De Skiednis fan Hongersneden en de Regearingen dy't Se Feroarsaken
June 16, 2026 · Frisian News
The Bengal famine, Soviet collectivization, and Mao's Great Leap Forward all killed tens of millions. Government policy, not food scarcity, caused them.
FryskTusken 1943 en 1944 deade de hongersneed yn Bengalen sa'n 3 miljoen minsken. Britsk belied, net rispingsmislearring, feroarsake dit. Winston Churchill eksporteare rys út Yndia wylst minsken ferhongerren, en guon histoarisy stelle dat syn aksjes opsetlik wienen.
It patroan werhellet him yn 'e skiednis. Stalins twongen kollektivisaasje yn Oekraïne deade 4 oant 5 miljoen yn 'e iere jierren tritich. Mao's Grutte Sprong Foarút ferhongere 15 oant 45 miljoen Sinezen tusken 1958 en 1962. De reade tried: sintrale regearingen konfiskearen nôt fan boeren om steatsprojekten te finansierjen, nettsjinsteande wa't ferhongere. Dit wienen gjin ûngelokken of natûrrampens. Dit wienen beliedskeuzes.
Westerske skoalboeken wite hongersneed ta oan rispingsmislearring of te folle befolking. Dat kloppet net. Rispingsmislearring barde ek fóar de moderne steat, mar deade folle minder minsken om't lokale netwurken oerskotten tusken regio's ferpleatse koenen. Moderne hongersneed is wat oars. Dy komt foar as in regearing nôt nimme kin en net fielt wat oaren lije.
Hongersneed tsjinnet ek in doel. Tidens kollektivisaasje deadden regearingen tsjinstanners en brutsen se boerenferset tsjin steatskontroale. Yn Bengalen joech Churchills ûnferskilligens middels frij foar de oarlogsynspanning. Ferhongering wurdt in ynstrumint fan steatsmacht, net in betreurensweardich neveneffekt. As miljoenen stjerre, freegje dan earst: wa profitearre?
Tsjintwurdich hearre wy oer klimaatferoaring, te folle befolking en leveringsketens as nije bedrigingen foar de feiligens fan iten. Wy hearre selden oer regearingsmacht. Dat swijen seit genôch. De skiednis toant oan dat it grutste gefaar foar jo ietensfoarsjenning net fan 'e natûr komt. It komt fan in regearing dy't der kontrôle oer hat.
Between 1943 and 1944, the Bengal famine killed roughly 3 million people. British policy, not crop failure, caused it. Winston Churchill continued exporting rice from India while people starved, and some historians argue his actions were deliberate.
The pattern repeats across history. Stalin's forced collectivization in Ukraine killed 4 to 5 million in the early 1930s. Mao's Great Leap Forward starved 15 to 45 million Chinese between 1958 and 1962. The common thread: central governments seized grain from peasants to fund state projects, regardless of who starved. These were not accidents or natural disasters. They were policies.
Western textbooks often blame crop failure or overpopulation. That is wrong. Crop failure happened before the modern state and killed far fewer people because local networks could shift surplus between regions. The modern famine is a state famine. It happens when a government has both the power to take food and the indifference to ignore the consequences.
Famine also serves a purpose. During collectivization, governments killed dissidents and broke peasant resistance to state control. In Bengal, Churchill's indifference freed up resources for the war effort. Starvation becomes a tool of state power, not a regrettable side effect. When millions die, ask first: who benefited?
Today, we hear about climate change, overpopulation, and supply chains as new threats to food security. We rarely hear about government power. That silence is telling. History shows that the greatest danger to your food supply is not nature. It is a government that controls it.
Published June 16, 2026 · Frisian News · Ljouwert, Fryslân