ReportDied in 1987 at the age of 37, the former president of Burkina Faso has become an icon. While Blaise Compaoré has just been found guilty of his assassination, the revolutionary ideas of the man who opposed corruption as much as imperialism resonate strongly in France among young people and in pop culture.
Sankara clenches his fist. The 33-meter-high fresco dominates rue Hoche, in Ivry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne), south of Paris. In this district all in concrete and in verticals, the surname of the former president of Burkina Faso, assassinated in 1987 during a coup d’etat, is inscribed in large white letters on the work painted by the artist. Vinci Vince. “It’s a way of saying that Thomas Sankara did not die for nothing”, explains Mehrez Mraidi, 44, behind this tribute.
Glasses with smoked lenses and a sweater bearing the slogan “Art changes everything”, the communist municipal councilor was very keen on it. Because, without the former African leader, he would never have entered politics, he confides over a coffee, on the terrace of a bakery. This father of three children recounts the arrival in France of his own father, who came from Tunisia in 1965. When he died of cancer, Mehrez was only 10 years old. He remembers his mother, who combines three jobs as a cleaning lady to survive, from 5 am to late at night. He obtained a CAP in cooking but ended up working in private security.
In the mid-1990s, at the Fête de Humanity, he discovers the tragic fate of Thomas Sankara. A “shock” decisive in its commitment, he said. Since then, Mehrez Mraidi has been trying to ” to change things ” by getting involved in the Kinkiliha homework assistance association created by a teacher from Ivry-sur-Seine in 2001, which he has chaired on a voluntary basis for eight years.
The Ivryen is proud of this fresco, for which he fought a year before obtaining funding and authorizations. It was inaugurated in October 2018, in front of more than 400 people, in the presence of Assa Traoré, the activist in the fight against police violence, and representatives of the Embassy of Burkina Faso.
Like a magnet, the work arouses curiosity. It is not uncommon for residents of the neighborhood to come and ask the caretaker questions about Burkina Faso and its former president. Or just stop for a few selfies. “We also see more and more people coming from other neighborhoods just for the fresco, rejoices Mehrez Mraidi. Or even other cities. »
Most often in military uniform and beret, the figure of Thomas Sankara is displayed on the walls, but also on clothes, posters and on Instagram accounts. The trial of his assassination has just ended in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.
On April 6, Blaise Compaoré, president of Burkina Faso from 1987 to 2014, was sentenced in absentia to life in prison, along with two other senior army officers. A refugee in Côte d’Ivoire, where he obtained nationality, Compaoré was guaranteed never to be extradited.
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