[HNA] Protest

Tue Jun 9 13:46:00 PDT 2015

 6 June 2015 - 03:24 PM Analysis US Activists Protest Charter Cities: An
'Assault on Honduran Sovereignty' 0 Comentarios A coalition of Latin
American solidarity and California Bay Area groups, including the Honduras
Solidarity Network and Food First, have issued a call to action to protest
a San Francisco event Monday that will promote anti-democratic land
grabbing and repression in Honduras under the guise of poverty reduction.
Members of the Garifuna organization OFRANEH demonstrate in front of the
Honduran Parliament in Tegucigalpa. While Honduran officials and
libertarian think-tank representatives will discuss their “utopian vision”
of the policy known as charter cities, activists will protest the “assault
on Honduran sovereignty,” and potential for increased repression these
charter cities represent. The official event will feature Honduran
panelists Octavio Sanchez and Ebal Diaz, both key architects behind the
charter cities plan in Honduras, as well as Randolph Hencken and Mary
Theroux, heads of the Seasteading Institute and the Independent
Institute,U.S. think tanks promoting charter cities abroad. While Honduran
President Juan Orlando Hernandez, currently embroiled in a massive
corruption scandal and facing a popular demands for his resignation, was
initially scheduled to attend, he has since canceled his appearance and
will instead be represented by his Chief of Staff Ebal Diaz. RELATED:
Washington Complicit in Honduras' Corruption Scandal According to the event
description, the panel titled “New Opportunities for Enterprise and
Governance in Honduras and Beyond” will discuss how Honduras' charter city
legislation is “opening a new jurisdictional frontier” through implementing
“competitive governance.” “A small group of elite businessmen and
politicians are trying to auction off parts of the country to foreign
capital in order to create islands of affluence surrounded by a sea of
poverty and violence.” Charter cities are special economic zones governed
by foreign governments or corporations where national law does not apply.
Despite the freedom of choice rhetoric that claims residents can “vote with
their feet” to “opt in” to the system, these foreign-owned, so-called
“model cities” are devoid of democratic structures. Honduran legislators
approved the creation of charter cities in 2011 under the U.S.-backed,
post-coup government of President Porfirio Lobo. The Caribbean coast of
Honduras, the traditional territory of the Afro-indigenous Garifuna people,
was slated to become the site of Honduras' – and the world's – first
charter city, despite widespread criticism from affected communities and
local and international human rights groups. RELATED:Garifuna at the
Forefront of the Honduran Resistance In October 2012, four of five Honduran
Supreme Court justices declared charter cities unconstitutional. Just two
months later, in a move referred to as a “technical coup” against the
Supreme Court, the four dissenting judges were removed and replaced with
justices aligned with the ruling National Party and its neoliberal
privatization agenda. The irregularity of the Supreme Court “technical
coup” was an assault on Honduran democracy, but not out of character for
the government mired in widespread impunity and popularly regarded as a
fraudulent continuation of the coup regime in Honduras. In 2013, Honduran
lawmakers brought the charter cities plan back to life, re-approving the
project for developing investor-friendly enclaves governed by their own
laws under the new name of Zones for Employment and Economic Development,
or ZEDEs. Despite the rebranding of the project, ZEDEs raise all the same
troubling concerns for which charter cities were initially condemned. "The
first ZEDE is being proposed in southern Honduras on the Golf of Fonseca
and will have various impacts on the environment," Karen Spring of the
Honduran Solidarity Network told teleSUR. "If this ZEDE moves forward, over
10 communities on the island of Zacate Grande will likely be evicted from
their ancestral lands." “[ZEDEs] allow corporations to circumvent local
business regulations, write their own laws, and create their own private
police force,” protest organizers explained in a statement. “They bypass
accountability to the Honduran people, grab land that sustains local
people, and enforce arbitrary laws with private security.” Among the
communities that would be most directly impacted by the implementation of
charter cities are campesinos and indigenous Garifunas already suffering
U.S.-backed repression and grave human rights abuses, while engaged in
intense struggles to defend their land, livelihoods, and food sovereignty.
Corporate land grabs for mega-tourism projects, resource extraction, and
agribusiness, sometimes doubling up for narcotrafficking, have robbed
several north coast communities of their land and sea access, and continue
