The potato famine was also caused by crop homogenization. The potatoes of that time were derived - almost universally - from one species of potato and new crops were often planted from cuttings from prior crops. Thus, quite literally whole fields could be a clone of one plant. When the Potato Blight came, there was, essentially, zero natural variation in the crops - thus, having found "the key" to exploit that one species / cloned individual, it spread like wildfire.
** Quote: "According to one estimate, this famine took the lives of approximately 1.45 million people[5], which given the sparsity of the Kazakh people at the time amounted to approximately 1/3 of the Kazakhs. In fact, this famine struck down such a great swathe of Kazakh society that it even made the ethnic Kazakhs an ethnic minority in their own lands until the 1980s."
ONE THIRD of a country starved to death.
My wife has spoken, with clear anger in her voice, at the Soviets ruthlessly trying to stamp out the Kazakh language - she mentioned one boy at her school who was overheard speaking it. He was publically whipped.
Only recently have the Kazakhs returned to a non-Cyrillic writing system (ironically, it's Arabic-based, a result of the Islamic conquest). But the Soviets did other things to wipe out the Kazakh culture: they destroyed books, destroyed monuments, destroyed literature and art.
All in the name of collectivization and to bring a people to its knees - and forget its past... doesn't that sound familiar with today's Democrats?
And the Irish whine about their Brit caused famine as if it were the greatest disaster since the great flood.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteThe potato famine was also caused by crop homogenization. The potatoes of that time were derived - almost universally - from one species of potato and new crops were often planted from cuttings from prior crops. Thus, quite literally whole fields could be a clone of one plant. When the Potato Blight came, there was, essentially, zero natural variation in the crops - thus, having found "the key" to exploit that one species / cloned individual, it spread like wildfire.
DeleteI hadn't heard this. Thanks.
DeleteMy wife is from Kazakhstan. She told me about Stalin's starvation of the ethnic Kazakhs:
ReplyDeletehttp://euromaidanpress.com/2015/02/02/stalins-holodomor-in-kazakhstan-or-a-very-brief-guide-to-the-goloshchekin-genocide/
** Quote: "According to one estimate, this famine took the lives of approximately 1.45 million people[5], which given the sparsity of the Kazakh people at the time amounted to approximately 1/3 of the Kazakhs. In fact, this famine struck down such a great swathe of Kazakh society that it even made the ethnic Kazakhs an ethnic minority in their own lands until the 1980s."
ONE THIRD of a country starved to death.
My wife has spoken, with clear anger in her voice, at the Soviets ruthlessly trying to stamp out the Kazakh language - she mentioned one boy at her school who was overheard speaking it. He was publically whipped.
Only recently have the Kazakhs returned to a non-Cyrillic writing system (ironically, it's Arabic-based, a result of the Islamic conquest). But the Soviets did other things to wipe out the Kazakh culture: they destroyed books, destroyed monuments, destroyed literature and art.
All in the name of collectivization and to bring a people to its knees - and forget its past... doesn't that sound familiar with today's Democrats?
All in the name of collectivization and to bring a people to its knees - and forget its past... doesn't that sound familiar with today's Democrats?
DeleteYup and thanks.https://freenorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2018/03/stalins-holodomor-in-kazakhstan-or-very.html