This is the first English translation of this interview and the opening installment in a Liberation School series of previously untranslated work by Thomas Sankara. This translation series is the result of a collaboration with ThomasSankara.net, an online platform dedicated to archiving work on and by the great African revolutionary. We would like to express our gratitude to Bruno Jaffré for allowing us to establish this collaboration and providing us with the right to translate this material into English for the first time.

Thomas Sankara (1949-1987), who is sometimes referred to as the “African Che Guevara,” was the Marxist-Leninist leader of the Burkinabé Revolution from 1983 until his assassination in 1987, which is finally being investigated. Sankara made major contributions to the anti-imperialist and anti-colonial struggle, the defense of national self-determination, the construction of socialist internationalism, women’s liberation, the fight against capitalist-driven environmental destruction, and many other significant fronts of global class struggle.

The text below was originally published in L’Humanité, a newspaper with strong historical ties to the French Communist Party, before being republished on ThomasSankara.net.

Read the article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/sankara-we-didnt-import-our-revolution/

Thomas Sankara: “We didn’t import our revolution”

01. Blut Auf Papier
02. Chance
03. Cool & Relaxt
04. Die Welt gehört dir (feat. Dave Shino)
05. Gib mir nur ein Mic
06. Ich dank euch
07. In deiner Stadt
08. Mach dir klar
09. Mich richtet nur Gott
10. Nicht wie ich
11. Öffne die Augen
12. Paff Paff
13. Schon seit so vielen Jahren
14. Schuh in dein Arsch 
15. Vaterstaat
16. Wahrer MC
17. Warum ich rappe
18. Warum

Johnny Size - Warum

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Bea, Artie, and Jules discuss Eric Adams' initiative to broadly expand involuntary hospitalization law and policy in New York, and the dark history of psychiatric institutionalization he appears to want to bring back.

Find our book Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism

Read Bea and Artie's piece about this in The Nation (from December) here: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/adams-forced-hospitalization/

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Empty Rights and Carceral Sanism (Unlocked)

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Voluntary Reaction Charlotte 6.5.23

Dubussy (STBB 850)

Liu Liangmo’s story is as remarkable as it is unknown. An anti-imperialist, pro-Communist Christian, with a significant relationship to the Black Liberation Movement and the Indian Freedom Struggle, Liu lived in the U.S. as a diplomat after participating in the ongoing Chinese revolution. He wrote a column for the prominent Black newspaper. The Pittsburgh Courier, before returning to his home country and attaining a fairly high-ranking position there. His story offers notable insight into the history of pre- and post-revolutionary China and its approach to the Black freedom movement in the U.S. It also reveals much about the turbulent “Second Popular Front” era in China, during which time Communist forces obtained broader legitimacy. This has largely been erased from U.S. political and historical consciousness, which helps explain Liu’s relative marginality.

Most radical movements since the late 1960s have rightly critiqued the legacy of the Popular Front for blurring the lines between reform and revolution and, by extension, capitalism and communism. They see the Popular Front as an opportunist approach to building unity where radical ideas and the independent working-class program were subordinated to maintain legitimacy among left-liberal reform currents.

What is lost in such sweeping generalizations are the unusual concrete circumstances and strategic conundrums that Communist forces faced worldwide in this moment, especially among the struggles of oppressed peoples against colonialism and fascism. Liu Liangmo’s story provides an opportunity to critically examine this period anew. His Courier columns covered a wide breadth of “popular front” political activities and the relationships expressed in those writings speak to both the strengths and the weakness of Communist political activity during World War II. On the one hand, there was unprecedented vitality and significance to Communist-led interventions while, on the other hand, there was a lack of strategic clarity that forestalled a larger political breakthrough. Using Liu’s columns as a foundation, we can address this moment and draw important international parallels.

Read the full story here: https://www.liberationschool.org/liu-liangmo-pt-2/

Liu Liangmo: China’s anti-imperialist, anti-racist, Christian revolutionary (pt. 2)

On today's episode Brian and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss how inflation is hitting our paychecks—despite financial reports stating good news.

Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.

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Biden’s Economic Policies: Recession in 2024?

The U.S. Congress and elite colleges and universities are spinning the reality that students are protesting to stop a genocide against Palestinians into the clear fabrication that they’re promoting one against Jewish people—something students haven’t called for. Students are facing repression at campuses nationwide but continue to stand up for their principles.

Brian Becker is joined by Dr. Nazia Kazi, a professor of Anthropology and author of the book “Islamophobia, Race, and Global Politics.”

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Congress’s Witch Hunt Against Palestine Flips Reality On Its Head: Students Want to Stop a Genocide

In this week’s segment we discuss President Biden’s speech in Charleston, South Carolina with two local activists who helped to coordinate a protest in the renowned Black church which was used as a campaign backdrop. Also, we examine the implications of a federal judge’s ruling which allows a so-called voter integrity group to continue challenging voter eligibility. But first we speak to an acclaimed independent journalist about events in Gaza and South Africa’s case against Israel in the International Court of Justice.

Black Agenda Radio January 12, 2024

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something buried in the earth (2023) | line upon line

Schallfeld Ensemble | Graz, 06.07.20

Commission of CROSSROADS International Music Festival
with generous support from the PRS for Music Foundation

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Imago Sonora | Mattatoio, Nuova Consonanza Festival, Rome, 21.12.19 
Franco Evangelisti International Composition Competition - Finalists Concert 

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NAMES | Solitär Mozarteum, CROSSROADS Festival, Salzburg, 09.11.19

Earthscape II - Mycelia

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Liu Liangmo: China’s anti-imperialist, anti-racist, Christian revolutionary (pt. 2)

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