to threaten many more. RELATED:Garifuna Take on Mega-Tourism, Displacement
and Organized Crime in Honduras “The corporate cities represent another
threat to their territories,” said protest organizers. “Yet the communities
will be defenseless before the legally autonomous, unaccountable Charter
Cities.” Charter cities not only violate the Honduran constitution, as
found by the former Supreme Court justices, but also the international
convention on the rights of indigenous people that protects the right of
indigenous communities to “free, prior, and informed consent” for any
development projects proposed for their territories. “A small group of
elite businessmen and politicians are trying to auction off parts of the
country to foreign capital in order to create islands of affluence
surrounded by a sea of poverty and violence,” the Honduran Garifuna
organization OFRANEH said in a statement last week. “Honduras’ failed state
is directly related to the actions of these thieves who are associated with
narcotraffickers and have permitted the collapse of our legal system and
corruption of our security forces.” RELATED:The Garifuna Way of Life Is
Under Threat! National and international advocates of charter cities in
Honduras have repeatedly ignored widespread calls for the repeal of the
legislation from indigenous groups, campesinos, human rights defenders, and
political opposition. Despite adamant local opposition of the plan, one of
the upcoming event sponsors, The Seasteading Institute, a U.S. think tank
that advocates “floating cities” with “significant political autonomy,” has
expressed interest in establishing such an ocean elite-haven off Honduras'
north coast. If realized in Honduras, charter cities will be founded on
mass land theft, violation of human rights, and repression and
criminalization of popular movements fighting to defend their communities.
California-based activists are calling for protests against this assault on
Honduran democracy, sovereignty, and rule of law and the repressive,
corrupt, violent context in which these projects are being advanced, with
the political and economic support of the U.S. government. RELATED: “Just
Cause” – Piedad Cordoba on how the Garifuna are fighting charter cities I
Like 0 I don't Like 0 Food First By Heather Gies Tags Garifuna Honduras
Charter Cities Juan Orlando Hernandez Most read Latest Most shared Members
of the Garifuna organization OFRANEH demonstrate in front of the Honduran
Parliament in Tegucigalpa. US Activists Protest Controversial... Share on
facebook Share on twitter Share on google_plusone_share Share on email
Conaie Divided Indigenous Group Calls for... Share on facebook Share on
twitter Share on google_plusone_share Share on email Small farmers hold the
key to tackling climate change. Latin America's Future Tied to... Share on
facebook Share on twitter Share on google_plusone_share Share on email A
farmer rinses fruit and vegetables using water from a new irrigation system
in Ecuador. Ecuador's Global Challenge: Tackling... Share on facebook Share
on twitter Share on google_plusone_share Share on email George W. Bush in
the "country" of Africa in 2008. 9 Jaw-Droppingly Terrible Quotes About...
Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on google_plusone_share Share on
email Violence, human rights violations, and enforced disappearances are
shadowing Mexico Violence, Impunity in Mexico Put... Share on facebook
Share on twitter Share on google_plusone_share Share on email The Dark
History of Chile's Copa America Stadiums The Dark History of Chile's Copa
America... Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on google_plusone_share
Share on email A protester holding a sign that reads “There is a thief”
during the anti-corruption protest following a graft probe into Turkish
government officials in December 2013. What to Know About This Weekend’s
Turkish... Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on google_plusone_share
Share on email A HDP supporter holds a flag with Abdullah Ocalan during
victory celebrations. Progressive Policies Boost Appeal of... Share on
facebook Share on twitter Share on google_plusone_share Share on email
FARC: Ivan Marquez Colombian Peace Process Timeline Share on facebook Share
on twitter Share on google_plusone_share Share on email teleSUR No Time to
Waste: World Environment Day... Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on
google_plusone_share Share on email Comment on facebook (2) Comment on
teleSUR (0)

This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/US-Activists-Protest-Charter-Cities-An-Assault-on-Honduran-Sovereignty-20150606-0011.html.
If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the
original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://hondurasresists.org/pipermail/announce_hondurasresists.org/attachments/20150609/c6e28d77/attachment.html>