Show threadEarthworm 🐌Sep 16, 2024

@shrugdealer

holy. fucking. crap. 🤯

Just a reminder: This was initiated under the government of Porfirio Lobo Sosa, who came into power by a military coup against president Manuel Zelaya.

Although some of the tools seem new, It's the old story of US-backed military coups* wrecking countries also in the long term (in other cases the mechanism is military expenditure leading to foreign debt leading to World Bank-prescripted austerity measures).

* Europe or any other imperialists aren't much different. But it's *really* often the US...

#ForeignDebt #Honduras #LatAm #NeoColonialism #PrósperaZEDE #TradeAgreements #FreeTrade #CharterCities #PorfirioLobo

Cyberpunk DystopiaAug 28, 2024
"Próspera is a private, for-profit city, with its own government that courts foreign investors through low taxes and light regulation. Businesses can choose a regulatory framework from a menu of 36 countries or customize their own."

"The week of my visit, Patri Friedman, grandson of the economist Milton Friedman and the founder of a start-up-cities fund that invested in Próspera, had a chip with his Tesla key implanted into his hand. On a previous trip he brushed his teeth with genetically modified bacteria purported to prevent cavities. Another time he was injected with a protein booster intended to make him 'stronger and faster,' as he put it at a conference in Roatán that weekend."

"Critics have described it as a neocolonial state within a state, or an example of corporate monarchy, where yacht-owning C.E.O.s exploit land and labor in a poor country."

www.nytimes.com/2024/08/28/magazine/prospera-honduras-crypto.html

Paywall-free:
archive.ph/elhKp

#Prospera #NetworkStates #CharterCities
The For-Profit City That Might Come Crashing Down

The dream of Próspera, founded by a U.S. corporation off the coast of Honduras, was to escape government control. The Honduran government wants it gone.

The New York Times
Show threadknowgumJun 5, 2024

@BogLoper
Have a look at the reality behind #Freeports, destined to mutate into #CharterCities if the Tories return to power.

Zones that are crony run, set their own laws & taxes, are able to abolish workers rights & welfare, & not a shred of democracy to be seen...

They're fully backed by Sunak's Tories.

These areas are up to 75km wide, & will control schools, hospitals, private & social housing, businesses, health & safety, environment & everyone living or working within them.

Show threadkatzenbergerApr 27, 2024

@ct_bergstrom This is not about losing one's mind, but about gaining control, and about implementing exactly what has been proposed.

Erecting de-facto democracy-free zones has been on the billionaire agenda for more than a decade, and flexibly called "going to #Mars", "#CharterCities", "#ModelCities"; or implemented in #Cayalá; cast into #ZEDE laws used against the very country they're in, like w/ #Próspera that asks the #US (!) to "encourage" (!) #Honduras to "respect its legal commitments".

knowgumMar 22, 2024

Worth reading...

...& likely to make your blood boil.
#Freeports
#SEZs
#CharterCities
#NeverVoteConservative

Charter Cities: The Real Reason for Brexit and the Bigger Picture:
https://medium.com/@cormack.lawson/charter-cities-the-real-reason-for-brexit-and-the-bigger-picture-4de80dbb69fb

Charter Cities: The Real Reason for Brexit and the Bigger Picture

With our economy in tatters and the frightening roll back of our democratic rights now beginning to expose the true nature of Brexit, some leave voters are even beginning to question what Brexit was…

Medium
Show threadknowgumMar 22, 2024

@MostlyTato @Melinda @Geri @EuropeanPowell

It's astonishing that so few people have grasped the catastrophic consequences of #Freeports, #SEZs & their intended outcome, #CharterCities.

Then again, Tories control the media, so it's unlikely they'll warn people about these zones in which democracy, employment rights & safety concerns are sacrificed to bolster profits for the wealthy Tory crony that owns the contract.

Did I say owns the contract? I meant, owns the lives of everyone in the zone.

knowgumMar 16, 2024

@Steve_p_photos
If #CharterCities happen, & it's looking more likely that they will, we'll look back on the current Tory disaster as a golden era of hope, opportunity & plenty.

The only way to prevent it is to remove the Tories asap, & never, ever let them (or any of their right-wing clones) back into power.

#NeverVoteConservative

Show threadknowgumMar 16, 2024

@freequaybuoy
You got it in one.

The links between those complicit in the #Freeports/ #CharterCities con are subtle. Here are the clues:

Tory media is owned by right-wing billionaires.

Tories are in hock to right-wing billionaires.

Contracts will be awarded to right-wing billionaires.

Taxes aren't paid by right-wing billionaires.

There's been a huge increase in the number of right-wing billionaires.

Tory politics is awash with lobbiests for right-wing billionaires.
#NeverVoteConservative

knowgumMar 16, 2024

When Tories say 'Freeport', people imagine the dockside area. Wrong.

The zones are 75km wide.
They cover schools, hospitals, towns, National Parks & lots of housing.

#Freeports are destined to become #CharterCities & to be controlled for profit by a Tory crony.

You have no say

Dennis Alexis Valin DittrichFeb 18, 2024
What if we could redesign society from scratch? The promise of charter cities. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/9FRNc9ygpLSDh4pkX/what-if-we-could-redesign-society-from-scratch-the-promise
"… maybe the idea that promoting #governance #competition leads to faster #growth and greater #liberty, will seem just as obvious as the idea that an elected president usually provides better leadership than a dictator or a king. #CharterCities today are focused on making life better for the people who choose to move there."
"What if we could redesign society from scratch? The promise of charter cities." [Rational Animations video] — LessWrong

In this video, we describe a speculative but promising idea to boost economic growth: giving cities the ability to write some of their own laws and d…