Sahara.
Inshallah the french never get to him
how a russia backed wasp ruined my picnic
"What do you mean they like him because he helps them?! He can't do that! It's cheating! Your supposed to trick them! Waaaahhh!!! No fair!!!!"
They're scared. They're fucking scared.
May this man and his people remain safe and prosperous.
The worst things I've heard about Ibrahim Traore:
- Stopped illegal gold mining in Burkina Faso and instead started a gold reserve for the country /e I forgot to mention the nationalization of mines
- Tried to get roads built by contractors, and then used the money to buy the equipment and hire people to do the work without middle men
- Asked Putin for education instead of handouts
I've learned all of this through youtube shorts, but it can't be worse than the AI generated and narrated "reddit" posts
The one thing that’s hard for me to ignore is the massacre of the Fulani village mentioned by Human Rights Watch. I don’t know what his personal role was in all of that, but it’s definitely upsetting. Still, I’m not going to throw out all my support just because there was chaos at the start of building a free state.
load more comments
(6 replies)
load more comments
(3 replies)
"All socialists are deranged mindless zealot cultists like in warhammer who we can murder because they're insane (caliper emoji)
"If you say absolutely anything about our red heifer apocalypse cult currently involved in carrying out a genocide, we'll kill you because you're a dangerous insane zealot"
We must protect this man, Burkina Faso is one of the few places from which any good news is coming out these days and I'm so happy for them. I gather that all the videos of him giving speeches in English are ai-translated but apparently they're faithful translations (my French is not good enough to tell by myself) and dude is so smart, puts most other heads of state to absolute shame.
If anyone can point to which speeches/interviews of him were definitely conducted in English that would be dope. Not that a world leader has to speak English ofc but it's for my own curiosity.
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 24 May 2025
179 points (100.0% liked)
chapotraphouse
13837 readers
767 users here now
Banned? DM Wmill to appeal.
No anti-nautilism posts. See: Eco-fascism Primer
Slop posts go in c/slop. Don't post low-hanging fruit here.
founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS