Thomas Sankara - Upright Men FC T-Shirt

Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara (21 December 1949 – 15 October 1987) was a Marxist-Leninist/pan-Africanist revolutionary whose 1983 coup freed Upper Volta from French colonial rule. Sometimes referred to as "Africa's Che Guevara", he served as President of the renamed Burkina Faso ("Land of Upright Men") from 1983 to 1987 before being assassinated. During his presidency, Burkina Faso planted 10 million trees to halt desertification, expropriated land from feudal tribal lords to give it to peasants (raising wheat production from 1,700 kg to 3,900 kg per hectare in the process, making the country food self-sufficient), ended female genital mutilation and lifted up women's rights, vaccinated 2.5 million children, and initiated a nationwide literacy campaign (raising the literacy rate from 17% to 78%). Believing physical fitness important to the health of the nation, Sankara instituted a mass sporting program, and participated in a weekly game of football (soccer) with government officials. A week before his assassination, Sankara declared: "While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas".