territory – Blogue SHIFT

Governments’ Reactions to Anti-Mining Struggles — Remarks on Akbelen Resistance in Turkey

21 Outubro 20269 Outubro 2026atsblogueDeixe um comentário

By: Umay Begüm Külekçi

The 37th Middle East Technical University (METU) International Spring Festival took place in the second week of May in the university campus located in Ankara, Turkey. The four-day festival is organized by the volunteers of International Youth Community — a university student club that organizes social events in METU without any sponsors. The programme of the festival consists of workshops, gigs, food stands, university club activities, and finally, the most anticipated event of the festival, the concerts. Every year, there are different line-ups for each day, and the Devrim stadium welcomes different artists on its stage. This year, on the last day, a guest on stage came to read a letter from Esra Işık, an environmental activist from Milas who was imprisoned during that time. I realized based on the curious faces around me that many people did not have any idea who she was, thus I want to briefly explain her struggle.

Akbelen Resistance

Esra Işık is the daughter of Nejla Işık who is the headwomen of İkizköy village in Milas, Turkey. İkizköy and many other villages in the region have been actively resisting for many years against the lignite-powered thermal power plant operated by the company YK Enerji. Similar anti-mining resistances have been in effect in other regions of Turkey also. In the last 10 years, this year (2026) in particular, there has been a dramatic increase in mining projects as part of the AKP (Justice and Development Party) government’s development policies. All around Turkey, licenses are being issued in large numbers and structural changes are being made to make the fields eligible to the mining projects with the cooperation of state and capital as new profit seeking opportunities. Akbelen Resistance (also known as İkizköy Resistance) in Milas was one of the most heard resistances opposing to these ventures as they have been resisting since 2019 to YK Enerji who is claiming their land and cutting down their olive trees through the urgent expropriation decisions implemented by the state. Through the resistance process, the villagers have gathered support from a variety of actors such as environmental platforms, activists, journalists and academics.

Figure 1 Selen Çatalyürek, 2023, Instagram (@selen_catalyurekli).

Recent Decisions of State Mechanisms
In January 2026, there was a new urgent expropriation decision published in the Official Gazette that included 676 parcels in İkizköy and near villages to extend the mining field, which would lead to a considerable land grab from the villagers. As the villagers seeked judicial support from the supreme court, the expansion was taking place through uprooting of olive trees, dynamite explosions and exploratory work on the lands of villagers without any prior notification. In fact, similar events have been happening for the last decade in Milas and other regions in Turkey. In early May, the supreme court decided to halt the execution for 194 of the parcels which brought some hope. (YK Enerji, n.d.) Most recently, the decision was expanded to include all 679 parcels.
Esra Işık was a part of the resistance for many years as her family lived in İkizköy village in Milas district in Muğla, Turkey and she was at the forefront when the expert appraisal came for the lands under urgent expropriation. She told the gendarmerie to go away, that no one asked for the permission of the locals to enter their lands and asked why no one was answering their questions. Shortly after, she was arrested and held in prison for 41 days (Bianet, 2026). She highlighted that her arrest was to intimidate others like her and that they will never give up fighting for their lands. In her letter from the prison to students, alumni, staff and other attenders of the festival, she emphasized similar messages and asked for the crowd to sing together “Deniz Üstü Köpürür” (The Sea Foams) by Cem Karaca, a song that highlights the love of homeland. Her wish was quickly fulfilled, creating a beautiful scene of solidarity from miles away.

Figure 2 Screenshot from the video of the moment of Esra Işık’s letter being read. METU Media Society, 2026, Instagram (@odtumedya).

Understanding the Implications

She was released on May 11, 2026 with the judicial control decision and international travel ban. This is a sentence that has become commonly and widely employed by the state in recent years. However, we know that the criminalization of ecology activists is also a part of the authoritarian mechanism that profits and nurtures the state-capital relation at the cost of its people. All the process from the beginning to the recent news points to how the capital accumulation process is working through the “authoritarian neoliberal developmentalism” of the AKP government in Turkey. As a democratically elected party, AKP acts as anti-democratic and coercive to realize its agenda and one of the most large-scale and recent undertakings are related to energy sector as the world is also experiencing many crisis and frictions because of energy politics such as the war in Iran and Ukraine, and Trump’s intent on occupying Greenland, Venezuela and Cuba. This discussion is in line with the “global extractive imperative” that emphasizes where extractivism, accompanied by authoritarian neoliberalism is regarded as a quick fix for socioeconomic issues in the country. The discourse created around these issues usually includes the company defending themselves before the opponents of the mining project by resorting to either that they are (over)compensating the ecological damage through reforestation and transferring the olive trees elsewhere or highlighting the economic gains that the power plants create through employment and meeting the energy needs of Turkey, aligned with recently pushed governmental energy sovereignty agenda. This is not too different from the discourse created by Turgut Özal, a former prime minister of Turkey. In 1984 in Gökova, Muğla, Özal responded to the thermal power plant concerns of villagers by saying that it will bring civilization and employment while the villagers expressed concerns for their lands and agricultural activity.

Figure 3 Esra Işık dancing to the traditional Turkish dance “Zeybek” with her mother who is the headwomen of İkizköy village and one of the most prominent people in the Akbelen resistance. 2026. Photo taken from the interview conducted by 1+1 Express

Concluding Words

To conclude, although the decision to release Esra Işık and halting the execution decisions for the parcels are achievements for the Akbelen resistance, it is hard to believe it hints at the end of the mining project since similar regime mentalities often allow some breaks to settle the crisis before striking again. However, I also believe that the resistance will only grow stronger as Akbelen shows an impressive determination and strength in terms of its material gains, but also of the immaterial effects it created in the larger scale and for the future resistances.

Umay Begüm Külekçi is a master’s student and research assistant at the Sociology Department of the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. umayk@metu.edu.tr

Anatomy of an Anti-GEPP Struggle: Varto

14 Outubro 202614 Outubro 2026atsblogueDeixe um comentário

By: Beyda Ceylan

I have been in Varto/Muş to join the anti-GEPP (Geothermal Power Plant) rally in April 2026. In this text, I give my direct observations about this local struggle which is one of the most successful local resistances in Turkey that I have observed so far. It has not achieved its aim yet, which is stopping the construction of the power plant. However, I think the success comes from the mass support in both local and international levels through an organization called Varto Ekoloji Platformu (Varto Ecology Platform) in only two months. Varto is a district in the Muş Province of Turkey, home primarily to Kurdish Alevis. Its economy is largely based on livestock farming, and the geothermal power plant poses a threat that could put an end to livestock farming in the region. Firstly, I will briefly mention GEPP projects and their harms towards socio-natures together with the social mobilizations against them which have lasted since the beginnings of the 2000s in Turkey. I use the acronym GEPP to denote Geothermal Energy Power Plant throughout this post for clarity. In Turkish contexts, this corresponds to JES (Jeotermal Enerji Santrali), a term that gained widespread use following the boom in geothermal project developments starting in 2004. Then, I will give information about the GEPP project in Varto and the organization of the struggle.

Fig. 1 – The Geothermal map of Turkey and the Varto region, modified by Şakir Şimşek, 1997.

The memory of the destruction caused by other GEPPs in Turkey

Firstly I should emphasize that the memory of the other struggles against the GEPPs in Turkey has played a role in the emergence of this kind of mass resistance in Varto. Especially in Germencik/Aydın, the GEPPs have caused the ecocide and destroyed approximately 500 000 fig trees in that region. According to the data Ethemcan Turhan provides in their article with Cem İskender Aydın, which is Hegemonik akıntıya karşı durmak: Türkiye’de genişleyen yenilenebilir enerji karşıtı mücadeleler üzerine düşünceler published in Praksis in 2023, Turkey has increased its electric generation capacity from geothermal power plants from 15 MW to 1686 MW between 2005 and 2022, ranking fourth globally. It was particularly driven by the government’s access to international climate finance from the World Bank and EBRD for renewable power plant projects following the beginning of 2000s. The government supports the privatization of the energy sector in the country and gives subsidies and cheap credits to the companies for the construction of especially HEPPs and GEPPs in these years. Thus, Turkey has faced many socio-ecological conflicts after those years.

Fig. 2 people at the rally, Author’s photography – April 25, 2026

The process by which resistance takes root

The process towards the resistance in Varto has actually started in 2023 through expert inspections but the local people have been told that it was because of earthquake fault lines. The people gave them permission because they were afraid of earthquakes. It became clear when the village heads (muhtar) were called to gather to sign some documents. The resistance has been ongoing ever since the project was announced to the public in February 2026.. The resistance began when the village headman of İçmeler, a village of Varto, and several villagers gathered and went from village to village to explain the harmful effects of geothermal energy power plants to people’s livelihoods. They have gained mass support from them in a very short time. The people of Varto are mostly subsistence farmers, they make their living from livestock farming and agriculture. Because the production of geothermal energy power plants will affect the 22 villages of Varto and Karlıova (another town of Muş near Varto) and cause the destruction on the vast pastures and watersheds of the villages that peasants’ lives mostly depend on to live, they have joined the struggle against the project and started to create village assemblies to make the decision-making processes democratic. Also, they have not limited themselves at the local scale, but they have created councils composed of migrants from Varto in the cities of both Turkey and Europe. They formed the Varto Ecology Platform, consisting of representatives from these councils and also other democratic mass organizations such as Alevi associations, other environmental organizations and organizations of the Kurdish freedom movement.

Fig. 3 People marching, Author’s photography – April 25, 2026

Key factors contributing to the spread of the resistance

In this part, I want to emphasize the factors that, in my opinion, were key to this resistance gaining widespread support. The first one is the leadership of the head of Içmeler village that I mentioned before. We can see the importance of the leadership and the role of muhtars^{^[1]} in the local resistances to inform and mobilize people against the projects because villagers mostly trust their headman. The muhtar of İçmeler village has also had experience coming from being a political subject of the Kurdish Freedom Movement in the region. This made it easy for the muhtar to mobilize its people. And now, we come to the second factor, the people of Varto are also part of the Kurdish Freedom Movement. They are already political subjects and they are much more aware of the Turkish state which subjugated their Kurdish-Alevi identities for a very long time. They already know how to organize and resist. The third one is the belief in unity with nature in Alevism, which is similar to Mother Earth understanding, which is Pachamama, of Latin America. The ecological consciousness of these people in this region plays an important role in people’s resistance. Also, even though they had moved elsewhere mostly due to economic reasons, they still maintained close ties to their hometown. Because of the combination of these factors they can create international and national networks with the people of Varto from many regions. They could organize demonstrations in different parts of Turkey and Europe. In this way, they also secured financial resources needed for self-organization of this movement.

The other important factor was the legitimacy they created with the anti-imperialist discourse against the American-based company. When we visited the muhtar of the village, he mentioned that it was crucial to gain legitimacy from every circle in Turkey, especially from Turkish people. It is because Kurdish people have been criminalized for several years by the Turkish state when they resist subjugation. Turkish people tend to see Kurdish people as terrorists when they mobilize. The people of Varto decided to emphasize the company being American. Thus, anti-GEPP resistance has become an anti-imperialist resistance where Turkish people might feel a sense of commonality and not view it as an anti-state uprising. It was interesting the muhtar said that even the Vali and the Kaymakam^{^[2]} did not pose much of an obstacle to the resistance providing covert support in that way.

Fig. 4 A shepherd and a native of the village of İçmeler in Varto, Author’s photography – April 26, 2026

We also heard from the muhtar during our visit to him that the company has already begun to realize they had hit a solid rock and regretted the project. However, Turkey’s resource extraction regime is dependent on extractivism and these kinds of energy projects. Despite all opposition, the company could come with the security forces and suddenly start drilling overnight as we have had many examples of it from other cases. If there is no institutional capacity to safeguard people’s rights, is there any chance for people other than to resort to direct action?

—

Beyda Ceylan is a master’s student in the Department of Sociology at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. Her research interests lie at the intersection of ecology and labor. She also plays an active role in the environmental movement in Turkey. She currently serves as a coordinator for a youth environmental organization called “Doğanın Çocukları”.

^[1] the term means the headman of the village in Turkish

^[2] Despotic offices inherited from the era of the sultanate. They are generally used to undermine the autonomy of local governments and obstruct democratic processes in Turkey.

50 Anos de Abril: questões ambientais, sociais e territoriais

15 Janeiro 202514 Janeiro 2025atsblogueDeixe um comentário

Por: Mónica Truninger

Este é o meu último post como coordenadora do GI SHIFT. Ao longo destes cinco anos, tive o privilégio de organizar as atividades do GI, contando, numa primeira fase, com a colaboração da Olivia Bina e do João Graça, e, numa segunda e última fase, do João Mourato e João Guerra. De forma a celebrar a atividade deste grupo enérgico, dinâmico e especialista em questões ambientais, sociais e territoriais, aproveito este momento para realçar neste texto uma obra coletiva do SHIFT, que esteve em preparação ao longo de 2024 e que está prestes a chegar às livrarias. Trata-se da obra 50 Anos de Abril: Questões Ambientais, Sociais e Territoriais, da Imprensa de Ciências Sociais. Esta obra reúne um conjunto de capítulos escritos por vários investigadores do SHIFT, refletindo o trabalho desenvolvido pelo grupo enquadrado no contexto das comemorações dos 50 anos do 25 de Abril de 1974. Este marco histórico marcou a transição para a democracia em Portugal e a libertação de um regime autoritário. A Revolução dos Cravos e, a seguir a Constituição de 1976, permitiu a emergência de um novo regime democrático baseado nos princípios de liberdade, igualdade e justiça, consagrando direitos fundamentais, incluindo o direito ao ambiente e à qualidade de vida. Desde então, o país tem vivido transformações profundas em diversas áreas, mas também tem enfrentado desafios significativos, em particular nas últimas décadas, nomeadamente em relação ao ambiente, sociedade e território.

Passadas cinco décadas, considerámos pertinente fazer uma análise crítica e reflexiva das principais transformações resultantes da instauração e consolidação da democracia: quais as expectativas cumpridas, quais as mudanças realizadas, mas também quais as promessas que ficaram por cumprir e até os retrocessos que acabaram por ocorrer. O foco dessa análise recaiu sobre as temáticas do grupo de investigação SHIFT: Ambiente, Território e Sociedade, em particular sobre as dinâmicas subjacentes aos desafios socioecológicos e territoriais da sociedade portuguesa, enquadrada não só na escala europeia, mas também na escala global. Será que o espírito de Abril se cumpriu, consolidando a transição para uma sociedade mais justa, resiliente e sustentável? E, tomando a Constituição como mote, será que foram construídos territórios mais ‘justos’ e ambientes mais ‘livres’ de diversas formas de poluição? E que capital de participação cidadã foi sendo acumulado ao longo destes 50 anos? Qual tem sido o contributo das organizações formais e informais de cidadãos para a construção de um país mais coeso, participativo e ‘fraterno’, em matéria de ambiente e território?

Tendo como mote os valores e os princípios que o 25 de abril de 1974 trouxe, e que a Constituição de 1976 consagrou, os contributos dos membros do grupo de investigação SHIFT, incluindo investigadores integrados e doutorandos, foram enquadrados por dois eixos de análise. Por um lado, os textos apresentam uma breve contextualização e trajetória históricas da temática em apreço nos últimos 50 anos, salientando os principais marcos e pontos de viragem. Por outro lado, os autores questionam até que ponto esta trajetória foi cumprida ou descontinuada, afastando-se até do espírito de Abril e fragilizando, assim, a própria democracia.

A cover of a book

Description automatically generated

Figura 1 – Capa do livro 50 Anos de Abril – Questões ambientais, sociais e territoriais (ICS, no prelo).

O livro está dividido em três partes: questões ambientais, questões sociais e questões territoriais, com capítulos interligados que refletem sobre as conquistas e os desafios dos últimos 50 anos. A primeira parte, dedicada às questões ambientais, inicia-se com o capítulo de João Guerra, Luísa Schmidt e David Travassos, intitulado “Áreas Protegidas – trajetórias da conservação da natureza em Portugal”. Os autores analisam os avanços e retrocessos na política de conservação, destacando a falta de recursos para gestão e fiscalização. No capítulo seguinte, “Energia solar descentralizada: 50 anos de políticas públicas”, Sofia Ribeiro analisa os desafios energéticos em Portugal, desde a eletrificação do território após a Revolução até à promoção das energias renováveis nas últimas décadas. Complementando essa análise, Vera Ferreira, em “A energia comunitária em construção – um caso de democracia em Portugal?”, explora o papel das comunidades de energia renovável como ferramentas de participação democrática e transição energética. Por fim, Joana Sá Couto, no capítulo “A tua política é o trabalho […] O teu único jogo deve ser a pesca: o trabalho na pesca desde o Estado Novo à emergência climática”, reflete sobre as crises do setor piscatório, conectando-as às escolhas políticas e ao impacto das mudanças climáticas.

A segunda parte do livro foca-se nas questões sociais. Ricardo Moreira, em “O Estado Social que a Constituição abriu e as sementes do Estado Ambiental que ainda esconde”, discute como a Revolução impulsionou o Estado Social em Portugal, destacando os avanços em direitos sociais e as limitações na integração de políticas ambientais. Simone Tulumello e Luisa Rossini, no capítulo “A paz, o pão, …, saúde educação: a habitação, a grande ausência do Estado social democrático”, analisam as políticas habitacionais desde 1974, enfatizando as tensões entre as promessas da Revolução e os problemas habitacionais que persistem atualmente. Ana Delicado e Jussara Rowland, em “50 anos de construção de uma democracia participativa em matérias ambientais”, exploram a evolução da participação cidadã em questões ambientais, desde mobilizações espontâneas até a institucionalização de audiências públicas e o papel das ONG de ambiente. Por sua vez, Roberto Falanga, José Ribeiro e João Moniz, no capítulo “Cidadania e participação nos últimos 50 anos em Portugal: a consolidação democrática entre urnas e ruas”, examinam práticas emergentes de diálogo entre cidadãos e instituições, como o Serviço de Apoio Ambulatório Local (SAAL) e os orçamentos participativos.

Na terceira parte, dedicada às questões territoriais, João Mourato, Inês Gusman e André Pereira, em “50 anos de (in)definição regional: convergências e conflitos de governança territorial em Portugal”, analisam a complexidade da governança regional, destacando os paradoxos e conflitos na organização territorial após o 25 de Abril. Kaya Schwemmlein, no capítulo “Variadas crises do sistema agrícola alentejano”, reflete sobre a evolução dos sistemas agrícolas no Alentejo, abordando questões relacionadas com o uso da terra, posse e sustentabilidade. Encerrando o volume, Rosário Oliveira, em “Alimentar as cidades de modo sustentável e saudável é preciso: das hortas urbanas ao sistema alimentar metropolitano”, descreve a transformação das hortas urbanas espontâneas em sistemas alimentares metropolitanos, propondo estratégias para o planeamento alimentar que sejam simultaneamente sustentáveis e saudáveis.

Esta obra apresenta, assim, um cenário misto, composto por avanços e desafios. Se, por um lado, foram alcançados progressos significativos em setores como a educação, a saúde, a segurança social, o abastecimento de água e o saneamento, a legislação sobre ambiente e natureza, o desenvolvimento da rede viária, a democratização das instituições e o aumento da participação cívica; por outro lado, persistem muitas questões por resolver. Entre estas, destacam-se-se as desigualdades sociais e socioterritoriais, os avanços e recuos nos debates sobre a regionalização, o difícil acesso à habitação, a gestão ineficiente da conservação da natureza, as limitações na adoção das energias renováveis, a crise no setor das pescas e os efeitos nocivos da agricultura intensiva para o ambiente e para a saúde humana. Todos estes desafios representam obstáculos à implementação de transições justas, especialmente face aos impactos crescentes das alterações climáticas no nosso país.

Numa época marcada pelas comemorações dos 50 anos da Revolução, o livro do GI SHIFT oferece, assim, uma reflexão crítica sobre os avanços e retrocessos das últimas cinco décadas, propondo caminhos para uma sociedade mais justa, sustentável e democrática, em consonância com os ideais do 25 de Abril.

Figura 2,3,4: Desfile comemorativo dos 50 anos do 25 de Abril de 1974 (Avenida da Liberdade, Lisboa, Portugal a 25 de Abril de 2024)Fonte: figuras 3 e 4 fotos de Luisa Rossini; figura 2 RitaFMatos (https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:25_de_Abril_de_2024_08.jpg).

Mónica Truninger é socióloga e coordenadora (em final de mandato) do SHIFT: Grupo de Investigação Ambiente, Território e Sociedade do Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa. monica.truninger@ics.ulisboa.pt

Emerging Urban Imaginaries and libertarian utopianism: The Case of Prospera in Honduras

4 Dezembro 20243 Dezembro 2024atsblogue2 comentários

Por: Lara Caldas

Imagine a city with completely privatized governance and rules. An environment where a single company unilaterally provides every urban and livability service in exchange for a subscription fee while preserving free market policies. This libertarian utopia became a reality in Honduras, indicating that emerging radical urban imaginations might not align with democracy’s ideals.

A drawing of a ship in the water

Description automatically generated

Figure 1. Photo-collage by the author, using images from: https://www.goodfon.com/city/wallpaper-zaha-hadid-s-innovation-tower-zdaniia-arkhitektura-rastiteln.html and https://www.needpix.com/photo/609300/roatan-honduras-landscape-seascape-caribbean-travel-nature (both licensed as Creative Commons)

The initial idea of a private citadel traces back to Paul Romer, a renowned economist and once the World Bank’s vice president. In the early 2000s, Romer suggested that Charter Cities (CC) could serve as a developmental solution for the Global South. The colonial regime of Hong Kong inspired him to imagine exceptional territories operating under separate, improved rules than those of a “mainland.” These new cities would have their own normative apparatus – a charter –, making them partially independent of the country in which they are located.

The goal of a CC is to establish a special economic zone with urban dimensions. Experts would design a charter to favor foreign investment and promote economic development, covering labor laws, environmental and urban planning regulations, special tax regimes, and even the justice system. The latter is crucial, as Romer believes that countries in the Global South are socially prone to having bad rules and failing to enforce contracts. Moreover, Romer proposes suspending political-democratic rights, such as direct elections. Since experts predetermine every decision, popular participation is deemed unnecessary. Hence, Romer suggested that residents should “vote with their feet,” leaving the city if the regime proves unsatisfactory, something akin to switching banks.

The obvious consequence is reducing political rights to consumer rights. However, CCs can appeal to the political class by addressing real social demands like safety, employment, and economic growth – though through an elitist framework with a homogeneous idea of development. Against accusations of neocolonialism, Romer argues that their legitimacy lies in their exceptional nature. The proposal is not to occupy entire countries nor to create these territories by force (although Romer presents a very insufficient notion of force, one that ignores countries’ power disparities and the capacity of market actors to meddle with politics). These zones are portrayed as innovation sandboxes, small special areas for investment and governance experimentation.

In 2009, shortly after the coup d’état, Juan Orlando Hernández, President of the National Congress of Honduras, and Porfirio Lobo, then-President, invited Paul Romer to lead a Charter City project. In February 2011, the Honduran Congress passed a constitutional amendment to enable Charter Cities in Honduras, initially called Regiones Especiales de Desarrollo (REDs). In July, the governance statute for REDs was approved. According to this document, REDs were designed as special zones with broad administrative, fiscal, legal, and regulatory autonomy, provided with a transparency commission appointed and overseen by the President. In 2012, the Honduran government entered into an agreement with MGK Group (a company associated with Michael Strong, a well-known libertarian activist) to develop the first RED. This agreement was made without Romer’s knowledge or the involvement of the transparency commission, leading to Romer’s abandonment of the project.

In October, the Honduran Supreme Court declared the REDs unconstitutional, stating that the law violated Honduras’ territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence. Shortly after, in December, Congress removed four Supreme Court judges who had voted against the REDs. The President of Congress then appointed replacements aligned with the government’s plan, a move criticized as illegal by commentators. Less than a month later, amid fierce opposition from Indigenous islander communities and without consultation or social participation, a new constitutional amendment was approved, establishing the Zonas de Empleo y Desarrollo Económico (ZEDEs).

Figure 2: The Garifuna people protesting the RED project in Tegucigalpa, 2012. Photo by: Honduras Delegation, on flickr.

Prospera is the first ZEDE in Honduras, established in 2017 by the company Prospera LLC, based in Delaware, a well-known tax haven in the United States. Its main investor was NeWay Capital, a financial group based in Washington, DC. This company is linked to the Tipolis Inc. group, led by Titus Gebel, a German economist and founder of the non-profit organization Free Private Cities. Gabel is also the author of a homonymous book that promotes private cities as a solution for those dissatisfied with the rules of nation-states. The project attracted entrepreneurs associated with neoliberal and libertarian activists, including the then-president of the Hayek Institute and prominent figures from the cryptocurrency sector. The ZEDE was implemented on indigenous lands without prior consultation (despite legal prerogatives) and faced widespread opposition.

Figure 3: Prospera is located on the island of Roatan, Honduras. (Google maps with author’s edition).

Prospera embodies many of Romer’s ideals. The new city is an autonomous zone, both financially and administratively, managed by a non-elected council. It has its own governance and justice systems, operating under rules distinct from the national legal framework. Prospera’s court functions through an app developed by an investor and advisory board member of the same company that manages the ZEDE.

Legal experts say that constitutional protections have been weakened, including guarantees of free speech, protections against forced labor, safeguards against discrimination based on gender and race, and even the right to Habeas Corpus. Land ownership rights are among the most undermined, as the regulatory decree stipulates that no precautionary measure shall be implemented to prevent or delay land expropriation. While compensation for expropriations is required, it is only provided in cases where formal ownership titles exist, something that many traditional indigenous populations lack. Luxury condominiums designed by international “starchitect” Zaha Hadid are replacing traditional fishing communities. Prospera is a new city, but more importantly, it is a normative innovation, semiautonomous from Honduras and oriented towards the interests of a transnational class of investors.Prospera falls under the Honduras-United States bilateral agreement (CAFTA-DR), which protects U.S.-origin investments. Therefore, although Honduras elected the socialist Xiomara Castro in 2022, who managed to repeal the ZEDE law, the national government cannot unilaterally terminate the agreement with NeWay Capital without facing indemnity proceedings. Additionally, ZEDEs have vested rights under the Honduran Constitution. Even with the repeal of the legislation, all concessions will remain in effect for at least 10 years. While this process is lengthy and cumbersome, Prospera remains a concrete example of corporations’ power in the South and their capacity to shape urban futures according to their interests.

Lara Caldas is a postdoc fellow in Political Science at the University of Brasilia. She is a researcher at Observatório das Metrópoles and a member of the research group Geopolitics and Urbanization. Her research interests lie in the intersection of urbanization and democracy. Contact: lara.cfsilveira@gmail.com

Venham ao Fórum da Habitação! (Post promocional-epistemológico)

13 Março 202413 Março 2024atsblogue2 comentários

Por: Marco Allegra

A equipa do projeto LOGO está a organizar o primeiro Fórum da Habitação do projeto no dia 26 de março.

