A Lawsuit From Backers of a ‘Startup City’ Could Bankrupt Honduras - The country faces a wave of claims after it repealed a law allowing for special economic ... - https://www.wired.com/story/a-lawsuit-from-backers-of-a-startup-city-could-bankrupt-honduras/ #science/environment #chartercities #science
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#chartercities
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Replied in thread
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...
"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 New York Times · The For-Profit City That Might Come Crashing Down
Replied in thread
@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.
Replied in thread
@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".
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
Medium · Charter Cities: The Real Reason for Brexit and the Bigger Picture
Replied to MostlyTato
@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.
@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.
Replied in thread
@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
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
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."
Tory Britain:
Run country to ruin. 
Decimate economy.
Foster social unrest.
Squander tax reserves.
Create 'timebomb' contracts.
Demoralise workforce.
Restrict protest.
Villify scapegoats.
#CharterCities templates.
Bankrupt councils.
Quit ECHR. 
(pending)
Freeports seem to be going under the radar in the UK media...
Freeports are intended to be special unregulated investment zones where the normal rules do not apply. The zones cover some large areas.
The idea is based on the old concept of charter cities, another way for big business to profiteer & money launder, potentially forcing workers into indentured labour without rights or regulation. 1/4
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/maps-of-uk-freeports?utm_source=pocket_mylist
GOV.UKMaps of UK FreeportsThese maps show Freeport locations in the UK, their outer boundaries and the Freeport tax sites within them.
Replied in thread
@mls14
With one addition... The #CharterCities are likely to be owned & operated by foreign powers, foreign billionaires or foreign multinational companies who're willing to pay the corrupt Tories.
Meanwhile, areas not sold out to the slavery of foreign control, will face severe cuts because there'll be little money & fewer opportunities for anyone not already wealthy enough to survive...
It's a recipie for social unrest & an escalating risk civil war.
#NeverVoteConservative
Imagine the area where you live being controlled by a dictator.
You can't protest or disobey, they set taxes & you must pay for everything, including healthcare.
If you can't, you've no rights, no say & no help.
Tories are planning #CharterCities, so you won't need to imagine.
#NeverVoteConservative
Freeports are a Threat to Democracy in the Hands of Sunak and Truss https://eastangliabylines.co.uk/freeports-are-a-threat-to-democracy-in-the-hands-of-sunak-and-truss/ #freeports #Sunak #tories #uk #chartercities
East Anglia BylinesFreeports are a threat to democracyFreeports, such as Felixstowe and Harwich, benefit businesses through reduced taxes and regulations, but not employees or the local area.
Replied in thread
the racism is a smokescreen for all the sinister legislation they are shoving through for their donors tho turn the UK into a libertarian hellhole that the rich can use to ignore international law, and tax.
the whole problem was the EU was making it difficult for their callous business practices so they got in bed with UKIP and only the amoral Tories stayed to peddle their xenophobic lies to the public.
they won
THE END
Replied to Emeritus Prof Christopher May
@ChrisMayLA6
Is the Charter Cities moment here?
https://blog.politics.ox.ac.uk/is-the-charter-cities-moment-here/
Sunak called Stanford professor Paul Romer "inspiring".
Romer, who described #CharterCities as 'quasi-sovereign units located within existing states' which would be maintained by a 'foreign guarantor nation or nations' claimed to not remember #Sunak
But what these two share is a belief in the needs of #capitalism over workers' rights.
Have #Freeports gone away? ask #Teesside
OxPolIs The Charter Cities Moment Here?In 2009, Nobel Prize laureate and former Chief Economist of the World Bank Paul Romer proposed the concept of ‘charter cities.’ In contrast to special economic zones, charter cities were envisaged as quasi-sovereign units located within existing states which were to be maintained by a foreign guarantor nation or nations. This arrangement would not merely construct a separate economic framework for the designated territory, but also establish a legal and political system autonomous from the host state. This, Romer believed, would create city-scale epicentres to stimulate economic development within the Global South. This piece examines Romer’s project and questions the immediate feasibility of such a project by taking into account the ‘stickiness’ of ideas regarding the territorial sovereign state. Since 2009, the idea of charter ...
https://mastodon.social/@GottaLaff/109824009254920513 Are these the folk #toryfailures #chaosagents #borisjohnson and #liztruss have been visiting on their recent trips to the states? #chartercities #libertarians #fascism
MastodonLaffy (@GottaLaff@mastodon.social)“The Club for Growth, a conservative anti-tax group that spent nearly $150 million in the past two election cycles, has invited a half-dozen potential Republican presidential candidates to its annual donor retreat next month — but not #Trump.” #politics
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/06/us/politics/club-for-growth-trump-desantis.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
David Pilling in FT (sorry, behind their paywall) sets out why #chartercities might be the answer for #Africa's #governance crisis:
But, as was obvious in UK plans around these quasi-independent cities, the question really is who benefits from the independent regulatory structures?
if it enables relief from corrupt states then perhaps they may work, if it merely (as in the UK) offers relief from pesky #labour regulation, then its hard to see their social worth!
https://www.ft.com/content/7a0419bf-e76f-4abb-8024-043ee24e4382
Financial TimesHow to create a city