Status of Venture Colonialism + Settlements In the Global South
El Salvador
Most advanced state of venture colonialism; VC installed in the government (Stacey Hebert, Max Keiser), VC-supported dictatorship since installation of Nayib Bukele in 2019. The country is facing a mass human rights and hunger crisis, and has locked up over 70,000 people in a newly constructed mega-prison; the country and its dictator are internationally cited, including by Amnesty International, for human rights violations. As the venture capital invasion continues, the independent press of this area has re-located to Costa Rica.
Put up the largest prison in the Americas which opened last year. Massive emphasis on bitcoin tourism, crypto tourism means they are “cleaning up” for the VC class with policing, something we have also seen in the past/ongoing invasions of San Francisco and Oakland.
Government and venture capital is calling El Salvador “Bitcoin Country”. This year, they implemented legislation suspending taxation and regulation on tech revenue – AI and bitcoin specifically specified, giving venture capital free reign.
Multiple large-scale construction projects for venture capital are underway. They just broke ground on a private airport to facilitate an influx of venture capital and tech. They are building a bitcoin mine on the local volcano, planning to harness wind and solar energy; the deals are structured so that more of the proceeds will going to the VCs than the country itself. Planned “Bitcoin city” – but it seems like that ran into some problems this year and the status is stalled, however, the overall agenda proceeds.
New nonstop flights to El Salvador from Oakland (tech stronghold) in effect this year.
We’ve seen anti-Bitcoin protest here, as colonialism always involves a new type of sovereign money and for venture colonialism, this is a primary way that they are trying to get a grip on countries.
Christian missionaries have been involved in developing the tech colonial agenda in El Salvador for a long time and have been integral to this transformation. “For years, Michael Peterson, a 47-year-old evangelical Christian from California, had hosted Christian missionaries at a retreat in El Zonte, where he and his family had lived for years… Peterson decided to work with members of El Zonte’s community to create a circular bitcoin economy, or market where people buy and sell goods with bitcoin. A gifted publicist, he painted his project in El Zonte as a great success, and the Salvadoran president cited it as an inspiration when announcing that the country would become the first in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender.”
Honduras
Venture capitalists, via their firm Pronomos Capital, secured a sovereign zone in Honduras called Próspera; in Crawfish Rock, directly impacted by the proposed settlement, people have been organizing to fight back.
Earlier this year, Honduras repealed the legislation allowing the sovereign zone after community-led resistance; however, Pronomos venture capitalists retaliated and are now suing the country: “... Próspera has launched a case to challenge the repeal of the law under the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement and is seeking almost $11 billion, which amounts to nearly two-thirds of the country’s entire 2022 budget.”
Santa Lucia, a tourist destination in Honduras, last year launched the “Bitcoin Valley” project, backed by venture capital, to adopt cryptocurrencies, use it to transact with customers/tourists, and attract the growing trend of “crypto tourism”, crypto multi-millionaires who want to specifically use Bitcoin to transact.
Unregulated medical experimentation has already begun in Próspera, via a venture-capital backed startup called Minicircle, which has begun controversial gene therapy development. Experiment participants have been paid in crypto. The ethics and scientific validity of these medical treatments have been condemned by medical experts.
Guatemala
Guatemala is in the early stages of possible incursion by venture capital, but as they have in nearby countries, venture capitalists are circling the area. Here, as in other cases, Bitcoin is being used as an entry point into the country; in Guatemala, “Bitcoin Lake” is getting local residents onboarded onto Bitcoin and implementing Bitcoin education in the schools.
Christian missionaries have been behind much of the activity in the region. One example – “An evangelical Christian who has preached the gospel across four continents, Melder believes bitcoin is ‘objective truth.’ Like Christ’s second coming, bitcoin’s eventual dominance is inevitable, he says. Since November 2021, he has traveled multiple times to Panajachel to persuade businesses to accept bitcoin, educate children about the cryptocurrency, and encourage residents to mine it…” “Melder says the techniques he uses to spread bitcoin belief—teaching children, promising riches, door knocking—are similar to what Christians do when they spread the gospel. ‘Bitcoin evangelism is no different than Christian evangelism.’” Another Christian missionary, Michael Peterson, as referenced above, has done work for El Salvador’s dictator as well and been key in the devastating advancement of venture colonialism there.
We need to be watching this situation carefully as it unfolds; while it is an earlier state of venture colonialization, that can change rapidly especially as El Salvador and Honduras get further in the process.
Nigeria
Venture capitalists, via their firm Pronomos Capital, have secured a sovereign zone outside of Lagos, and outside of the jurisdiction of Nigeria. The zone is called Itana and it has participation from a number of venture capitalists as well as crypto company Binance, which seeks to provide Itana with its own crypto-based economic system.
Itana just announced a $2 million raise from Pronomos Capital to further the project. Itana highlights the venture colonial pattern of establishing a digital “state”, organizing the settlement with new “citizens” (of its choosing), and after collecting money and a large enough number of people, building out the construction of the settlement. This is a pattern that is being repeated in other areas.
Construction on the physical “startup city” is underway as of this year. “Itana’s website displays photographs of the marshy plot where construction is due to start, juxtaposed with artistic renderings of what the tech hub should one day look like: a verdant business park which features snaking grass-covered walkways and sunlit decks housing breakout groups. The first stage of construction aims to house 3,000 to 5,000 people, and will cost up to $500 million…”
Nigeria has also been facing massive labor exploitation by venture capital. Ride-share drivers have formed a union, Amalgamated Union of App-based Transport Workers of Nigeria (AUATWON), and have been fighting and striking for recognition: “A big test on national and constitutional supremacy over dictatorial app supremacy. If drivers are not workers, are they slaves?”
Kenya
In Kenya, the venture capital zone is called “Silicon Savannah”, in Nairobi, currently under active development, featuring tax and immigration incentives to attract venture capital, crypto tourism and startup development.
Also of concern is Tatu City - funded by Rendeavour, founded by Steven Jennings of New Zealand, current chairman Lord Ashcroft, a peer in The House of Lords. Tatu City is designated as a “Project of Strategic National Importance”. Rendeavour is in the process of building cities in multiple countries in Africa: “Rendeavour’s development portfolio includes more than 30,000 acres (12,000 ha) of land in the urban growth trajectories of major cities in Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, and Democratic Republic of Congo.” This is indicative of the type of vulture colonialism, and business development, that will likely explode in the coming years; after all, venture capital needs to actually build these areas after attaining the zones and will partner/use other capital firms.
Kenya has also been the site of massive labor exploitation cases, all connected the same money. Former OpenAI moderators reported serious mental health concerns after being exposed to extremely violent content, with no prior warning about what they would be exposed to, along with severely exploitative wages between $1.46 and $3.74 an hour. Meta has also been a major culprit in exploiting labor via contracting firms; via AFP, mediators are now working to reach a legal settlement involving 184 exploited workers. Worldcoin servers in Nairobi were seized after authorities suspended local iris-scanning operations. OpenAI, Meta and Worldcoin are all backed by the same small group of venture capitalists, who are also behind Pronomos Capital.
Palau
Palau is currently a venture capital target and a target for “crypto tourism/colonialism.” This appears to be in its early stages with much activity this year, and something we should be watching as an international humanitarian body. Palau is the host of the Ngardmau Free Trade Zone, and the National Capitol Complex Tax Free Zone, speaking to the potential development of a venture capital settlement. The escape from regulation and taxation is a primary driver of this conspiracy, particularly for crypto wealth, which is rapidly moving out of America in order to avoid taxes.
Pronomos Capital has a planned settlement in the region, called Metropolis. Their purpose is to secure sovereign land: “Metropolis is developing new charter zone models, using special administrative regions,” focusing on real estate “development” for the tech class.
Earlier this year, the president of Palau was featured on a Pronomos Capital podcast – the main VC vehicle for establishing sovereign zones, with one of the top architects of this strategy, Balaji Srnivasan: “The President of Palau and Balaji discuss how the tiny island country is becoming a digital leader, experimenting with everything from on-chain identity to drone delivery. Despite having less than 20,000 citizens, Palau is a full UN member state. Its path to diplomatic recognition holds many lessons for aspiring founders of new communities.” This is extremely concerning as it points to venture capital’s desire to establish sovereignty through diplomatic relations, and via predatory venture colonial developments in this area, using host countries as a conduit.
Palau hosted the Palau Blockchain Summit on August 27 - 29, with a conference track focusing on “network states and charter zones”. Speakers included the founder of Ethereum, the Minister of France, the founder of the Seasteading Institute, as well as a number of startup founders and venture capitalists.