Continuar a ler →

A CLAN for Human-Animal Studies? Opportunities and challenges of establishing the field – Part 3

4 Maio 20234 Maio 2023atsblogueDeixe um comentário

By: Verónica Policarpo

**A versão portuguesa dos 3 posts pode ser consultada aqui.

This is the last post of a series of three in which I proposed myself to reflect upon the main opportunities and challenges implied in the establishment of the field of Human-Animal Studies (HAS) in Portugal, and the role of the HAS-Hub in that process. In the first part, I recollected the strengths of international networks and funding. In the second part, I dived into the powers of connecting in our own mother tongue. Finally, in this third and last post, I will shortly discuss the major threats that, from my point of view, the HAS-Hub may face in the near future, as well as the emerging opportunities.

Continuar a ler →

A CLAN for Human-Animal Studies? Opportunities and challenges of establishing the field in Portugal – Part 2

22 Março 20234 Maio 2023atsblogue1 Comentário

Por: Verónica Policarpo

**A versão portuguesa dos 3 posts pode ser consultada aqui.

For the last four years, the Human-Animal Studies Hub (hereafter, HAS-Hub) has brought together scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds and institutions, under a common interest: the critical appraisal of the multiple and systemic ways through which humans have exploited nonhuman animals, and an ethical commitment to contribute to diminish their suffering. In this post, I resume the reflection initiated here about this process. In the first part, I leaned over the rising strengths of international networks and collaborations, as well as the angular role of funding to foster research, training and dissemination. In this second part, I wish to highlight – and honour – the power of connecting and working in our mother tongue. Building a HAS network that speaks, not only but also, in Portuguese is a major mission of the HAS-Hub. I will try to show the role of post-graduate education in this process, in particular the post-graduate course Animais e Sociedade. This reflection will not end today, though. In a future third and last part, I will highlight what are, from my point of view, the major threats that the HAS-Hub faces in the near future, as well as emerging opportunities.

Continuar a ler →

A CLAN for Human-Animal Studies? Opportunities and challenges of establishing the field in Portugal – Part 1

15 Fevereiro 20234 Maio 2023atsblogue2 comentários

By: Verónica Policarpo

**A versão portuguesa dos 3 posts pode ser consultada aqui.

Three sociologists meet at a conference in Athens

In September 2017, the congress of the European Sociological Association was held in legendary Athens. It was a very hot day, and as it happens to me often, my presentation was on the very last day of the conference, on the very last time slot, late in the day. Feeling all the tiredness that comes after a long week of one of these big conferences, I headed to the venue early in the morning, after a sleepless night. I had browsed the conference program several times, looking for presentations that had the word “animal”, or any other related, in the title or abstract. I had found only three. One of them was exactly on the very same panel, and the very same day, in which I was going to present my own work. Moreover, it was about a topic very dear to me: death and mourning for a companion animal.

Continuar a ler →

Screening the Precarious Spaces of Home Across Europe

23 Novembro 202223 Novembro 2022atsblogueDeixe um comentário

By: Anna Viola Sborgi

On September 19, 2022, a public screening entitled Espaços Precários da Habitação na Europa – Precarious Homes Across Europe took place at ICS-ULisboa. The screening showcased work of four emerging women filmmakers: Ayo Akingbade’s Dear Babylon (2019, United Kingdom), Leonor Teles’s Cães que Ladram aos Pássaros (2019, Portugal), Laura Kavanagh’s No Place (2019, Ireland and United Kingdom) and Margarida Leitão’s Gipsofila (Portugal, 2015). After watching the films, filmmaker Margarida Leitão and researchers Roberto Falanga and Mariana Liz joined me in an interdisciplinary conversation on cities, their inhabitants, gentrification and film. Members of the audience, which included participants in the Cinema e Ciências Sociais Summer School that was taking place at ICS-ULisboa in those very days, also asked questions and contributed to the discussion.

Continuar a ler →