Progressive International's 12th Report 2024 brings you news from our ongoing campaign to support the Honduran people in the fight against corporate colonialism. If you would like to receive the briefing in your inbox, you can sign up using the form at the bottom of this page.
This week, 85 leading economists from institutions around the world came together in a letter organized by Progressive International, urging Honduras to assert its democracy and sovereignty by withdrawing from the World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). supported the decision. The economists argue that “international arbitration tribunals like ICSID have allowed corporations to sue states and restrict their regulatory freedom in favor of consumers, workers, and the environment.”
ICSID was used by U.S. companies and Silicon Valley investors to sue Honduras for unpaid money. For example, on December 20, 2022, the US corporation Honduras Prospera announced a $10.7 billion legal claim against the Honduran government, which is two-thirds of Honduras' 2023 planned budget. . Prospera's investors want compensation from the Honduran people. The democratic decision to overturn the 2013 law that allowed the creation of special economic zones known as “ZEDE”. Sold to foreign investors as crypto-liberal paradises, these zones were granted unprecedented legal and financial autonomy from national government policies.
In 2023, Progressive International will hear directly from communities affected by ZEDE, draw international attention to the crimes of corporate colonialism, and support the government of President Xiomara Castro in defeating it. He convened a prestigious delegation to Honduras.
Now, we celebrate Xiomara Castro's historic decision to withdraw completely from the ICSID system.
The 85 economists who agree include Jayati Ghosh, an award-winning Indian development economist and PI Council member who was described by the New York Times as “perhaps the world's most important economist''; It includes major figures in the field, such as American Jeffrey Sachs. , Chilean Gabriel Palma, father of the Palma Ratio of Inequality, and Greek economist, former Minister of Finance and PI Council member Yanis Varoufakis, known for predicting the 2008 financial crisis. Anne Pettifor, a veteran British economist, and Ha Jun Chan, a South Korean economist, regularly appear on lists of the world's top thinkers.
The letter, which can be read here and see the full list of signatories, received extensive coverage in English-language The Intercept and in Spanish, Latin American and Honduran media, among others.
We are currently coordinating technical and political support from leading experts to help the Honduran people defeat ZEDE. A new Progressive International delegation returned to Honduras on Wednesday. They are holding high-level talks with the government and visiting Roatan on a fact-finding mission.
Yesterday, the delegation held a press conference at the Presidential Palace to provide the media with their views on Honduras' withdrawal from ICSID.
Click here to register for the campaign “Honduras Registote.”
Introducing the reactionary international
Next week, the Progressive International will launch a new research consortium on CLASCO and Transform Europe and the Reactionary International, which will bring together a global network of politicians, platforms, think tanks, funders, foundations, publications and courts. We plan to trace connections between government officials and journalists. It's undermining our democracy.
Sign up here to be the first to know when it's released.
Expanding the peace zone to Haiti
CELAC, a group of 33 member states from Latin America and the Caribbean, through Honduras' interim president Xiomara Castro, declared this week that it would not authorize “any military action that violates the principle of national self-determination” in Haiti. A “troika” is convened with Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Colombia to seek a diplomatic solution.
Seeking clean air in Tirana
This week, activists from Albania's PI member Together Movement launched a campaign demanding urgent measures to reduce air pollution in the capital, Tirana. The party collected signatures from concerned citizens to develop the campaign. According to the Together Movement, Tirana is one of the most polluted capitals in Europe, leading to illness and early death.
Art: Mural of murdered environmental activist and indigenous leader Berta Cáceres in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.