"The French revolution taught us the rights of man"

Thomas Sankara’s statement that "The French revolution taught us the rights of man" navigates both the legacy of global revolutionary thought and its resonance within anti-colonial movements. The French Revolution (1789-1799) was epochal for articulating the idea that every individual, regardless of birth or social standing, possesses fundamental rights by virtue of their humanity. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, one of the revolution’s most influential documents, asserted key principles such as liberty, equality before the law, freedom of speech, and resistance to oppression.

For many generations and across continents, these ideals became rallying points for those struggling against tyranny and privilege. Sankara, as the revolutionary president of Burkina Faso, evoked the French Revolution not only to acknowledge a historic precedent but also to claim a universal heritage for Africa and other formerly colonized peoples. In a world marked by colonial legacies, such recognition is significant, historically, the same societies that proclaimed the rights of man often denied them to their colonies or justified systems of racial oppression.

Yet, Sankara’s reminder does not blindly praise the French legacy but reclaims and repurposes it, making the rights of man relevant for the oppressed in the Global South. It implies that ideals belonging to humanity need not be artifacts of European history, but living, actionable values for all people. By referring to the lessons of the French Revolution, Sankara underscores the power of revolutionary ideas to transcend their origins and become emancipatory instruments elsewhere. He implicitly critiques the selective application of these rights and calls for their genuine realization in post-colonial societies. Ultimately, Sankara invokes this lesson to legitimize ongoing struggles for liberty, justice, and equality, aligning local movements with a broader, transnational tradition of human rights and universal emancipation.