A historic verdict at the end of the trial for the assassination of Thomas Sankara, killed 34 years ago. In the military court of Ouagadougou on Wednesday 06 April 2022, the sentences were heavy: life imprisonment for the former president of Burkina Faso Blaise Compaoré, but also for the commander of his guard Hyacinthe Kafando. The same sentence was handed down to General Gilbert Diendéré, one of the army leaders. Diendéré and Blaise Compaoré were also found guilty of “complicity in murder”.
Thus, in order to conduct a critical analysis, to opine on the present decision and to keep these internet users on their toes, PLACE For Africa has decided to publish an article and to make a short film to retrace the journey of Thomas SANKARA, the pan-African icon of the struggle against imperialism.
Course of the project :
On Friday 08 April 2022 at 17:45, I was instructed by the general coordination to write the article and the video. That Friday evening I spent the whole evening researching the material and writing the article, which was corrected as I went along by the general coordinator. I wanted to respect the timing given to me because I had been instructed that the article and the video should be published by the morning of Tuesday 12 April 2022. My colleague Castello ZODO and I set about getting the article and video ready on Monday afternoon. On Tuesday morning before publishing the article, a message was sent to Nicole to get her agreement to publish the article. She made some very pertinent remarks and changes that we incorporated. The article and the video were then put online.
Results:
This project has resulted in educational material and content on the website and social networks of PLACE for Africa. Indeed, today PLACE for Africa has not remained on the sidelines of this key news of the continent, the organisation has seized this opportunity to make a critical and very relevant analysis of the responsibility of the great powers in the crimes of great African leaders. In addition, a short film retracing the life of Thomas SANKARA is available on the organisation’s youtube page.
Successes of the activity
As far as this project is concerned, despite the very limited timeframe and the fact that the work was done over the weekend, all the documents were finalised and put online in time.
Failures:
After the contents were put online on the digital communication platforms of the organisation, a feedback was not given to the general coordination because the publication links were not sent to the GC. And it was at 8pm that Nicole tried to find out if the contents had been published. This was a serious mistake that should not be repeated. Furthermore, the video uploaded on youtube was marked “Universität Mannheim” because of the location of the uploading site. Finally, it is very disappointing that after all this work and the publication of the content, the video on Youtube only got 2 likes after 8 hours of publication. This shows that even within the PLACE team after publication of the video, not everyone had the reflex to go and see and like the videos.
Lessons and learning from the project
The lessons learned from this project are that it is very important, if not essential, to always give feedback to the general coordination after any content is posted on the organisation’s digital communication platforms. It is also important to pay close attention to the smallest details before putting content online in order to limit the margin of error, as the organisation’s reputation and image are at stake. In addition, it will be necessary from now on for a serious follow-up to be done so that the published content is liked and shared by all the organisation’s staff.