Forced resettlement of famine victims under Ethiopia’s communist Derg killed between 50,000 and 100,000 people.
The program ran parallel to the forced villagization drive that herded 4.6 million farmers into planned settlements by 1986.
Mengistu’s regime had already launched the Red Terror in 1977 and slaughtered tens of thousands of political rivals after executing 60 former officials without trial on Black Saturday, just weeks after junior officers overthrew the emperor and seized power in 1974.
Political scientist James Scott called the project “high modernism”, a state remaking society by force while remaining completely blind to the local knowledge it destroyed.
Rothmus 🏴
npub1mx…xthe0
2026-08-03 03:08:33 UTC
Author Public Key
npub1mxevx6gzvxq6847wlk5cns6n5tcjct2ed4ysfpm3zaem6wtecnxq6xthe0Seen on
wss://relay.momostr.pinkPublished at
2026-08-03 03:08:33 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "Forced resettlement of famine victims under Ethiopia’s communist Derg killed between 50,000 and 100,000 people.\n\nThe program ran parallel to the forced villagization drive that herded 4.6 million farmers into planned settlements by 1986. \n\nMengistu’s regime had already launched the Red Terror in 1977 and slaughtered tens of thousands of political rivals after executing 60 former officials without trial on Black Saturday, just weeks after junior officers overthrew the emperor and seized power in 1974.\n\nPolitical scientist James Scott called the project “high modernism”, a state remaking society by force while remaining completely blind to the local knowledge it destroyed.\nhttps://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2084114107850993664/vid/avc1/1920x1080/-88kf4XC6ewBx_Iv.mp4\n",
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