It is not surprising that global multinational media like the BBC, CNN, France 24, Fox, NBC News, Al Jazeera, Reuters and AFP have blacked out the ongoing attempts by Western powers led by France and the United States to remove Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso from power.
These global media are powerful in shaping global public opinion, influencing global policy, and connecting people across borders. Collectively, they control three-quarters of the global media audience.
Some of these global media have become strategic tools for Western countries to use to “manufacture consent”, as justifications to invade countries.
Key examples include their support for the invasion of and destruction of Iraq, the invasions of Haiti, Panama, and Grenada, and the recent invasion and destruction of Libya in 2011.
Since Captain Ibrahim Traore staged a coup in 2022 in what has become a ‘revolution against Western domination and exploitation’, he has survived more than 10 assassination and poisoning attempts.
The agenda is to kill him and to restore Western control and exploitation over the poor country. Burkina Faso’s security analysts have accused France and the USA of planning to oust Captain Traore and to destabilize it.
They have also accused Alassane Ouattara, the President of Ivory Coast, of hosting the defectors and rebels being trained and equipped by Western powers to destabilize Burkina Faso.
Western media agenda
If any of the ten coups had succeeded, the global Western media would have devoted weeks and months to reporting the overthrow of Ibrahim Traore, who has become the voice of Africa.. It is obvious that the ability of Burkina Faso’s security intelligence and the military to stop the Western aggression is not newsworthy.
The Western media are only interested in reporting on poverty and instability occurring across Africa. Their agenda is never to report any positive and progressive development in Africa, to feed a false narrative that nothing positive can emerge from Africa.
Thus, Western media have played a historic role in the colonization and recolonization of Africa through propaganda and stereotyped reporting.
Through their collective reporting, they have justified the continuous exploitation of Africa’s human and natural resources for the benefit of their populations. The same media and their journalists then brand Africa as a useless and hopeless continent.
Their narratives have been that Africa is perpetually poor, unstable and corrupt. Every year, the Western media reports that Africa tops the list of corrupt countries in the world, while the countries where corrupt African politicians save the stolen money never appear on the list of corrupt countries. What an irony?
Africa’s contribution
Furthermore, their narratives have always been that Africa has not contributed to human development. However, recent revelations have affirmed that Africa was the cradle of civilization, where Greek and Roman philosophers obtained knowledge.
For instance, the university Timbuktu in Mali was the first in the world. Mali also had astrological systems in place before the evolution of modern science.
Besides, Black African experts practiced medicine and dentistry in Sudan and Egypt before modern medicine emerged in Europe.
Also, the Igbo people of Nigeria were known to have elected their leaders before Europe started what is currently known as democracy. Urban planning and sewerage systems were practiced in Kano for centuries before current planning started.
Moreover, the people of Great Zimbabwe practiced advanced architecture in the 11th and 15th centuries before Western intellectuals heard about it. Furthermore, modern trade and commerce were started by Mansa Musah of Mali in the 14th century.
The world’s wealthiest man at the time traded in salt and gold to many parts of the world before Europeans started trading.
It is well documented that African Americans made most of the inventions the world is enjoying now, but were never credited or recognized for their contributions to global knowledge.
Finally, the Moors of ancient Morocco colonized and civilized the Spanish before the tables turned. These achievements represented Africa’s rich civilization and innovation before European colonization. Yet, the global Western media hardly credit Africans with these achievements.
Marginalization
In all, the Western media often marginalizes African voices on global issues. A clear case of their refusal to give prominence to the legitimate concerns of Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso, Assimi Goita of Mali and Abdourahamane Tchiani of Nigeria. This explains why the global Western media have been described as the “new missionaries of colonialism.”
When African military and their people rise to the defence of their rights and sovereignty, Western media often describe them with negative terms like ‘militias and insurgents.’ However, when their military interferes with the internal affairs of poor countries, they are described as patriots. Thus, anything that works against Western interests is often branded negative and retrogressive.
On April 30, 2025, thousands of Africans and Africans in the Diaspora poured onto the streets of Africa, Europe and America to send one powerful message to France and USA to“Leave the people of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger alone.”
