In his speech, he argued for a New International Economic Order to improve the poor countries’ lot and spoke on behalf of all the oppressed across the world. What has become of Sankara’s vision 35 years later? We reproduce an abridged version of the speech, followed by a reflection on Sankara’s words by Vijay Prashad, historian of Third World internationalism.
I bring the fraternal greetings of a country covering 274,000 square kilometres, where seven million men, women and children refuse henceforth to die of ignorance, hunger and thirst even though they are not yet able to have a real life, after a quarter of a century as a sovereign state represented here at the United Nations.