Palau’s government is heavily positioning itself as a site of “crypto tourism”, highlighting the country’s appeal to bring in crypto wealth: “The Rock Islands offer breathtaking scenery for kayaking, while fishing and snorkeling tours provide unique opportunities to witness the diverse marine life that thrives in Palau's waters. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced diver, Palau's crystal-clear waters and abundant marine life offer endless possibilities for travelers. 2023 Palau Blockchain Summit is definitely an opportunity to bridge you with Palau!”
In July, the Republic of Palau launched a USD-backed, Palau Stablecoin (PSC) in partnership with crypto firm Ripple, with the original goal of adoption by 200 government employees, and local merchants.
Palau is a strategic site implicating US/China relations; after reporting multiple incursions by Chinese ships on Palau waters, Palau has signed a new maritime agreement with the US: “The arrangement between Palau and the U.S. Coast Guard adds to a similar pact signed with Palau’s neighbor, Federated States of Micronesia, last year and a shiprider agreement with Papua New Guinea, signed in May, as U.S.-China rivalry intensifies in the Pacific. The Palau agreement allows the Coast Guard to enforce regulations in the country’s waters without a Paluan officer present.” Venture capitalists have been escalating military tensions with China for some time.
Talks between the US and Palau around military activity continue to ramp up, focusing on advanced missile defense systems as “part of Washington's efforts to check China's influence in the region… A U.S. senior administration official recognized that the strategic competition motivated Washington to step up its engagement with Pacific island nations.”
Mediterranean (site location pending)
The planned venture capital settlement in the Mediterranean, from Pronomos Capital, is called Praxis. This project has been organized as a digital settlement, one more example of this pattern now moving into its real-world instantiation. Via Praxis: “Thousands of exceptional community members have gathered at Praxis events around the world. We’ve convened summits, shared dinners, hosted galas — fostering an environment where our members, even prior to the construction of the city, have built strong connections to one another.” Praxis has raised close to $20 million to date from Pronomos venture capitalists and their associates.
A recent update of the website states Praxis is “now in the final stage of site selection.” The update includes new information that they are pushing forward on the settlement, have retained “Pritzker-winning architects”, and also claim to be in “active negotiations with prospective host governments,” with delegation “led by a former G7 Prime Minister and a former EU Prime Minister,” identities undisclosed.
This case highlights how Pronomos is coordinating a massive amount of capital to bring to bear on these efforts, a blunt-force capital offense that many countries are not in a position to resist. Via Praxis: “the world’s most innovative companies inform our host-government regulatory proposal with the intent to establish operations in the City. This represents an aggregate of tens of billions of dollars of foreign direct investment to our host country.” This is putting together a massive and extortive, secretive economic package and we can expect to see this pattern occur over and over, especially as foreign investment partners can also enter countries via other Pronomos Capital sovereign sites and private cities.
A new media profile describes Praxis as “a free-market Mediterranean city-state” which “the company hopes to build under the leadership of a CEO who, former employees said, is interested in fascist authors and occultism and has touted a book that argues Black people are intellectually inferior to whites.” This is consistent with chatter we see across venture capital with race science about IQ and innate superiority. The article details accounts and associations of the Praxis CEO and employees with Nazi-ism, occultism, race science and various fascist ideologies; the account is substantial and another piece of evidence that venture colonialism is fascist in character, and is being spearheaded by fascists.
Praxis’ initial goal is to have 10,000 residents/commercial tenants move into the area after preliminary construction, which might give us a sense of the type of early resident numbers we might expect to see in other areas, as this was designed and will be rolled out in template fashion.
Solano County, California
While Solano County seems like a unique case in this document, being on American soil, this effort is backed by the same money as the settlements in the global south. In Solano County, venture capital amassed $800 million of land over 5 years, without any kind of public knowledge, and secured the land “using secrecy, bullying and mobster tactics to force generational farm families to sell.” The purchase totals over 52,000 acres of farmland. The purpose is to build a private, techno-utopian, billionaire city. Thus, it is a crucial part of the total conspiracy. Here we see the same pattern of using secretive financial vehicles and aggressive legal strategies, in a land grab on a community consisting of mainly people of color.
This case has sparked massive media attention, which has overwhelmingly failed to connect this plot to the many other cities being planned by Pronomos conspirators and their associates. The Solano County land grab is being led by Marc Andreessen of Pronomos Capital and a16z, his partner Chris Dixon, and two other heads of top venture capital firms: Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins.
The Solano site is important because this is likely to be a “flagship” city and set the model for a lot of these other locations; just like how the pattern of invasion in San Francisco and Oakland in the first and second bubbles, including displacement and gentrification and labor exploitation, will now play out in countries around the world.