The Prime Minister, Dr Apollinaire Joachimson Kyélem de Tambèla, presided over the traditional flag-raising ceremony at the Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday, September 11, 2024. Addressing the Barsalogho attack, he questioned the failure to comply with the instructions of the Head of State, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, for the protection of populations, in the event of collective mobilization. He also invited the people to be very discerning in their behavior and judgment, in order to have a good understanding of each situation. His entire speech.
1-The lesson we can learn from this month of September is this: He who does not remember the past, will be condemned to relive it. Hence the importance of knowing history. Both one’s own history, and that of others, so as not to have to uselessly seek to reinvent the wheel in pain.
2-Fifty-one years ago today, on September 11, 1973, somewhere in the world, a statesman was assassinated. Elected President of the Republic, he proceeded to nationalize the country’s banks and mines. Then he undertook a policy of social reform. In this way, he directly attacked American interests, particularly the interests of the ITT company – International Telephone and Telegraph, created in 1920, and which, since then, had diversified its field of activity, touching almost all economic areas. This man was called Salvador Allende, President of Chile.
3-On December 4, 1972, at the podium of the United Nations General Assembly, Salvador Allende solemnly declared: “I accuse ITT before the conscience of the world of wanting to provoke a civil war in my homeland.” Less than a year after this declaration, he was assassinated.
4-Allende had been elected on September 4, 1970 by a coalition of Popular Unity, that is to say by the little people of workers and the left-behinds of Chile. As soon as he was elected, the CIA had warned that it would prepare a military intervention to remove him. To overthrow him, the Americans did not look far. They went through a part of his own electorate that they rallied to the Chilean bourgeoisie. They used the unions to divide the coalition in power, in particular the truckers’ union, which they financed to organize interminable strikes, including the blockade of traffic routes. This contributed to rotting the situation and favored the advent of the counter-revolution with the bloody putsch of General Augusto Pinochet.
5-Honest workers were far from imagining that their unions had been bribed by the Americans to destroy Chilean society. They were thus the actors of their own misfortune, because the regime of General Augusto Pinochet who took power following the assassination of Allende was merciless towards the Chileans, particularly towards the little people in struggle. A non-exhaustive report states more than three thousand dead and disappeared, thirty-eight thousand tortured, hundreds of thousands of exiles, three hundred thousand dismissals in the first twelve months.
6-The Western governments that claim to defend human rights did not see any violation of these rights in Chile. On the contrary, Pinochet was congratulated and encouraged. He was even ennobled by the British Government. In the so-called Third World countries, as soon as a single hair of a local servant of imperialism is touched, the West with all its armada falls on you. On the other hand, a leader who licks the boots of the West can kill and massacre as he pleases, even with the encouragement of the West. The example of Chile bears witness to this, as well as the case of African countries.
7- The lesson of this story is that imperialist capitalists are very cunning, and know how to use everything to achieve their ends. There is also the fact that people are not always what they claim to be. Who would have thought that unions, supposed to fight for the well-being of workers and their country, would collude with American imperialist capitalists to destroy their own country. We will also remember that the lure of gain and unbridled ambitions can transform man into a wolf for his fellow men.
8- We therefore need a great deal of discernment in our behavior and judgment, so as not to let ourselves be drawn into adventures with no way out, by people without faith or law who wear borrowed clothes to better deceive their victims.
9-We are all witnesses to the tragedy that took place in Barsalogho on August 24, 2024. This could only have been possible
because we were duped. The Head of State gave the necessary instructions for the protection of populations in cases of collective mobilization as was the case. Why were the instructions not respected?
10-Let us look around us with discernment each time, asking ourselves the right questions. Are we sure that we have the right understanding of each situation? Are we sure that we are not victims of manipulators for whom we are only means to achieve their objectives?
11-Let us take care to meditate on the events of September 11, 1973 in Chile. Let us become aware of the realities of the moment so as not to be surprised by history.
Dr Apollinaire Joachimson KYÉLEM of TAMBÈLA
Prime Minister of Burkina Faso
DCRP/Prime Minister’s Office
#Com_Gouv_BF
#SIGBurkina
#BurkinaFaso