Today marks the thirty-fourth anniversary of the violent assassination of Burkina Faso president Thomas Sankara. This year, the anniversary also coincides with the belated trial of some of those accused of involvement in his killing.

Although his presidency lasted just four years, Sankara has become an icon of pan-Africanism. His legacy continues to inspire movements against imperialism and colonialism across the world.

Sankara saw that debt was just another form of imperial control by Africa’s former colonizers. His assassination abruptly ended Sankara’s attempt to build an alliance of countries to challenge debt, but his vision of debt resistance is still urgently needed today.