The demonstrators raised their voices against Western manipulation and exploitation of the poor Sahelian-Burkina Faso, Maile and Niger. A Ghanaian demonstrator was captured in Tik Tok video saying, “We are here to say enough is enough. They can never put us in fear and the shackles of the imperialists forever.
This is the time for African youth to read through the lines and to realise the truth.” The legitimate question is, why are the dominant Western media not broadcasting the Western aggression and the resistance of Burkinabes? The fact is that the truth hurts.
Powerful alternative
Though some demonstrations were staged in the UK, USA, and France, they were not newsworthy enough to merit a single mention on BBC, France 24, CNN or Fox. While Western media have been ‘loudly quiet’ about the revolution unfolding in Burkina Faso, social media has become a powerful alternative for the beleaguered Sahelian countries to make their voices heard.
Every minute and every hour, social media like Tik Tok and Facebook Reels are bustling with news updates of failed attempts to shoot or poison Captain Ibrahim Traore. Progressive people across the world are using social media, especially, Tik Tok to share the stories of how the people of Burkina Faso are holding out against the might of France and USA.
The social media accounts of how loyalists within the military are selling their conscience and how the Burkinabe intelligence is intercepting and neutralizing the coup plots are both harrowing and encouraging.
As indicated earlier, as the global Western media are silent, Africans are framing their fight for emancipation through social media, which is increasingly becoming the alternative to mainstream media across the world.
The power of Tik Tok as an alternative media for the voiceless explains why USA billionaire, Elon Musk, made a huge offer to acquire it from its Chinese owners. While Elon Musk’s first offer has been rejected, it is hoped that the Chinese owners will remain resolute and fend off every attempt to sell Tik Tok to Musk.
Sovereignty
The Alliance of Sahelian Countries (AES) quit the Western-controlled ECOWAS and its sycophantic leaders to galvanise their people to rise against domination and exploitation. The uprising in the AES countries is meant to relaunch the struggle for African unity and sovereignty.
The global response to Western aggression against Burkina Faso demonstrates that the struggle is no longer about Burkina Faso; it is Africa’s fight. For this reason, Western powers have no option but to listen to the voices of freedom.
In one of his widely circulated pictures on TikTok, shortly after the failed April 15 coup, Captain Traore said, “They keep telling me I will die like Thomas Sankara and Muamar Gaddafi, or any other leader that tried to make Africa better.
I am not scared, and I would not regret dying for my people.” The one-man carrying Africa’s cross reaffirmed his commitment to the fight for African sovereignty and unity in the face of Western plots to kill him.
African martyrs
The list of African leaders killed for pushing for continental unity and Pan Africanism includes, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Patrice Lumumba of the Congo Republic, Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso, Walter Anthony of Guyana, Amical Kabral of Cape Verde, Steve Biko of South Africa, Samora Machel of Mozambique, Herbert Wilshire of Zimbabwe, Murtala Mohammed of Nigeria, Jeremies Kalandilla Chintuda of Angola, Prince Luis Rwangasore of Burundi and Chalengamgne Paralto of Haiti. The rest are Outel Bono of Chad, Modibo Keita of Mali, Silvanus Olympio of Togo, Piere Ngondumue of Burundi and Felix Roland-Mounmie of Cameroun to mention a few.
In another inspirational speech, Captain Traore urged the people of Burkina Faso to stand up and fight to release their children from slavery. “If we refuse to fight, our children will ask, why did our parents leave us in slavery?
Captain Traore reiterated, “whether we are alive or dead, we will feel the pains of slavery.” According to him, Western powers have yet to understand his people’s zeal to fight for their freedom. He said the struggle for emancipation has a deeper meaning, for which they will spill their last blood to save the homeland.
Homegrown solutions
Captain Traore disclosed that Western powers have scared several African leaders from initiating homegrown solutions to provide jobs for their youth.
According to him, behind closed doors, several African leaders encourage him and the leaders of Mali and Niger to continue with the revolution to free Africa, but they are reluctant to publicly support the African struggle because of the fear of their Western masters.
He further disclosed that many African leaders have mortgaged the future of their people for ill-gotten wealth. “Such leaders should apologise to their people and return to the right path to work for the emancipation of Africa.”
“If we remain in the posture of fear, we will be cowards, and history will ask us questions. Our children and grandchildren will ask us questions. In writing history, there is no room for cowardice”, he pointed out.
