Posted on 01/19/2002 12:14:10 PM PST by grundle
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:464MShYmYIEC:www.libert arian.co.uk/lapubs/econn/econn007.pdf+overpopulation+ethiopi a+marxist&hl=en
ETHIOPIA AND THIRD WORLD MYTHS
NICK ELLIOTT
Ethiopia is endowed with more arable land per head of population than Britain. The country is overlaid by a wide variety of soil types at a range of altitudes, providing a suitable environment for several crops. Geographically, Ethiopia is more gifted than most other African countries. Yet, lacking serious natural impediments, Ethiopia remains one of the two poorest nations on earth and this year a repeat of the 1985 famine is looming.
THE EFFECTS OF THE COMMUNIST TAKEOVER
Some clue to the source of Ethiopia's problems may be found in the fact that between 1970 and 1981 per capita food production fell by 84%. Problems really began with the ending of the fifty year rule ofEmperor Haile Selassie by the interjection of General Aman Andem. The revolution was soon usurped by a faction of Marxist zealotsheaded by Major Mengistu Haile Mariam. Andem was killed, along with fifty-nine top officials. A course of Ethiopian socialism was proclaimed, industries and banks were nationalised. Following lessons from Stalin, a terror campaign ensued, conceived to instil subservience in a discontented population. Between 1976 and 1979 over 100,000 were killed and, to make the slaughter quite obvious, bodies were strewn throughout the streets of Addis Ababa. In the years since, against a background of greater and greater immiseration, the regime strives to maintain the extravaganza of Marxist evangelism.
The first land reform of March 1975 laid the basis for an agricultural policy which has effectively destroyed agriculture. All rural land was nationalised - a significant change in a country where agriculture is by far the largest source of earnings. Land was redistributed, with a ten hectare limit placed on holdings and transfer of holdings forbidden. This has ensured that agriculture in Ethiopia will never progress beyond peasant level, by preventing the growth of efficient producers, and excluding economies of scale. Another policy has been to redistribute holdings annually. This makes it pointless for an individual cultivator to make land improvements or apply innovations because the benefits will be lost to another owner at the end of the year.
In the second land reform of December 1975 an Agricultural Marketing Corporation was established to fix prices. This has proved a disaster for farmers. Prices have been fixed well below market prices. The concern here has been to maintain urban political support regardless of the poverty inflicted upon producers. Peasant producers have understandably been reluctant to bring crops to market with the prospect of paltry reimbursement; local commissars respond by taking the crop with force. Mengistu proceeds under the illusion that crops will be grown by exhortation:
".. here and there we see individualism on the part of the peasant producer. We have to fight against this heritage of the feudobourgeois system. This individualism ... has manifested itself in relation to the food market ... To produce only what is sufficient or one's own family, to refuse to bring crops to the very high level, all these are manifestations of an individualistic and anti-socialist attitude." 6
The food market in Ethiopia has been smothered by state controls. Myles Harris, a doctor who worked in the Ethiopian famine, came to this conclusion through witnessing the oppressive centralism:
"Slowly but surely the simplest decisions would edge their way upwards, propelled by craven fear of mistaking the Party line. In the end, everything, even the number of chickens per household, would be decided by a central planning committee of communist bourgeoisie in Addis. And this explained the fertile fields and lack of food. There had been a drought for one year, but a year's drought is within the capacity of the peasant to survive. The paralysis came from another cause. A whole complex, peasant economy, developed over the centuries, had been deliberately destroyed to make way for central planning. Everything was paralysed. There was nothing to see, nothing to buy, nobody dared decide on when to plant or when to reap. The only currency now was the grudging permissions issued on school exercise book paper by the local subcommissar." 7
Notes:
6. Fourth anniversary speech of 1978, quoted in Rene Lefort, Ethiopia - An Heretical Revolution?
7. Myles Harris, Breakfast in Hell: A Doctor's Experiences of the Ethiopian Famine , Picador, London, 1986, p. 132. The accounts in this book are distressing, and Harris directs a scathing anger at those he holds responsible for the famine, and for obstructing relief efforts.
Almost all famines are caused by 1 of 3 things:
1)Incompetent government policies (Great Britain and the Irish Potato Famine as one example)
2) Deliberate government starvation of parts of the population (Soviet Union and the Ukraine)
3) War and/or anarchy meaning it isn't safe to plant or harvest crops and whatever is harvested is stolen (Afghanistan, Somalia.)
In this capacity, the OSU Ag and Vet Med Schools were responsible for providing instructors in Ethiopia, educating Ethiopian exchange students who would be future instructors, and operating an extensive Extension Service that worked in the field countrywide to help Ethiopian farmers improve their agricultural and animal husbandry practices.
By 1960, Ethiopia raised enough food to feed itself and had become a net exporter of food products.
Starting in 1966, however, the country's political situation became increasingly less stable. In 1974, a coup overturned the government of Emperor Haile Selassie and famine was on the march again.
As the piece notes, the land was nationalized in 1975 and the country has starved ever since.
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Is "poor food distribution" a nice way to say "British indifference to the dying Irish"?
Well, there ARE too many socialist idiots; we could start with those. ;^)
The U.N. recently released a statement deploring over-population, yet it's own research organizations produce data saying world population has been in decline since 1990. The U.N. is a Communist-run organization, so of course it tells flat-lies. That's what Commies do naturally.
One of the Communist Front Organizations in America, N.O.W., if it notices the starving people of Ethiopia, will naturally rush to provide the women with abortions. Their cure-all for starvation.
There was very little famine per se on the east coast of Ireland (better land!). But there was in the west. Cromwell said ```To hell, or to Connaught''. So people had `stony grey soil' to farm. (J. you know, we saw it, last time you were `home').
But there was no famine on the east coast of Ireland. That is correct.
Doesn't forgive the British bastards for what they TRIED to do to this country. (sorry, did I swear?)
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