Lesson under a tree. Showing photographs and talking about the differences between Britain and Burkina Faso to a class of schoolchildren in 1995.Photo: Claude Sauvageot

New Internationalist: the first 50 years – and the next

Chris Brazier looks back over a career as a co-editor that stretches back to 1984, remembering highlights and dark moments from Nicaragua to Vietnam, South Africa to Western Sahara and Burkina Faso.

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NI 531 - Vaccine equality - May, 2021
Newly displaced people waiting by the side of the road after fleeing attacks in Barsalogho, in north-central Burkina Faso.Photo: Tom Peyre-Costa/Norwegian Refugee Council

Coming undone

Report from Burkina Faso by Sam Mednick.

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NI 528 - A caring economy - November, 2020
Thomas Sankara in Moscow, 1986. Two years before in his speech to the United Nations, Sankara said that he spoke ‘not only on behalf of Burkina Faso but of all those who suffer’.Photo: TASS / Getty

When the stars began to shine

In 1984, President of Burkina Faso Thomas Sankara addressed the United Nations General Assembly. Sankara was perhaps the last ‘Third World’ politician, a revolutionary Marxist who felt a ‘special solidarity uniting the three continents of Asia, Latin America and Africa’.

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NI 518 - Building a new internationalism - March, 2019
The Chief with his traditional bonnet (2016).Photo: Chris Brazier

Sabtenga: modernisation knocks on the gates of tradition

Chris Brazier's full interview with François Moné, the village's latest Chief.

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NI 499 - African village - January, 2017
A newly prosperous family: Oumarou (centre) with his wife Bintu and (from left to right) Kadijamila, Abdul Gani Rayan, Muhammad and (in his grandmother’s arms) Issa Arif. Oumarou’s younger brother Ousmane is on the left.Photo: Chris Brazier

Great Expectations

Mariama’s sons are all trying to make their way in the wider world. But how do you explain to Africans that the rich world is now shutting its doors to migrants?

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NI 499 - African village - January, 2017
(Below) Rasinatu as she is now... (Opposite) ...and as she was in 2005, with Mariama, Zakariya and a determinedly contrary Zahara.Photo: Chris Brazier

The Perils of Charity

When rich and poor worlds collide, money is inevitably a problem.

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NI 499 - African village - January, 2017
(Bottom right) Adama today, now aged 73. (Bottom left) His granddaughters are set to work – with a little help from a friend. (Top) Adama’s four wives with an assortment of their children and grandchildren. Meryam, Zenabou and Bintu are at the back on the left, with Kadiguiatou third from the right. Mwadisa is in the middle, with red on her headdress, and Alimata is on the far right. A full range of photos of this family from 1985 to 2016  is available at nin.tl/villagehub

Autumn of the Patriarch

The latest instalment in the lives of Adama, his four co-wives and their 26 children.

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NI 499 - African village - January, 2017

An Audience with the Chief

Former military pilot François Moné has taken on the traditional role of Chief. He explains how he is using this to pursue the development of the village.

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NI 499 - African village - January, 2017
Photo: Claude Sauvageot

Then & Now

A photographic account of changes over the years in: housing; water; education; health; sanitation; food and farming; technology; and women.

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NI 499 - African village - January, 2017

Map of Sabtenga - and 30 years of change in Burkina Faso

How the village has grown - and some facts about how things have changed.

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NI 499 - African village - January, 2017

Journey's End

Chris Brazier returns to the village in Burkina Faso that he has visited every 10 years since helping to make a film there in 1985.

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NI 499 - African village - January, 2017
Burkina Faso mural.Photo by RobertoVi

Night fever: remembering Burkina Faso and Tom Waits

Chris Brazier returns every decade to produce a New Internationalist magazine on the country. He has produced three magazines and is currently researching his fourth. In this blog, Chris recalls the night he flew into the midst of a revolution and discovered he had made a serious error.

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NI 494 - Smiley-faced monopolists - July, 2016
Photo: Rebecca Cooke

Golden goal for child miners in Burkina Faso

Child miners are finding an unlikely escape from goldmines, through football, writes Rebecca Cooke.

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NI 490 - Blood brothers - Saudi Arabia and the West - March, 2016
Lunae Parracho/Reuters

The Unreported Year 2014

Stories that didn't make the mainstream media in 2014.

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NI 479 - Democracy in the digital era - January, 2015
Students rioting in Ouagadougou on 23 MayAFP/Gamma

Burkina Faso

Until the beginning of this year, the West African nation seemed like an island of calm in a troubled region. Then everything changed...

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NI 444 - The changing face of masculinity - July, 2011

Articles in this category displayed as a table:

Article title From magazine Publication date
Vaccine equality May, 2021
A caring economy November, 2020
Building a new internationalism March, 2019
African village January, 2017
African village January, 2017
African village January, 2017
African village January, 2017
African village January, 2017
African village January, 2017
African village January, 2017
African village January, 2017
Smiley-faced monopolists July, 2016
Blood brothers - Saudi Arabia and the West March, 2016
Democracy in the digital era January, 2015
The changing face of masculinity July, 2011
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