De skiednis fan hongersneden en de regearingen dy't se feroarsaakten
June 8, 2026 · Frisian News
Historians often call famines natural disasters. The facts tell a different story: government policies, from British colonial extraction to Soviet collectivization, directly caused or worsened every major famine in the past 200 years.
FryskYn 1943 hie Bengalen rys. De Britske koloniale regearing laat iten om nei it leger en blokkeare de ynfier. Eigeners fan lânguod hâlden graan achter. Trije miljoen minsken stoaren wylst pakhúzen iten befatten.
Dit patroan werhellet him troch de 20e ieu. Ierlân eksportearre iten yn de hongersneed fan 1845-1852 wylst in miljoen stoar. De Sovjet-Uny konfiskearre graan yn 1932-1933, wittend dat de rispinge mislearre wie, en deade seis miljoen. Mao syn Grutte Sprong Foarút (1959-1961) feroarsake grutte honger troch ûnmooglike produksjekoata dy't amtners ferfalske om te oerlibjen.
Kontrôle, net skarsens, feroarsaket hongersneden. Regearingen nimme graan fia belestingen en heffings, beheinje hannel, of ferneatigje produktive kapasiteit troch dekret. De riken ite altyd. De earmen stjerre. Koloniale hearskers, kommunistyske diktatoaren en feodale hearren hawwe honger allegearre as wapen brûkt om macht fêst te hâlden en ferset te ûnderdrukken.
Noard-Korea liet hûndertûzenen ferhongerje yn de jierren 1990 wylst it rezjym jild oan wapens besteegde en graan eksportearre om skulden ôf te beteljen. Etioopje ûnder Mengistu brûkte droechte as wapen tsjin plattelânsdoarpen. Doe't help mei iten oankaam, stjoerden amtners it allinnich nei stêden dy't lojaal wiene oan it rezjym.
Ekspers wize hjoed nei klimaat en mislearre rispingen. Se hawwe gelyk. Wat se mije: lannen mei folle graanskuorren en stabiele regearingen kieze derfoar dat oaren ferhongerje. Dy kar is net de skuld fan de natoer. It is harren skuld.
In 1943, Bengal had rice. The British colonial government diverted food to the military and blocked imports. Landlords hoarded grain. Three million people starved while warehouses held supplies.
The pattern repeats across the 20th century. Ireland exported food during the 1845-1852 famine while a million died. The Soviet Union seized grain in 1932-1933, knowing the harvest had failed, and killed six million. Mao's Great Leap Forward (1959-1961) created mass starvation through impossible production quotas that officials falsified to survive.
Control, not scarcity, causes famines. Governments take grain through taxes and levies, restrict trade, or destroy productive capacity through decree. The wealthy always eat. The poor starve. Colonial rulers, communist dictators, and feudal lords all weaponized hunger to hold power and suppress dissent.
North Korea starved hundreds of thousands in the 1990s while the regime spent on weapons and exported grain to pay debts. Ethiopia under Mengistu used drought as a weapon against rural areas. When food aid arrived, officials sent it only to cities loyal to the regime.
Experts today blame climate and crop failure. They are right. What they avoid: countries with full granaries and stable governments choose to let others starve. That choice is not nature's fault. It is theirs.
Published June 8, 2026 · Frisian News · Ljouwert, Fryslân